OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile
Danielle Vitalis delivers a stunning performance of this family drama set in London, which will have listeners hanging on every word. Cyril Pennington’s five children barely know each other, but when one of them, aspiring social influencer Dimple, seems to have accidentally killed her on-again, off-again boyfriend in self-defense, all four of her half-siblings show up to help. Vitalis captures the siblings’ distinct dialogue, giving each a unique sound that enhances their personality. As the most ridiculous shenanigans ensue, Vitalis deftly moves from heartfelt to funny, sometimes in a single sentence. With such an excellent story and Vitalis’s stellar performance, this audiobook is a definite must-listen of the year. K.D.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
07/11/2022
Carty-Williams’s underwhelming sophomore effort (after Queenie) follows five London siblings and half siblings who were raised by their mothers, and hardly glimpsed their father, Jamaican playboy bus driver Cyril Pennington. As adults, they’ve gone their separate ways, never having cause to interact, much less build meaningful relationships. That is, until protagonist Dimple Pennington, an aspiring social media influencer at 30 who lives with her mother, lands in hot water after a fight with her abusive boyfriend, Kyron, ends with him slipping and falling in their kitchen. Dimple, worried Kyron is dead and she will be accused of murder, calls her oldest sister, Nikisha, for help, and Nikisha arrives on the scene with the other three siblings—a dramatic if implausible development. A wild romp ensues as they try to hide Kyron’s body. As Dimple faces a ticking clock involving a nude photo and blackmail, the plot oscillates between the quest to put the incident with Kyron behind them and the siblings’ developing relationships with one another. As Cyril slips back into their lives, they begin to understand him through his own family history. The juicy premise gives way to conflicts that are solved too easily, and there are too many anticlimactic scenes. There’s potential here, but’s rather frustratingly not realized. Agents: Deborah Schneider and Gelfman Schneider, ICM Partners. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
"Fresh, funny, poignant—of the moment."—Oprah Daily
“A dark comedy, full of zinging dialogue, vivid characters and all the consolations and complications of family. A treat.” —Jesse Armstrong, creator of Succession
"Candice Carty-William’s sophomore novel is a charming delight. Here is a big-hearted story about five siblings who find a way to become a family despite the absence of their itinerant father... An incredibly satisfying read."—Roxanne Gay, New York Times Bestselling author of Hunger
"A hilarious romp." —Oprah Quarterly
“A big-hearted story of a young woman coming to terms with her complicated London family from the author of the game-changing Queenie.” —The Guardian
“The ambition behind Carty-Williams’s novel calls to mind what Zadie Smith brought to her first novel, ‘White Teeth.’ And to some extent, Carty-Williams is to south London what Smith is to the north: a sharp, humorous voice that paints greater London’s Black communities with the nuance they deserve.”—Washington Post
“A darkly comedic novel of family... As heartfelt as it is hilarious. Carty-Williams probes hard questions about race, microaggressions and abandonment within a larger, somehow softer story about what makes a family, what makes a friend and what happens when the two are one and the same.” —Shelf Awareness
"...A big-hearted reminder that a messy family is still a family." —Time Magazine
“People Person is more than just the title of this phenomenal second novel. It’s a statement of intent. It’s a declaration that when Candice Carty-Williams writes, she captures the hearts and minds of readers everywhere.” —Melissa Cummings-Quarry, Black Girls Book Club
“People Person is a triumph. I was so moved by this tender, often humorous, portrait of these five siblings, their burgeoning relationships and all their complexities. I loved every one of these beautifully rendered characters and I’m sure the world will too. I couldn’t put it down.” —Caleb Nelson, author of Open Water
“Wonderful. People Person is about 5 half-siblings (1 dad, 4 mothers) who, in response to a crisis, meet as adults and start shaping themselves into a family. It's a warm novel, funny and full of emotional intelligence. The tone is light-hearted, even comic at times, but underneath there's an undertow, a steady drumbeat reminding us of all the microaggressions black people experience on a daily basis - and that white people are mostly oblivious of. I cannot recommend it highly enough.” —Marian Keyes
“People Person is a portrait of a family that is as poignant as it is hilarious. It had me belly-laughing, then picking up my jaw from the floor, then nodding in delighted agreement. Candice is a writer who is not only revealing modern Britain with each of her novels; she is defining it. Cyril Pennington is a character for the ages, but this story truly belongs to the children he never managed to parent. I loved it.” —Sara Collins
“I loved People Person. Candice is so gifted at pulling you in as a writer. The storyline is hugely arresting and I was gripped immediately. Candice is remarkably perceptive in the way she writes people; her characters that are so well drawn, and so believable. When I wasn't reading People Person I was thinking about it and I had to finish it at the earliest opportunity.” —Annie Mac
Library Journal - Audio
★ 12/01/2022
Carty-Williams's (Queenie) latest features the five Pennington half-siblings, who know of the others, but don't really know one another. Their only memory of being together was a quick trip for ice cream with dad, Cyril, in his gold Jeep. Now adults, they are thrown together when social media influencer wannabe Dimple's abusive boyfriend appears to be dead in her kitchen, and she doesn't know what to do. She calls her oldest sister, Nakisha, who brings everyone together to deal with the situation. The story takes a turn when the body disappears, and the boyfriend turns up with no memory of the night in question. The good turn doesn't last, and trouble ensues. This is a real predicament, but they learn by working together, they can take on just about anything. Narrator Danielle Vitalis does a spectacular job differentiating each character as she takes us into the center of this familial scrum. Listeners will be able to feel the siblings taking stock of and getting to know one another while learning the background of this flawed, yet oddly functional family. VERDICT Part family drama, part thriller, and part farce, this stunning audio is highly recommended for all public libraries.—Christa Van Herreweghe
OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile
Danielle Vitalis delivers a stunning performance of this family drama set in London, which will have listeners hanging on every word. Cyril Pennington’s five children barely know each other, but when one of them, aspiring social influencer Dimple, seems to have accidentally killed her on-again, off-again boyfriend in self-defense, all four of her half-siblings show up to help. Vitalis captures the siblings’ distinct dialogue, giving each a unique sound that enhances their personality. As the most ridiculous shenanigans ensue, Vitalis deftly moves from heartfelt to funny, sometimes in a single sentence. With such an excellent story and Vitalis’s stellar performance, this audiobook is a definite must-listen of the year. K.D.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2022-06-06
The five children of Cyril Pennington learn they have something more in common than their father's DNA.
The many fans of Carty-Williams' debut, Queenie (2019), will have lots of fun with her sophomore effort, another high-spirited, socially conscious novel set in South London. Of the five Pennington offspring, only the eldest and the youngest, Nikisha and Prynce, have the same mother (Cyril stopped by to drop off a card for Nikisha's 10th birthday; Prynce was born nine months later). The second oldest is Danny, whose mother is White, then Dimple and Lizzie, only a few weeks apart in age, with Indian Jamaican and Yoruba mothers, respectively. Kudos to Carty-Williams for defining each of these many characters so clearly that you can easily keep track of who's who. Cyril would proudly claim the same, his interpretation of fatherhood entailing being "generally aware that he had five children (and possibly more, but he wasn’t going to go looking), remembering their names and sometimes their birthdays, and asking them for money when times were hard." As the book opens, the kids range in age from 9 to 19, and Cyril has decided it's time for them to meet. He drives around and picks them all up in his gold Jeep, which he loves "more than anything else in his life and he [doesn’t] see a problem with that"—but the meeting doesn't go all that well. Nobody smiles except him, Nikisha fat-shames Dimple, Lizzie just wants to go home and "tell her mum that Cyril had basically kidnapped her and forced her to spend time with a group of Jamaicans." They don't see each other again for 16 years, when Dimple accidentally murders her boyfriend and calls on her siblings for help. This unfolding mishap is the main narrative line around which the characters transform into a family, also coping with racism, toxic relationships, social media crises, and intergenerational trauma along the way.
This way-out combination of family drama, madcap plot, and political edge ends up being quite endearing.
