It's a Privilege Just to Be Here
4
It's a Privilege Just to Be Here Book Cover It's a Privilege Just to Be Here
Emma Sasaki
Fiction
Alcolve Press
June 4, 2024
E-Book, Hardcover, Audio
320

This debut novel pulls at the threads in the (cashmere) sweater of academia in a witty take-down of racial inequality at prep schools, perfect for fans of Such a Fun Age and Little Fires Everywhere. Wesley Friends School is Washington, DC’s most prestigious prep school, so of course Aki Hiyashi-Brown is proud to teach at it and send her daughter Meg there. Why wouldn't she be proud? Parents kill to have their kid enrolled at Wesley. Not only is Wesley the premier academic destination for the children of the capital elite, but it’s all about "Diversity, Achievement, Collegiality," as all of their very glossy brochures will tell you. Aki should know. As one of the few teachers of color on staff, her face is plastered on every piece of marketing material the school puts out. But when someone graffities "Make Wesley White Again" on campus, it exposes dangerous fault lines in the school community, ones Aki may have spent a lifetime learning to ignore. But her headstrong daughter Meg, and Meg's similarly impassioned classmates, aren’t willing to let slide. Before Aki can sort out her own feelings about the hate crime, the school's administration jumps into crisis management mode and assigns Aki as head of the Racial Equity Task Force—a cobbled-together initiative that has a big name and little actual power. Between hasty changes to the curriculum and an anonymous instagram account documenting a history of racism on campus, Aki finds herself caught in the crossfire. Written with the keen eye of a prep school insider, It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here is a piercing takedown of the American institution of prep schools and a searing perspective on the growing tensions between generations with different ideas of how to fight for what you believe in.

It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here by Emma Sasaki

A fantastic debut novel by Emma Sasaki, It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here seems to cover all the conversations happening right now in ethnic households.

It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here reads like the ultimate gossip read. Although yes, the material and topics covered are indeed essential when it comes to marginalized identities existing in elite and mainly white spaces. The more I would read, the more I could not look away. The details and glimpses into this high school society is salacious and awakening.

The story

This story is told from Aki’s POV. She is a mom of Meg, a teen in this super elite and prestigious high school, she also teaches a course there as well. It seems as though tensions have always been high in this school and it’s culture. Which completely makes sense cut-throat academia and plus rich-rich parents, it simply makes sense.

One day at the school a wall gets vandalized with a racial slur, this is when the plot thickens. Aki begins to dig into the issue, all while she gets appointed as the leader of the schools DEI committee. Aki soon discovers that this committee is just a place holder and pacifier for the very justified anger and suspicion surrounding the vandalization.

Aki’s daughter Meg is also voicing (very loudly) her opinion on the crime. She forms both in person and online groups to investigate who comitted the crime at the school. Which sets Aki up for tumultuous investigation slash representation of the school’s (in)action.

The more Aki confronts Meg, the more Aki digs, the more scandalized you will be.

My thoughts

I truly enjoyed It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here. I stated earlier it reads like a super spectacle of a scandal. Also mixed with such great covering about important talks about race and equity, especially in academic settings.

I completely agree with a similar reading experience to reading Little Fires Everywhere. Emma Sasaki created something all it’s own with It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here. Lots of uncomfortable confrontations and conversations. I think my biggest takeaway is how there is beauty in leaning into some of the ways younger generations come to talk about and confront social justice. But there is still beauty in the balancing it with older generations wisdom as well.

It’s a Privilege Just to Be Here by Emma Sasaki comes out June 4. Grab your copy here!

This book was provided in exchance for an honest review graphic