Review of Proclamation of a Dark Skynned Gyrl

[Brett Linette]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Proclamation of a Dark Skynned Gyrl" by Amanda Allen.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Proclamation of a Dark Skynned Gyrl by Amanda Allen is a book about loving who you are regardless of what you are.

Because racism is a thing, Amanda is bullied for having dark skin. Not even winning a competition helps; instead of being congratulated, she's just accused of cheating. It's when she's older that people (men) start to take an interest in her. While you'd think having someone take an interest in you would be a good thing, Amanda learns that it all depends on just what they're interested in you for.

Many of the chapters open with an illustration. I love these illustrations so much. Some of them looked like they were drawn with a pencil. This isn't to say that they didn't look like they were professionally drawn. These sketches are some of the best sketches I've ever seen. It helps that they match the mood of the stories that follow. A lot of these stories are sad. There's that one story about her winning a competition. You'd think this would be a happy story. It's the fact that someone accuses her of cheating that makes it sad.

As sad as some of the stories are, this isn't to say that none of the stories are happy. I like the one where she dates this guy who lives with his brother. You'd think he'd move out once his brother does. Since it's too big of an apartment to have all to himself, he takes his brother's absence as an opportunity to have her move in. I don't know about this. It just feels like something that would happen in a rom-com. This isn't to say that it's too cliché to be cute; it's still pretty cute.

The first few pages are very different from the rest of the book; the first few pages are about her childhood, while the rest of the book follows her as an adult. The book gets better as it goes on. She still faces challenges. It's just that she's better at overcoming them. The mere fact that she's older makes her that much wiser. My only complaint is how short the book is. I think the book should have been longer. It's weird to see her go from making friends with people to making love with people. It's weird because we go from one to the other so fast. Had the book been longer, it'd feel slower.

It's almost scary to see her life complicate with every page. With that being said, it's these complications that make her the strong person that she ends up being. One of her most complicated relationships is her first relationship. It's with one of her classmates. She initially likes the fact that he doesn't pressure her into having sex with him. This is until she finds out that he's having sex with someone else. The other person that he's involved with is a guy. This could imply that he's either bisexual or homosexual. She argues that it's wrong for him to have a boyfriend. While we're left to assume that this is because she's his girlfriend, some people would argue that it's wrong for him to have a boyfriend, period. One can only hope that she didn't mean this. I still think that she should have taken it upon herself to make it clear that she didn't.

All things considered, I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. Dark skin is beautiful. I'm in awe of those who have dark skin. As hard as it can be to read about the challenges that can come with having dark skin, I make a point to. I think all of us should. We can't solve problems that we don't know exist. It's books like this one that let us know. While I thought about deducting a star for homophobia, because nothing homophobic is blatantly stated, I'm going to give the author the benefit of the doubt and say that she's not homophobic. I'd recommend this book to those who like reading about the risk of dating. Even though this book is more of a memoir, it reads like a romance novel.

There are no spelling errors in this book. There are no errors whatsoever.

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Proclamation of a Dark Skynned Gyrl
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[Nan_Syl]

Great review.
It isn't always easy being proud of what others see as what should be a weakness. It is always about the determination. Thanks again for the review.

[QualityAndQuantity]

The topic of racism is still there in our world. Even though a lot of people are trying their best to eradicate it, it still remains. I believe that Amanda went through more than her share of bad memories and experiences, and how she is treated now. great review.

[Aisha Yakub]

I'm curious about the spelling of the words in the title. This is one of the sad times when the end doesn't justify the means. Thank you for your review.

[Amiczy Heaven]

Looks like Amanda never had it easy. I hope things turned out okay for her in the end. Thanks for your review.

[T T 2]

The book seems deep with raw emotions expressed by the author. Being judged by your skin color is still prevalent in today's time and the book would definitely help and inspire others to feel good about who they are and how they look. Loved the review.

[Asiaa Szn]

Why was skinned spelled that way in the title? That aside, it's obvious racism is still a major flaw in the society and hopefully, it disappears one day.