Forest Gate is set in the Estates (or Projects) of London where many of the poor black people live, both English and African. Two teens, best friends, vow to commit suicide together--the African one succeeds, the English one is left behind. Meina, the sister of Ashvin, the African boy is devastated at the loss of her brother, and wants to get to know James, the English boy, to better understand what her brother was thinking. James and Meina reach out to one another in their grief and confusion, and set out to make a life together.

The writing seemed pretty uneven to me. Parts kept me glued to the page; in fact, there should be a whole book about James and his crazy family of drug lords, where his brothers are not even called by name, but by number. Five was an interesting character, too. Meina was less well-drawn--she seemed so cast adrift (as she would be, I suppose) that it was difficult to gain insight into her being. Not a winner for me. ( )

One morning during her early morning class, young Meina is unexpectedly removed and brought to speak with two policemen who inform her that her brother Ashvin is dead. Ashvin and his best friend James had recently put a suicide pact into motion, both boys hanging themselves from two opposite tower roofs. It is only Ashvin who succeeds in ending his life, leaving James behind full of feelings of guilt and irreparable despair. When Meina discovers that the two boys acted in conjunction, she seeks James out to discover Ashvin's motives. The two soon find themselves in a tentative relationship, their sadness giving way to love. But James and Meina have outside conflicts that threaten their new peace. James is the youngest brother of five, and all of his siblings are drug-runners and arms dealers and his mother is addicted to crack. Meina has escaped the war in Somalia after the brutal murder of her parents and is now at the mercy of a benefactor whose motives may not be pure. As Meina and James struggle to cope with the violence and casual cruelties of their London tenement existence, they begin to discover that life's unexpected reversals have led to more than their new relationship and they must find a way to leave their oppressive and stale environment behind to move on to a more fruitful future. In this raw and haunting debut, author Peter Akinti spins a tale of two lives caught in the midst of a terrible violence and the shattered dreams it inflicts upon its innocent bystanders.

It is rare for me to come across a book like this. This story is very gritty and filled with the frustration and sadness of people inhabiting a dim and violence-charged world. Akinti doesn't flinch at all in his tale and the anger and frustration burst off the page and burn into the reader's psyche like fire. There are no missteps in this tale, no fumbling in emotion or intention, and often when I was reading, I was caught up in extreme feelings of anger. The disillusionment of the characters was palpable and it seemed that no matter what they did or said, they were destined to be misunderstood and marginalized. It was an extremely powerful book and one that made me reach into the deep recesses if my mind to formulate questions that I had previously given little to no thought to.

The book begin with the death and attempted suicide of the two boys, and from there, the action focuses on the dual and shifting narrative of James and Meina. Both the main characters have reasons to be broken and despondent; both are filled with indignation at their circumstances. But there is not only the anger of their shared suffering on the page, there is also a sense of their fleeting dreams and unrealized potential and the desperate wrestling of their hope for the future. As the narrative winds on, I came to realize that these two would have to go to extraordinary lengths to find even a modicum of happiness for themselves. To pull out of this desperate tailspin, they would have to be given the chance to start anew when everything and everyone was holding them back. Their situation was indeed grim, and the answers to their problems involved their traveling down paths filled with pain and recrimination. There were no easy answers for these two and it was a long uphill struggle for both of them.

The book was filled with a scathing sense of social commentary. Questions about identity, self worth and the age old repercussions of violence were deftly intertwined into the narrative, with both Meina and James acting as mouthpieces to these shared conflicts. James speaks elegantly and at length about the stereotyping of black males and the ways that people try to defy these stereotypes in themselves and their community, only to find that they are beginning to embody everything that they are fighting against. Meina speaks about the extreme liberties that have been taken of her body and mind, the confusion of war and the loss of self-respect and self-value. Together they have a lot to say, and it is within these messages that the book seeks to be the fulcrum of change. These messages are often biting and brutal, the lessons they impart hard-won. I thought that there was a strange beauty in these messages. The dark meanderings of Akinti's soul took on a life and force that resonated in me profoundly and struck me deeply. The fear that was etched into these characters was palpable and their expression of it not only sincere but frightening.

Another thing I liked about this book was the earnestness of the dialogue. Though most of it was caustic, it had a unique ability to also be reflective and to feel humble. There were small snippets of dialogue that startled with their implications and penetration, and I felt that Akinti definitely succeeded in making his characters' voices believable and authentic in a way that not many books of this caliber do. The questions that the characters asked of each other and themselves were not only searching of themselves but of the wider community surrounding them.

At the end of the book Akinti also provides an essay reflecting his early years in London. This essay reveals that his life was plagued by many of the questions that his characters faced, and I saw a startling similarity between Akinti and his character James. I thought that the essay was a brilliant companion to the story, as it really struck the roots of the societal damage that is inflicted on living breathing human beings.

Though this book was very dark, it excelled in getting its messages across and driving home the realities of violence, subjugation and racism. It was one hell of a powerhouse in terms of plot, character and in the driving home of its messages, and I highly recommend it as a read that crosses genres. It is certainly a book that will make you think, and though the majority of the plot is mired in sadness, there does come a point where things begin to move towards the realm of hope and possibility. Akiniti is a brilliant author, and I hope to read more of his work when it becomes available to me. Don't pass this book up. Though it is far from gentle, it has the ability to change you in some very powerful ways. ( )

Raw and sad this debut novel delivers on its promise of a view into modern London's East End. Blacks in England tend to be Caribbean or African and it is those influences that they've brought with them. I find this to be in contrast with African Americans who were brought here forcibly and whose sensibilities are somewhat different.

Akinti takes a careful and measured look at the consequences of violence and racism on individuals and groups. His characters are worth knowing and the situations he puts them in are believable, even at their most awful. His writing style is firm, clear, and unflinching with an eye towards both the banality and the brutality of every day life. Very much worth reading. ( )

Forest Gate is a depressing and violent book. It begins with the double suicide pact of two teenage boys, Ashvin, from Somalia, and James from London. Ashvin succeeds in his attempt, but James does not. The story that follows is predominantly in the voice of Meina, James’ sister. Meina experiences a growing relationship with James in the gang infested projects of London and is haunted by memories of her family’s experiences in the horrific civil wars in Somalia. Forest gate is not without literary merit – far from it. I’m afraid however, that for me, it was not enough to compensate for the dismal tone of the book. ( )

FOREST GATE is the kind of book that makes you want to contact the author and thank him for letting you experience personal devastation and hope from a safe perch. From the opening pages, it was clear that a fresh new voice was getting down to business--the business of communicating the pain and frustration of two very self-aware young men.

Ashvin and James are hyper-real to me now and I only regret not having more time with them. As a woman, I should probably relate to Meina, Ashvin's sister, but that's not what happened. The honesty and self-awareness of the two teenage boys (hard to think of them as boys after all they've been through) allows the reader some insight into the anguish of helplessness in today's world and what must be happening to thousands of young men as I prattle on. All I can do is hope that more and more people will read this book and come to have some empathy--real feelings, not liberal guilt--for the limitations that box in so many souls that deserve room to fly.

Despite all the heavy-hearted troubles shared in Forest Gate, hope is not out of reach, and glimmers of goodness pop through--as in the police officer who can't bear to heap any more on James and offers instead a helping hand; as in Bloom, who, though flawed, is deeply loyal and gives real support in ways that are truly needed.

Although we may not particularly want insight into what it means to live with humiliation and limitations, the story is important to understand and it's brilliantly told in a page-turning interlude. Read it, share it, pass it along. ( )