User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Shut Up You’re Pretty by Tea Mutonji is a very good book that discusses a lot of important issues.
Shut Up You’re Pretty is a collection of stories about a Congolese girl and her family that immigrate to Canada and goes through her becoming a woman. The description makes it sound like Shut Up You’re Pretty is about different women. However, it is actually all about the same person from girlhood to becoming a woman.
Shut Up You’re Pretty starts with Loli having a buzz cut. She came to Canada with a male passport so had to shave her head. When she meets her best friend, Joli, Joli asks if she is a boy or a girl. This sets the stage for the gender issues and sexual identity that comes up many times in Shut Up You’re Pretty. This short series collection really demonstrates feminism and the importance of feminism. Shut Up You’re Pretty has multiple forms of sexual experimentation and sex workers. Teen pregnancy is also represented.
Shut Up You’re Pretty discusses many important issues. Shut Up You’re Pretty discusses race issues with the main character being a poor black woman. Loli and her family are also immigrants which brings its own difficulties.
Shut Up You’re Pretty also contains drug use, depression, and suicide. Shut Up You’re Pretty contains characters with eating disorders.
I’m sure you can tell from my description so far that this is an intense book. So many difficult topics were discussed, but Mutonji did a fantastic job expresses the issues in a way that didn’t downplay the issue but also didn’t make it difficult to read being overly descriptive. I am so glad I read Shut Up You’re Pretty. I felt like I really got a look into a life that is completely different than mine even though it’s a fictional story.
From the beginning of the story I really liked Loli and wanted her to have a good life and be happy. Of course this made parts of the story more difficult to read. I also loved her interactions with Joli and how their relationship changed over the years. Their relationship was very realistic. I felt like everything about this book which was my favorite part. I can’t believe this was Mutonji’s debut story collection and can’t wait to read more of her work in the future.
I listened to the audiobook and really enjoyed it. I thought Jemeni did a great job narrating and really set the tone for the story.
I really enjoyed Shut Up You’re Pretty. I recommend it to fans of Brit Bennett and fans of Red at the Bone because they made me feel the same. I would not recommend this to anyone that is triggered or uncomfortable with drugs, teen pregnancy, eating disorders, depression, and sexual exploration.
Thank you NetGalley and Bespeak Audio Editions for Shut Up You’re Pretty.
Rating: really liked it
This book asks us to witness the journey of a girl into womanhood, holding in her arms the fragile understandings of femininity as a commodity, femininity as a caretaker, femininity as a storyteller. Dulled by the residue of trauma and sharpened by the expectations of the streets, Téa’s characters are painfully and beautifully rendered in this gritty must-read novel.
Rating: really liked it
This is the first book from the VS. Books Imprint at Arsenal Pulp, headed up by Vivek Shraya, who created the imprint to "create more intergenerational dialogue and support for artists of colour. Each year, Vivek offers a mentorship opportunity for a young writer who is Indigenous, Black, or a person of colour, as well as a publishing contract with Arsenal Pulp Press under the VS. Books imprint." I didn't know that when I requested the review copy, just thought the title was funny.
All the stories come from a strong voice, are not very long, and end powerfully.
Some of my favorites:
The Boy from My Youth
"I love this so much about men. How they can hate a woman and still want them." - and then the ending paragraph is great.
The Common Room
"I was relieved when he died. It felt like this huge rock I didn't even know I was carrying had suddenly lifted, just like, fucking flew out of my chest, you know? Like, no more suffering, no more hiding. Everyone free?"
Men, Tricks, and Money
The sex worker/therapist from Guyana is a memorable character.
I received a copy of this collection from the publisher through Edelweiss. It came out April 1, 2019.
Rating: really liked it
A very unique way to tell pieces of one girls story that entirely consists of her trying to keep her head above water. It includes commentary on virginity, prostitution, abortion, depression, friendship by users, and so much more!
I need some time to digest these impactful snippets of life. All written in a very realistic way: blood, semen, and urine included. Because let’s face it, life is messy.
Full RTC.
Rating: really liked it
Taking place in Scarborough, Ontario, this is a series of vignettes about Loli, a Congolese girl who accompanies her mother and brother and meets up with her father in Canada. The stories are the coming of age of a young woman who is confronted with many different sexual encounters and relationships in her neighborhood.
One thing I shared at bookclub was that as I perused different interviews with the author and critical reviews, I couldn't relate to the suggestion that Loli was a character readers could connect to, quite the opposite as I found her metallic and detached when relating her experiences. Perhaps I am just too innocent to "get it?"
Goodreads review published 24/11/19
Rating: really liked it
I love a book set in Scarborough/Toronto. You can feel everything, see everything. Especially if you're from the city. You can let the book walk you down the street.
I think Téa Mutonji's writing is beautiful. She writes with so much emotion and so much passion. Her main character Loli, you really go on her life's journey with her. You feel the pain of feeling secondary, her confusion and then realization of her power. You feel her feeling never quite enough and bouncing around looking for something while making that money. You feel her heartbreak and her wonder as she experiences her body alongside that of her friend and eventually through the gaze of the boys and eventually men that she immerses herself in. You feel how she begins to question those viewpoints and start to work towards moving away from the gaze that is not her own. You realize it all starts from somewhere.
I feel like sex work and the easy entry of girls and women into this field was opened up even further to the public in this book and it was thoroughly exposed as it should be. I feel like there were also a lot of questions about the levels we need to go through as people to really find healing in our lives.
The switching and the movement through her ages and homes were cut and presented in such weird shapes. Probably because they were presented alongside the people she was currently with in each new segment of the book.
I really love how Téa Mutonji wrote the character of Jonas. Isn't there always a fucking Jonas. I swear to god I was reading that whole book-titled chapter like: smelling Jonas, living that experience through Loli's eyes, ruminating, knowing how I felt about the Jonases that I've known. I loved the part of the story, but I didn't like the hoops I had to jump through to get there, some of the story line felt a little disjointed.
Overall, it was a good debut effort!
Rating: really liked it
3.75 stars.
I went into this book blind, not having any foreknowledge of what it might be about. This book was deep, and covered intense topics. It’s a collection of different stories about a girl that was an immigrant from Congolese to Canada, and covers a time span about a girl growing into adulthood. This book covers topics such as sexual identity, experimentation, teen pregnancy, depression, suicide, and of course race issues, and several more topics. I appreciate how the issues weren’t watered down, but hit head on in these short stories. Reading stories such as these make me appreciate the life that I have and the experiences. Even though I’ve been through different things in life, it doesn’t by any means compare to these.
Rating: really liked it
« I tried not to make everything about sex, every act of kindness, every well-wish, every hello. But you go through life being touched, you go through life being looked at, you go through life with an uncle commenting on your breasts, or your brother’s friend giving you a condom for your birthday then denying it, you go through life being called a cunt on public transportation, you go through life being followed at midnight, you go through life being told you’re pretty, you’re pretty, you’re so fucking pretty – it gets complicated. » (54)
Rating: really liked it
This is one of those rare moments when I don't know how I feel about a book. I neither loved nor hated "Shut Up You're Pretty." I agree with other reviewers who said it reads really easily; Mutonji's writing grabs your attention and carries it, although I think it would've worked a bit better if it was framed more as an experimental novel than as a series of short stories BECAUSE of how interconnected each of the pieces was. Similarly, the content of this book can be hard to stomach at times and makes the reader really sit with it for a bit, to consider the implications and issues that Mutonji raises but doesn't always neatly articulate to avoid being neat and easy about it. For me, Mutonji's debut felt like a dialogue with my own immigrant experience, which had some similarities but was largely different and not just in the east vs west of the city kind of way. There was something familiar despite all the differences that really drew me into "Shut Up You're Pretty."
At the same time, I felt a kind of discomfort that I've only experienced once before with a book, which was Dionne Brand's "What We All Long For." My discomfort and anger was much more visceral in that case though, whereas there was something about Mutonji's book that simply weighed on me and made me wonder if it's just my own preconceptions and prejudices that are coming to light from somewhere deep within. I guess it's because "Shut Up You're Pretty" puts its reader in a position where it's tempting to judge the choices of the speaker and some of the characters, to wonder if things could have been avoided or gone differently. I wonder if other readers have had this experience. Either way, Mutonji's debut is heavy despite how quick and light-footed the prose itself is. I'm glad Mutonji put me into such an uncomfortable and conflicted position, because there seem to be few things worse than being emotionless after finishing a book. I know I LIKED "Shut Up You're Pretty" but it's a very vague kind of sensation that will stay with me for a while, because more than a simple love/hate response, Mutonji made me sit, think, and reflect, and that is the best thing a book can do.
Rating: really liked it
Every woman’s journey to figuring out who she is, and how she deserves to be loved, is different. There’s no right or wrong way to get to those points, but if the starting point is littered with traumatic experiences and overwhelming confusion, as to what love is supposed to look like, then it can be messy.
This collection represents a microcosm, of sorts, of the ways in which the messiness can hinder the process of a woman “becoming” something more than a source of pleasure—sexual or otherwise—for the world to use, abuse, and then dispose of; its intense and filled with lots of raw emotional angst.
Every chapter isn’t captivating and, despite the description, this appears to follow one woman’s start, from early adolescence to young womanhood.
Her struggle isn’t one of insecurity about the physical—she knows she’s “pretty”—but she’s trying to find an identity outside of the male gaze and it’s ...a challenge; no one wants to truly “see” her because they’re fascinated by the package, as opposed to the frailties within.
As a result, there’s a lot of desperation in her approach to finding someone to love her for more than what she is, and what she offers, physically.
There’s a lot to unpack and, honestly, I’ve not had the time to do so before attempting to write this review.
I’ll end by stating this is a collection about the importance of loving yourself and not allowing the noise of the world to either 1) distract you from what’s important or 2) define your worth.
Rating: really liked it
I didn’t like it at all tbh. I listened to the audiobook on Spotify which was kinda short (4 hours) which was good I guess. It’s a few short stories about a girl coming of age who has a few different sexual encounters and relationships.
I dont have a problem with reading/listening to books about sex or books that includes spicy scenes, BUT I get uncomfortable when the characters are too young and they are very young here! I understand that children and teens do it but it was a lot of in here. Also the book basically starts with her neighbor forcing her to let him touch her breasts :)
I couldn’t connect to the character/characters at all and honestly dont think a lot of people do but maybe Im wrong. Maybe I’m just a bit too innocent for this. also I didn’t understand how Loli really got into drugs, I felt like that happened really fast and she was suddenly addicted.
I wanted something to happen that would make it all come together and make it make sense but it never happened
Rating: really liked it
Read my full review on my blog, ReadingMaria.
All of the stories tie in well with each other, and the characters we meet along the way are all vital in their own way. I really admire how resourceful our narrator is; we see her go from one fall back to the next, and it was inspiring seeing her growth (despite her bad decisions).
Any Canadian Literature supporter would enjoy this book – especially those who have been interested in authors from Scarborough, like Carrianne Leung, Adrian De Leon, Catherine Hernandez and others.
Rating: really liked it
Told in first person by a single female narrator common to each story, this collection speaks to the experiences of women in a post-coming-of-age setting... capturing the spaces imposed on women as they settle into their own identity. This was a refreshingly honest read, tinged with gritty realities (abortion and rape, to name just a few) that made for a compulsive and immersive read. I look forward to more works from this author and releases from this imprint!
Thanks to the publisher for an e-ARC.
Rating: really liked it
Almost unbearably raw. Painfully honest. Exquisitely written.
I will never look at the corner of Lawrence and Galloway the same way.
Rating: really liked it
4,5 ⭐️
"Did we know each other, or were we only aware of each other’s habits?"
