Book Review: Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi

• Title: Riot Baby
• Author: Tochi Onyebuchi
• Year: 2020

Honestly, I didn’t enjoy this book. It was too gritty, too violent, too angry, and that’s exactly why I read it anyway.

Onyebuchi’s alternate history is uncomfortably realistic, a world where police and “authorities” employ faulty technology to “keep the peace,” usually leading to the oppression of dark-skinned people. Emma and Kevin are at the center of the violence in more ways than one, including being the main characters in the unfolding story. We follow their lives as they try to survive in the rapidly changing world driven by fear and racism.

The book is well written, but still is a difficult read. It’s never comfortable facing the injustices to which we subject others, but it’s important that we do. So despite that discomfort, I read to the end. I recommend you do, too.