Trauma to Triumph – Unpacking the Journey in fast, by Millie Bellizaire

​As of now, you all only know of me writing reviews for memoirs and biographies. That’s not all I read though. I actually read as much fiction as I do nonfiction. I listen to memoirs and biographies on Audible, but I read most of my fiction on the Kindle app on my iPad, or a good old physical paperback or hardcover.
 
Anyway though, last month I read fast by Millie Bellizaire, and while on Story Graph it’s listed as a “fast” read, I didn’t feel like I was flying through the story. I felt like I was walking side by side through all the different stages of life with the resilient protagonist Caprice Latimore. None of those stages were easy and at different times I felt frustrated with everyone around Caprice. The book was hard to put down with all that was happening. I still made it to the end, and smiled when I swiped that last page, because oh yes, I read it on my Kindle app.
 
Over the last five or six months, I’ve started watching and following readers on Black BookTok. As an author, I’ve been following readers on Instagram for years, but readers aren’t able to engage followers as much as they can on TikTok. In real life it’s hard to find friends who enjoy reading fiction to the point of wanting to share and discuss books, and go to book events. On TikTok however, I feel like I’ve finally found my tribe. Of course fast came up!
 
Bellizaire is a straightforward writer. I appreciate her candidness that is free of crudeness. She tells the story of Caprice Latimore, a young Black girl who loses her mother too soon, in the late 1990s, and she is sent to live with her grandmother and uncle. Right away, we know something isn’t right with the uncle. Though he’s young, he’s not a “fun-loving” young. He’s creepy. He’s also a deadbeat. He’s slovenly and he deals weed out of his mother’s house. Like the creep he is, he grooms and eventually takes advantage of little Caprice. When the situation tragically comes to light, Caprice’s grandmother insists that her son leaves the house, and threatens to call the police if doesn’t. Eventually the authorities are involved, and this leads to Caprice’s uncle’s arrest. He ends up serving a little less than a decade in prison. Instead of Caprice’s grandmother feeling like she saved the day, she now resents Caprice for her son’s incarceration, and proceeds to further abuse Caprice in other ways.
 
Meanwhile, Shaun, a little boy across the street, just a few years older than Caprice, notices her. He is intrigued by her and makes it his business to befriend her a look out for her as much as he can. He doesn’t know or understand everything that is going on with Caprice, but from elementary school to high school, he stays by her side, doing all he can to fill what he perceives to be the voids in her life. Eventually, Caprice’s uncle is released from prison, and Caprice finally tells Shaun about the sexual abuse. Shaun is enraged by what Caprice has revealed to him. He knows that Caprice’s uncle intends to hurt her again, and Shaun plans to stop him.
 
One crazy night, when Caprice’s uncle sneaks into her bedroom, he finds Shaun waiting for him in the dark, with a gun. Shots are fired, and Shaun ends up in the hospital. When he comes home, he finds out Caprice was sent away, and more than a decade passes before the two see each other again.
 
fast is a happily ever after, but certainly not without a rocky road to joy. I mentioned earlier that everyone in Caprice’s life frustrated me at some point. I felt like everyone had a chance to save her and didn’t act on it. I suppose had she been saved early on there wouldn’t have been a story. Caprice and Shaun wouldn’t have learned all that they needed to and they may have missed out on certain aspects of growth. I also feel that perhaps Bellizaire wanted readers to think about how we second guess ourselves when we encounter someone in a dangerous situation. We don’t trust ourselves to be able to make a difference. Or unless something is blatant, we think we may be wrong and we fear stepping on someone’s toes or causing damage instead of doing damage control. These are afterthoughts, because while reading I was going off!
 
fast was a realistic, deep, and heartfelt read. I love that it ended on a high happy note, and I will be adding more of Millie Bellizaire’s titles to my TBR. If contemporary fiction that includes family drama, coming of age, and romance is your cup of tea, you will enjoy Caprice’s fast journey.