Book Review: Burn This City to the Ground by N. Daniel

 

Goodreads Summary: As Daniel recovers from a psychotic episode and months-long mental health civil commitment, he befriends a youthful quadriplegic named Samantha, who is dealing with life-threatening health problems. When cohabitation becomes necessary for Sam, caregiver, and client both move to downtown Minneapolis to begin a new life together. Before they can get settled in, Daniel is diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and must undergo multiple surgeries. The two navigate the American healthcare system and work towards Samantha's eventual independence, however, their relationship becomes toxic when a global pandemic shakes the nation, and George Floyd is murdered by Minneapolis police officers.

Based on the author's life, this endearing platonic love story is the gooey center of a turbulent world set aflame. Through the laughter and the tears, Samantha and Daniel play off each other like a tragic comedy duo that's hell-bent on finding humor within the most savage aspects of their everyday lives.

Goodreads Rating: 4.75 stars with 4 ratings

Genre: unsure how to label this one.

Goodreads Challenge: 40/50

2021 Reading Challenge: #58 Read a book (fiction or non-fiction) involving mental illness

Book Review:

Disclaimer: I was given an ARC e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

N. Daniel reached out to me recently and asked if I would review his book. I was really hesitant to agree to read this book at first. I have really scaled down on the number of reviews I do at an author's request. I try to put a bit more thought into them than the rest of my reviews, so when I have a lot going on, it's a big task for me to give as constructive feedback as I'd like. However, since this was a local author and the book discussed current events, I thought I'd take a chance.

When N. Daniels sent me the Arc Copy, he let me know that it was not the final version, so everything I'm going to discuss could be moot. This book is primarily based on actual events and follows Daniel while trying to get his life back together after some troubles with mental health and addiction. Daniel ends up taking a job as a caregiver, Sam, who is a quadriplegic.

I'm not going to get much into the characters since they are based on real people and their experiences. I don't feel that it would be fitting to get into character development when it's basically a memoir. I did continually think that Sam was older than she was. I kept thinking she was in her 50s or 60s. I appreciated Sam playing relevant music on Alexa to match whatever conversation she and Daniel were having. Their relationship was incredibly toxic, and I imagine it was hard to deal with. However, because some of the toxicity seemed to be in jest, certain scenes didn't seem as intense as they were probably intended. 

There is a lot of medical jargon and descriptions in the book, which to some extent, makes sense. However, I feel like some of it was over-detailed, and some weren't detailed enough. I felt like the day-to-day details about the cleaning and care were almost over-detailed. However, the aspects of Sam's disability felt a little glazed over and made it confusing. For example, it talked about how Sam was a quadriplegic and how her hands were limp. But then it would discuss how she washed her hair or at food. There seem to be a lot of apparatuses that helped her that the typical person who doesn't deal with these things wouldn't understand.

Similarly, at one point, there was a man in the hospital while Sam was there. He's described as "a man with Parkinson's." A non-medical person isn't just going to make that connection. Without the context, it makes it seem kind of like a judgemental and derogatory description. 

In a couple of chapters where Daniel talks with Janet, it feels like pieces of the conversation are lost. Janet and Same are having a conversation about music that Daniel is listening to, and how it plays out, I felt like I was walking in on a discussion about an inside joke I wasn't part of. 

I think that Burn This City to the Ground addresses an important topic and brings to light we should probably discuss more. This book details how draining caregiving can be and its toll on someone's mental health. It takes a lot of strength and courage to deal with it, let alone write about it. 

A lot of the book, for me as a reader, was telling instead of showing. However, that may be because it's mostly a memoir. It definitely wasn't bad. I thought that the story was interesting, and I cared about what happened to the characters. I think it just needs some of the finer details polished up. However, as I said before, this is an arc copy, so things may change before the launch date.