Nicola Yoon’s “One of Our Kind” — A suburban utopia with dark shadows

In One of Our Kind, Nicola Yoon’s debut novel for adults, the lush, seemingly idyllic Black suburb of Liberty in California serves as a captivating yet unsettling backdrop.

Known for her warmth and affection in her young adult novels, Yoon carries this tenderness into her adult fiction, infusing One of Our Kind with a depth of feeling that both illuminates and darkens the story’s core.

At the heart of the novel is Jasmyn, a pregnant public defender, and her husband Kingston, a venture capitalist. They’ve chosen Liberty as their home, believing it to be a secure haven for their future family and a base from which they can continue their work in uplifting the Black community.

Jasmyn, with her unyielding commitment to justice, and Kingston, who mentors at-risk youth, embody the ideals of activism and empowerment that many readers might expect to thrive in such a setting. But as Yoon deftly unravels, Liberty is not the bastion of solidarity and progress it appears to be.

Liberty’s residents, despite their shared identity and the community’s glossy veneer, are disturbingly averse to activism. Their silence on the shooting of a 4-year-old Black girl by a white police officer speaks volumes, echoing a broader, more insidious refusal to engage with the harsh realities of racial injustice.

This reluctance, this wilful ignorance, is both perplexing and infuriating, especially to Jasmyn and her friends, who are increasingly isolated in their desire for change.

Troubling apathy

As the narrative progresses, Yoon expertly heightens the tension, slowly peeling back the layers of Liberty’s polished exterior to reveal the sinister secret at its foundation. Jasmyn’s growing frustration transforms into dread as she uncovers the truth — one that not only explains the community’s troubling apathy but also threatens to consume her and her loved ones.

What sets One of Our Kind apart is Yoon’s deep compassion for her characters, even as she places them in situations that challenge their very humanity. She doesn’t just build a world; she breathes life into it, making the stakes feel personal, the terror all too real.

The novel is more than a thriller; it’s an exploration of what happens when the ideals we cherish clash with the dark undercurrents of history and human nature.

Yoon’s narrative style is evocative, her prose lush yet precise, capturing both the beauty of Liberty’s physical environment and the creeping unease that underpins it.

The grand staircase and Roman columns of Liberty’s Black History Museum serve as potent symbols — monuments to a past that is celebrated yet simultaneously distorted in service of maintaining the status quo.

In One of Our Kind, Nicola Yoon offers a powerful, nuanced critique of the contradictions that can exist within seemingly perfect communities. It’s a novel that lingers long after the final page, forcing readers to question the true cost of comfort and the dangers of complacency.

For anyone who believes in the transformative power of fiction, One of Our Kind is not to be missed.

Ahmad Nazir is a UAE based freelance writer, with a degree in education from the Université de Montpellier in Southern France