Torn on this one....

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The cover of Members Only is bright and eye catching. It’s a tennis ball in a pool and once you read the first look, the tennis ball has a bit of meaning. We start this story off in a meeting room at the Tennis Club, where a board is interviewing potential new members. Raj is a member there with his family, and while his wife has a long time tie to the club, he is newly part of it, and also has an iffy stance on the club as whole. While interviewing new members Raj experiences some passive racism, and then fumbles the ball with his own words when a potential new member is a fellow POC. He’s accused of racism by the other board members, and I assume it’s all down hill from there. All in all this first look screamed to me, “speak with intention.” But it also screamed, “remember that people can be more than the things that they’ve said before.” I realize that the entire story will be about race in America, and how Raj as a POC fits into the Tennis Club and the world in general. I think this first look was well written and had me thinking deeply in just the first 22 pages. Personally I’m not sure I would pick this one up, because I read to escape, and exploring themes of racism does not help me, as a POC who experiences these things regularly, escape. That being said, I foresee this book having that big best seller potential.