Everything Is Not Enough

October 2, 2023
Åkerström’s overheated sequel to In Every Mirror She’s Black offers more stories of Black immigrants dealing with race and class dynamics in Stockholm. Yasmiin, a Somalian who supported herself with sex work in Rome, moves to Sweden and marries entrepreneur Yagiz Celik. One day, the police question Yasmiin about Muna Sahhed, a younger acquaintance and fellow Somali immigrant who allegedly attacked a man before jumping in front of a train and ending up in a coma. Yasmiin assumes Muna acted in self-defense and vows to care for her when she wakes up. Meanwhile, Brittany, a Black American woman and former flight attendant, hopes to divorce Jonny von Ludin, the golden son of one of the richest families in the country. She’s convinced that Jonny only married her because she’s the spitting image of his high-school love Maya Daniels, and she fears his racist family may have had something to do with Maya’s long-ago disappearance. A third story line involves Brittany’s frenemy Kemi, also from the U.S., who’s having an affair with married colleague Ragnar Pettersen, Jonny’s best friend at the company where he is CEO. Unfortunately, the author’s exploration of the problems of racial fetishism is muddled by the convoluted plot. Readers will be left at a loss.