Review: Waiting for Regina

Waiting for Regina by Curtis W. Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First off, I want to thank Mr. Curtis Smith in providing me a copy of his book for my honest review. I really appreciate it. :D



Before anything else, since this is the first time that I’m reviewing a book with this kind of topic, I’m gonna set a disclaimer. Whatever I say in this review is purely just thoughts in my head and basically just my review. There are no biased words here or whatsoever. If ever I offended you in any way, I apologize in advance. Kindly don’t send any hate my way because of this review. Also, I’m not forcing you to like it or read it. If you feel like not doing it, then don’t.



Now that’s all settled… let’s get started!



Waiting for Regina is a very new kind of book for me. If you bessies don’t know what this book is about, well, it’s about a girl who suffered a loss of a friend, discrimination from a lot of people in their town, while doing all her best to be the best she can be. And I know it's entitled Waiting for Regina but Regina is not the main character in this book. I kind of get why it's entitled like this but it would spoil stuff (I think?) for those who haven't read it yet so I'm just gonna make it clear that Regina is not the main character but Mispha.



Bessies, I totally love the story of this book. I love how the situations in it are really, really close to reality. You see the main character, Mispha, is a Haitian-Jamaican girl. And in the timeline of the book, it was still set on the years where race is a big deal because the slavery is still a bit fresh in the minds of the people. That is why Mispha got discriminated a lot, because of her color.



I like how this book talked about race, religion, friendship, study, and family. I like how it portrayed situations that some are still existing up to now. I get that there were a lot who have read this book and got offended by it because the racial discrimination here is a bit harsh, the religion too, and also the hypocrisy of some characters that I admit I see to some people and to myself as well. Nonetheless, I like it because it was that close to reality.



Still, I’m not American and I have no idea about the slavery that happened so many years ago but I’m also not blind. I know that whatever discrimination portrayed here in the book about race is much less than what really happened in the real world.



And my opinion towards race and that kind of stuff is just that, opinion. The religion part here, that I have a comment to it. We are all human beings and human beings tend to commit sins. And religious people are no excuse to it. I’ve seen some people who are pretty religious betray other people for money, influence, and/or power. And this book portrayed that part of the real world really well.



I love how brave Mr. Jackson is to write a book with a content like this. It’s nice to read this kind of book from time to time. It reminds you that the world, no matter how colorful and happily noisy it is, is still a cruel world.



And like I said earlier, there were people who got offended by this book so a second version was created. But I don't think I still want or need to read the second version. I like this book already because of it's natural honesty and everything else. I don't think I need another book to read that soften the blow on some points from the older version. I like it this way.



To wrap this up, I really loved reading this book. Like serious loved it. I understand that there are really those people who will get offended and won’t like this book because of its contents but for me, I love it. It’s one heck of an honest book. So if you bessies are the kind of readers who got triggered or offended by racial and academic discrimination, a bit of sexual abuse, no it’s not a detailed abused, then stay away from this book. But if you want to appreciate some really honest (maybe not 100% but it’s honest in a sense that it’s close to reality) book, then give this one a go.

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