The Rachel Incident - ★★★★☆

By Jalen Layfield

Reading The Rachel Incident is like having a front row seat to watching all the bad decisions your former self made, while now having the hindsight to know better.

WHAT TO EXPECT:

Babes…Babes… I know. This website’s been up nearly a year with just one blog post, I’m ashamed! That changes now.

As you all know, I love to consume media, whether it's books, TV shows, movies, art exhibitions, etc. A lot of podcast topics are inspired by these items, so I thought to myself, why wait to film an episode when I could just yap about it in written form!

Since this is the first post, I want to give you an idea of what to expect.

Most of my blog posts will be ‘reviews,’ I’ll summarize the book, highlight aspects that pique my interest, and then provide an analysis that might include the various literary elements used, how themes throughout the story are related to greater societal themes & trends, and possibly a rant on which characters I didn’t like.

Some posts might be shorter or longer. I also may not address every aspect of the piece, not because I don’t think it’s important or relevant, but truthfully, I just might not have time to.

I felt like I needed to write this because some of the gworls act like they like to tussle when it comes to their favorite things.

MY REVIEW:

Reading The Rachel Incident is like having a front row seat to watching all the bad decisions your former self made, while now having the hindsight to know better.

STAR RATING: ★★★★☆

I experienced this book as a telling of a human's maturation right after leaving home for the first time. Those first encounters with making decisions without the direct influence of guardians and the mistakes that quickly follow, were all too evident in this book, which is the exact reason why I enjoyed it so much.

The story mainly follows Rachel and James, two best friends who work in a bookstore together, and we ride along a bumpy road of their 20s where they begin to figure out the essentials of life: sexuality, career, finances, relationships, family, etc - all the easy stuff, of course.

Whilst dealing with the tsunami that is figuring out all these aspects of life at once, we watch them make some extremely questionable decisions. And while the desire to shake some sense into them grew deeply while reading, simultaneously, the same desire to hug Rachel and James, simply to let them know that it’s going to be okay, also took life.

As we all do, they begin to find their footing and discover themselves (as much as any of us can), and it’s truly gratifying to witness. Because it’s such an authentic portrayal of life and how humans grow, it’s very messy and quite concerning at times, but necessary in order to develop the skills and awareness required to continue to tackle the challenges of life.

Despite my very judgmental first impression of Rachel and James (and quite a few others), by the end of the book, I came to have enjoyed the journey in its entirety: the good, the bad, and the very ugly.

Learning from one’s mistakes and growing from them is arguably the greatest lesson in life. So if you want an entertaining yet reflective read, then I suggest picking up this book!