Book Review: "Exposure" by Ava Dellaira

More than 10 years ago, I read Ava Dellaira’s debut novel, a YA book called Love Letters to the Dead. It was an absolutely beautiful, powerful story. Exposure is Dellaira’s first adult novel, and it is equally powerful, moving, and thought-provoking.

In 2004, Juliette, a student at the University of Chicago, runs into Noah, a high school senior who was in a poetry class she taught as a volunteer project. Juliette is white and Noah is Black, but the two have grief in common. They hook up twice in Juliette’s dorm room.

In 2016, after years of struggling and trying not to lose hope, Noah realizes his dream of becoming a filmmaker. His movie is about to be released, and he and his wife, Jesse, a bestselling novelist, have recently had a baby. On the cusp of this life-changing opportunity, Annie, who was Juliette’s best friend, shares a bombshell about Noah that she recently discovered, and it threatens to upend everything he and Jesse have worked for.

“‘You wanna be able to say she’s good and he’s bad,’ Jesse says, ‘and it would be easier if it worked that way. We all want to be one of the good guys. But we have to live inside of the same story, and it gets messy.’”

The book is narrated by Noah, Jesse, Juliette, and Annie, and shifts back and forth between 1999 and 2016. Each character has their own issues to deal with, but all four are greatly affected by grief, and the book demonstrates how thoroughly it can affect a person.

I’ll admit I didn’t love everything these characters did, but I devoured this book. I’m definitely going to be thinking about Exposure for a long time.