Good Kings Bad Kings: A Novel

I first learned about Good Kings Bad Kings, as I was looking for recommendations on Book Riot’s #ReadHarder Challenge. My book club randomly assigned challenges to us this year, and mine was #23 ‘Read a book by a disabled author.’ And what a phenomenal novel to start with. In quick summary, the book is written with a chorus cast; that centers around an assisted living facility on the Southside of Chicago for disabled teenage youth, called ILLC (pronounced “ill-see”). It features 7 unique narrators that range from patients to employees to one recruiter and explores the feelings of being institutionalized and the treatment of those society chooses to push out of sight. This was a heart-break of a novel, that also made you laugh at the teens’ fierce desire for independence, love, sex, belonging, and purpose. It reminds us, that even though we may have different physical or mental abilities, our human desires remain, largely the same. The friendships and romances forged were so real, you both smiled, cheered, and cried at the characters’ every sorrow and success. And its not lost on the reader that the abuse, rape, and death portrayed in the novel, represent a much larger systemic problem. One I believe Good Kings Bad Kings sheds light on. Susan Nussbaum won the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and it’s no surprise why. At 24, she was hit by a car that took about a 7-month recovery, and started her life as a wheelchair-user. This transition changed her life, and after much pain, shame, and confusion - she channeled it to become an outspoken advocate, focused on changing the narrative of disabled persons, and pushing important political change. Good Kings Bad Kings is her debut novel, and I’m excited to learn more.