Review: The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert
ARC provided by the publisher through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert follows two Black 18-year-olds, Marva and Duke, on election day as they attempt to participate in my favorite civic duty, voting! The official description of the book is:
From Stonewall Award-winning author Brandy Colbert comes an all-in-one-day love story perfect for fans of The Sun is Also A Star.
Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She's always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?
Duke Crenshaw is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band's first paying gig tonight.
Only problem? Duke can't vote.
When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn't spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right.
And that's how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote. They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva's missing cat), it's clear that there's more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.
Romantic and triumphant, The Voting Booth is proof that you can't sit around waiting for the world to change?but some things are just meant to be.
Colbert wonderfully balances the serious aspects of the story with the light, the present with the past, the reality surrounding elections and voter suppression with a placelessness that allows this story to be applicable to a wide variety of experiences with the topics across the US, and who these people are with vignettes about the people who shaped them. When I originally heard the pitch I was bananas excited because I love voting; I have been a poll worker in an election, I have an election day outfit, I am going to law school, maybe, and it is kind of the dream to work on a campaign. This book is wonderfully well researched, and you will require no suspension of disbelief as to why Duke is unable to vote, everything that happens to Duke is very within the realm of possibility. On the subject of being able to vote, you can check here if your state (assuming you are American, of course) allows same-day voter registration! And here is a website that will tell you the voting and registration laws in your state.
The characters are amazing. We bounce between Marva’s POV and Dukes’s; both characters feel real and are distinct from each other. There will be no confusion on whose POV you are in, Colbert does an excellent job creating different and engaging character voices. Marva is a classic overachiever who goes to one of the local private schools. She is deeply committed to being politically active and very very excited to be voting for the first time. Duke is also going to be a first-time voter, but his mother is far more excited about this fact than he is. His whole family is still dealing with the death of his elder brother, Julian, but on this day, Duke just wants to vote, take his calculus test, and get to his band’s first-ever paid gig that night.
One of my favorite aspects of this book is the way these characters slowly begin to tell you about the people who shaped them into who they are currently. They both explain their family members or friends in ways that make the characters seem full and real and inhabited in such a wonderful way.
The plot is obviously something that super worked for me. Colbert wonderfully balances the issues surrounding voting, both access to the ability to vote and the issues people will be voting on, with the other sub-plots. The book wonderfully rocks between seriousness and moments of levity; it made me laugh out loud a few times and cry once. The book handles issues of voter suppression, racism, how to be politically active, gun violence, and how to address personal tragedy with incredible deftness. It is also incredibly approachable and funny. I just cannot stop gushing about how much I liked reading this book.
This book is deeply enjoyable and timely. It is such an amazing addition to the political YA contemporary conversation; it also deals with how to be involved politically to affect change, which is obviously very timely. Also, it is just a perfect gift to get teens to get them jazzed about voting. I loved the book I kind of want to get it as a gift for everyone.
Don’t be surprised if I read Little & Lion soon, then just sort of make my way through her back catalog until I have to join the wait for whatever she published next.
It is no surprise I gave this book five stars on Goodreads and The Story Graph. This book comes out on July 7th, 2020, and very obviously, I recommend reading it.
