The Summer I Ate the Rich / Maika Moulite & Maritza Moulite / Book Review

THE SUMMER I ATE THE RICH

Because it is always the people who have been victimized who are asked to consider their reaction to the harms done against them and never the other way around.

Brielle Petitfour has a secret: she's a zombie. But not, like, the undead flesh-eating kind. Or at least not entirely. She's closer to the zonbie of her Haitian roots, made of dark magic and something more-than-human. Mostly, she's been a burden to her immigrant mother, who has had to remind her all her life to be more likable, more friendly, more human. Brielle has done her best to comply.

When her chronically ill mother suddenly loses her job, Brielle knows she has to step up to earn some extra cash. Even if that means tapping into her latent zombie power. Even if that means using her culinary skill to serve the very people who have used and abused her mother and other poor immigrants like her. The rich elite of Miami are begging for unique flavors, and Brielle is ready to provide. She's even got a secret ingredient: human flesh.

THOUGHTS

Such a unique and engaging voice! This piece feels very timely, touching on immigrant rights, healthcare inequality, and backbreaking labor in the service industry. Oh, and the (literal) impulse to eat the rich. I loved this read!

PROS

Voice Variety	Brielle Petitfour has such a unique narrative voice! She pulled me into her story from the first page. She might not be as expressive, as bubbly and energetic, as other contemporary YA narrators, but that just helped her voice stand out. She is cool, aloof, and calculating in a way I appreciated. Something new and different in the contemporary space!
American Dream	I really liked Brielle reaching for her own dream in this book, a dream that is different from the future her mother envisions. While that's a common theme in YA--reaching for a future your parents don't want for you--Brielle also shoulders the burden of being a first generation American, the daughter of an immigrant who has sacrificed so much to give Brielle a broader future than she would have back in Haiti. Brielle knows what she wants, and she knows that reaching for her dreams might not mean security. She doesn't have the safety net that other teens might have, and there's risk involved with entering this culinary career field--especially because failure won't just be detrimental to herself but also to the family who she feels obligated to send support back to in Haiti.
Upper Echelon	This book really hooked me with Brielle's voice from the start, and I stayed enchanted the deeper and deeper Brielle got into this world of exorbitant wealth. I loved the twisted turns this plot took, highlighted by the absolute apathy of the uber-wealthy. It is disturbing in all the right ways.

CONS

As engaging as this book is, I will say that the plot loses a bit of steam about halfway through. Don't get me wrong. I was fully engaged through the whole book, but when I stopped to write some notes at about 3/4 of the book done, it really hit me that... not much had actually happened. Not after Brielle started her internship, anyway. I was so wrapped up in the characters, in Brielle's voice as she told her story, that I didn't really notice the plot meandering, but it still bears mentioning that those looking for plot-forward books might struggle with this one.	Lost Momentum
If there was one thing I would have wanted more of in this book, it would be Brielle's sisters. Brielle's sisters act as a chorus of sorts, chiming in with bits of backstory, zonbie lore, and a deep dive into character motivations and manipulations. And I wanted to like that, this positioning of these sisters (who Brielle has never met in person) as Muses observing it all, but I'm not sure the execution worked all that well. I loved the idea, but I ended up underwhelmed with the effect on the page. There was a lot of potential. I saw the vision. But it just didn't work for me here.	Chorus Crisis
As much as I enjoyed this peek into the lifestyle of the old-money wealthy, sometimes it felt a bit... stereotypical. Like a made-for-TV drama presenting some fantasy version of high society life. Because you just can't convince me that all this office riffraff goes out after work to do coke in the secret upper lounge of an Asian fusion restaurant. Maybe the top of the top, the highest executives in this company have their speakeasy-style high society gatherings, but so, so many of the company workers? Doesn't seem likely. It feels like made-for-TV drama more than something, you know, real.	Made For TV

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10

Fans of Wendy Heard's You Can Trust Me will like diving into a world of wealth and dark twists. Fans of Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé will like following another girl in a space that wasn't quite made for her (a space that isn't so happy to have her).

Details Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) Date: April 22, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.