"I'm Not Dying with You Tonight"

"I'm Not Dying with You Tonight"
Written by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia


Last week, I listened to "I'm Not Dying with You Tonight" in its audiobook format, narrated by the wonderful ladies, Brittany Pressley and Channie Waites. This easy read falls within the realistic fiction genre, but the book touches upon many mature and complex topics that many children, teens, and adults experience throughout America.

The story is told in two perspectives by two very different teens. Campbell is a shy and nervous white female, who has volunteered to cook and sell in the concession stand at an important high school football game. Lena has come to the game with friends, but she intends to meet with her boyfriend later in the evening. A massive riot breaks out between the rival teams and their fans, causing a gigantic brawl. Campbell and Lena must push past their dislike for each other, to protect each other, and survive the night.

As much as I anticipated this novel, I was uninspired by the actual riots. This novel touches on prevalent and important American topics, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, gangs, and silence. Strangely enough, the novel is quite tame, nearly brushing over every topic. It's apparent that the girls are possibly in danger of getting hurt, but the results of the riots is not highly impactive. The main inciting incident is a teen shooting a police officer. Then, the riot truly develops into pure chaos.

Most of the novel is spent following Lena and Campbell as they hide in different locations, bicker at each other while walking back and forth, and attempting to find their way home. It's understandable that the city has become riotous, however, you'd imagine that hiding behind trash cans and wandering the streets would realistically cause the girls to get hurt or into more trouble. When the girls had left the high school to find their way to Lena's boyfriend, the girls could have easily jumped on a bus or found their way to an underground train at that point, before the entire city broke out into violence.

Even when there are moments of violence, we receive the information through rose-colored glasses. The girls do not experience much of the violence, because they watch it occur. We meet characters who become injured, but the impact of the riots does not hold high enough stakes. In my opinion, if you plan to write a violent scene or book, you should show the true impact of the violence. If you are writing a horror novel about a murderous villain, the viewer should be able to understand how awful that character is, usually by experiencing the murder. If we are told that the entire city in "I'm Not Dying with You Tonight" is in a complete apocalyptic rampage, we should be shown more violence or a death. The book feels too tame, almost ineffective.

Another flaw I found with this novel is the constant need for dialogue. Lena and Campbell are either talking to each other, fighting with Lena's boyfriend or cousin, or complaining in their own thoughts. The lack of action taken by these characters makes this more of a character study, rather than an introspective and appealing story about black teens in America. Many scenes are spent with the characters bickering, looking for cell phones, or arguing over where to go next.

I appreciate the character development in the story, but we barely receive enough about Lena and Campbell prior to the riot. If we understood their true intentions and characteristics, we could understand why Campbell is hesitant to communicate. When characters need to journey together, either to a positive location or just out of danger, the readers need to see how the characters came together as one. The lack of characterization does not allow the girls to grow closer and ignore their differences. They just depend on each other, because they're scared, which is fine in a violent novel, but the execution feels a tad empty.

This was a short and sweet novel, which made for an easier and faster audiobook consumption. However, I felt that cutting this novel into a short novella almost did not allow the story to develop to its potential.

I personally am not interested in recommending this book to others. I felt very disappointed by the lack of detail and cohesive 'journey'. I have not read many books like this, so I do not have many recommendations. However, I do recommend "The Hate U Give", which is a fantastically written and well-crafted story about police brutality and violence in America, that incorporates all of the themes and characteristics I would have hoped for in this novel. I would consider reading further books by these authors, but I would not go into them with high expectations.