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Keisha The Sket: The award-winning, coming-of-age novel and modern cult classic
WINNER OF THE BRITISH BOOK DISCOVER AWARD 2022
Where were you when Keisha the Sket first broke the internet?
Keisha is a girl from the ends, sharp, feisty and ambitious; she's been labelled 'top sket' but she's making it work. When childhood crush and long-time admirer, Ricardo, finally wins her over, Keisha has it power, a love life and the chance for stability. But trauma comes knocking and with it a whirlwind of choices that will define what kind of a woman she truly wants to be.
Told with the heart and soul of the inner city, with an unforgettable heroine, Keisha the Sket is a revelation of the true, raw, arousing and tender core of British youth culture.
Complete with essays from esteemed contemporary writers Candice Carty-Williams, Caleb Femi and Aniefiok Ekpoudom.
Where were you when Keisha the Sket first broke the internet?
Keisha is a girl from the ends, sharp, feisty and ambitious; she's been labelled 'top sket' but she's making it work. When childhood crush and long-time admirer, Ricardo, finally wins her over, Keisha has it power, a love life and the chance for stability. But trauma comes knocking and with it a whirlwind of choices that will define what kind of a woman she truly wants to be.
Told with the heart and soul of the inner city, with an unforgettable heroine, Keisha the Sket is a revelation of the true, raw, arousing and tender core of British youth culture.
Complete with essays from esteemed contemporary writers Candice Carty-Williams, Caleb Femi and Aniefiok Ekpoudom.
399 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 14, 2021
80 people are currently reading
1449 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
July 10, 2022
I love how this book has been put together. From the essay in the beginning, the original story, the reworked narrative, some extra essays at the back and a q and a with the author - you really get the whole picture of what is at play here. Keisha is simply not a story written by a young teen online back in the day, it was a cultural reset and something that brought many key discussions to the forefront of a lot of young impressionable minds. Sitting back and taking everything this book had to offer into account and looking at the whole picture, it was phenomenal.
As someone who only became aware of this story in more recent years and didn’t grow up discussing it in my formative years, this was a really interesting read. I cannot believe that the author originally penned this at the age of 13. It’s very easy to see why this story holds so much value and is stored safely in the hearts of people’s nostalgia. Without even necessarily meaning to, it touched on so many cultural and societal issues and highlighted the struggle of growing up in Britain as a young Black girl.
The writing style took a minute to get to grips with but honestly once you sink back into school slang and really roll with the early nostalgia, it was so easy to connect with. It really pushed the boundaries of literature and challenged the idea that books should be written a certain way to seem intelligible. This book was effortlessly clever, witty and full of emotion. It was very easy to read, despite the often times heavy content inside, and once you’re in the zone reading this book you’ll get lost in it and fly through the narrative.
Reading the revisited version straight after the original story was amazing. Not only to see the growth in how the author decides to present the story to us, but the changes she makes in the way characters behave and have discussions about what is and isn’t acceptable. It put these conversations directly into the text to directly challenge the readers mindsets, and it helps really bring forward the thoughts and feelings of Keisha as well which were sometimes absent from the first instalment as it was mostly dialogue and snappy paced scenes without much processing events afterwards. It was really nice growth for the story.
I think it had really good examples and discussions of female sexuality and bodily autonomy, two things that being open about it really important. It also had a genuine, healthy female friendship and an on page romance full of communication and understanding between the two characters without judgement. It was nice to see on the page. The character development we watch these characters go through, especially in the rework, was amazing.
Both editions alongside the discussions before and after the texts were really great. Highly recommend picking this one up. Very much worth all of the praise it’s accumulated.
As someone who only became aware of this story in more recent years and didn’t grow up discussing it in my formative years, this was a really interesting read. I cannot believe that the author originally penned this at the age of 13. It’s very easy to see why this story holds so much value and is stored safely in the hearts of people’s nostalgia. Without even necessarily meaning to, it touched on so many cultural and societal issues and highlighted the struggle of growing up in Britain as a young Black girl.
The writing style took a minute to get to grips with but honestly once you sink back into school slang and really roll with the early nostalgia, it was so easy to connect with. It really pushed the boundaries of literature and challenged the idea that books should be written a certain way to seem intelligible. This book was effortlessly clever, witty and full of emotion. It was very easy to read, despite the often times heavy content inside, and once you’re in the zone reading this book you’ll get lost in it and fly through the narrative.
Reading the revisited version straight after the original story was amazing. Not only to see the growth in how the author decides to present the story to us, but the changes she makes in the way characters behave and have discussions about what is and isn’t acceptable. It put these conversations directly into the text to directly challenge the readers mindsets, and it helps really bring forward the thoughts and feelings of Keisha as well which were sometimes absent from the first instalment as it was mostly dialogue and snappy paced scenes without much processing events afterwards. It was really nice growth for the story.
I think it had really good examples and discussions of female sexuality and bodily autonomy, two things that being open about it really important. It also had a genuine, healthy female friendship and an on page romance full of communication and understanding between the two characters without judgement. It was nice to see on the page. The character development we watch these characters go through, especially in the rework, was amazing.
Both editions alongside the discussions before and after the texts were really great. Highly recommend picking this one up. Very much worth all of the praise it’s accumulated.
November 10, 2021
Loved the chance to read the original text and seeing the experiences through adult lens. It was slightly repetitive in the second section because the reworked story is essentially the same but I appreciated the refinements, edits and fleshing out of the original story. The third section includes essays expanding on the cultural / societal factors and influences which shaped Black British lives in the period the original was written is helpful for readers unfamiliar with the landscape. CCW’s essay said nothing new or groundbreaking for me. The other 3 essays are more impactful. Loved this though primarily for the work flaws and all.
March 22, 2022
A cultural artefact. The book was everything I wanted it to be. It had nostalgia and cringey 2000s text slang, but also reflective and thoughtful input from the author, and finally an answer to what eventually happened to Keisha.
November 11, 2021
"He was a top runner for the top shotter on the block"
'Keisha The Sket' follows the life of Keisha from East London, as she explores the adult world of sex and relationships whilst still a teenager herself. Keisha's promiscuity causes her to re-evaluate & reflect on her past choices & experiences. It is a stark & brutal depiction of life as a black female teenager living a life which can be related to for many.
'Keisha The Sket' is undoubtedly a literary relic for Black British urban culture of those from the noughties. When I heard that it was being officially published by Merky Books, I couldn't wait to read it (I opted for the audiobook instead). I have memories of it being wild from the excited chatters in my school playground, but I don't think my decade old memories prepared me enough for what I listened to last week. It was raw AF!! I felt like I had no business listening to it because it is THAT unfiltered.
It pushed boundaries that I don't think we were quite ready for back in the day. Jade LB, was highlighting a lot of social issues that seemed quite frankly normal at the time; Teenage sex; Toxic masculinity; Teenage pregnancies; Absent parents; Rape culture... the list could go on and on.
'Looking at this story with adult eyes made me quite sad, sad because I know that every woman at some stage in their lives has been "Keisha The Sket". Judged for their promiscuity, seen as a body to serve and a child to neglect.
I'd love to say that I loved 'Keisha The Sket" but I didn't if I'm honest with you. My reading palette is not what it once was. Where I may have been able to stomach & digest this plot & colloquial language in my late teenage years, now, it just feels unrelatable and outdated. What I did like was the themes it explored. I personally didn't gravitate towards the retelling of Keisha The Sket (part 2), not sure if it was boredom of listening to the same story again, albeit a few changes, the narration or the ending 🤷🏾♀️
I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place with rating this. Judging it on its literary basis and not the prevalence of its history:
OG (part 1) ⭐⭐
Revisited (part 2) ⭐⭐.5
'Keisha The Sket' follows the life of Keisha from East London, as she explores the adult world of sex and relationships whilst still a teenager herself. Keisha's promiscuity causes her to re-evaluate & reflect on her past choices & experiences. It is a stark & brutal depiction of life as a black female teenager living a life which can be related to for many.
'Keisha The Sket' is undoubtedly a literary relic for Black British urban culture of those from the noughties. When I heard that it was being officially published by Merky Books, I couldn't wait to read it (I opted for the audiobook instead). I have memories of it being wild from the excited chatters in my school playground, but I don't think my decade old memories prepared me enough for what I listened to last week. It was raw AF!! I felt like I had no business listening to it because it is THAT unfiltered.
It pushed boundaries that I don't think we were quite ready for back in the day. Jade LB, was highlighting a lot of social issues that seemed quite frankly normal at the time; Teenage sex; Toxic masculinity; Teenage pregnancies; Absent parents; Rape culture... the list could go on and on.
'Looking at this story with adult eyes made me quite sad, sad because I know that every woman at some stage in their lives has been "Keisha The Sket". Judged for their promiscuity, seen as a body to serve and a child to neglect.
I'd love to say that I loved 'Keisha The Sket" but I didn't if I'm honest with you. My reading palette is not what it once was. Where I may have been able to stomach & digest this plot & colloquial language in my late teenage years, now, it just feels unrelatable and outdated. What I did like was the themes it explored. I personally didn't gravitate towards the retelling of Keisha The Sket (part 2), not sure if it was boredom of listening to the same story again, albeit a few changes, the narration or the ending 🤷🏾♀️
I feel like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place with rating this. Judging it on its literary basis and not the prevalence of its history:
OG (part 1) ⭐⭐
Revisited (part 2) ⭐⭐.5
November 26, 2021
THE PLOT: ‘Keisha the Sket’ by Jade LB is fiction about a young Black girl in 00’s London. 17-year-old Keisha has a reputation for being a “top sket” (aka “ho”) but all she wants is to fall in love with her best friend’s brother, Riccardo. The story follows her exploits (and sexploits) during the summer before her final year of college. Originally written when the author was 13-years-old, Keisha became a 00’s cultural phenomenon as chapters were shared around schools via Bluetooth. Now published formally, this edition contains the original text (written in txt spk), a revised version and essays by the author and other Black cultural figures.
RATING: This is so hard to rate but I’m giving it three stars. ‘Keisha the Sket’ provides much-needed representation and is an important part of the literary canon. It evokes a time in my childhood so perfectly and is filled with nostalgia. However, I don’t think the treatment of the story could work for a new reader who wanted to pick this up with fresh eyes. Personally, I wish they used the original text as a jumping off point to write a detailed, nuanced story about a Black British girl in the early 00’s, rather than faithfully sticking to the old script. It still read like teenage fanfiction, which means it’s not very satisfying if you want to read it like a standalone novel. I think I wanted a triumphant story about a girl who overcomes the misogynistic labels and embraces her own sexuality, but I got a one-note story with graphic sexual depiction, a lot of trauma and a meandering plot.
Read my full review on my blog aminasbookshelf.com / IG @aminasbookshelf
Thanks to Merky Books for my gifted copy.
RATING: This is so hard to rate but I’m giving it three stars. ‘Keisha the Sket’ provides much-needed representation and is an important part of the literary canon. It evokes a time in my childhood so perfectly and is filled with nostalgia. However, I don’t think the treatment of the story could work for a new reader who wanted to pick this up with fresh eyes. Personally, I wish they used the original text as a jumping off point to write a detailed, nuanced story about a Black British girl in the early 00’s, rather than faithfully sticking to the old script. It still read like teenage fanfiction, which means it’s not very satisfying if you want to read it like a standalone novel. I think I wanted a triumphant story about a girl who overcomes the misogynistic labels and embraces her own sexuality, but I got a one-note story with graphic sexual depiction, a lot of trauma and a meandering plot.
Read my full review on my blog aminasbookshelf.com / IG @aminasbookshelf
Thanks to Merky Books for my gifted copy.
October 24, 2021
I absolutely adored this book, the history of the narrative, and every word of the complex, funny, and dark story that Keisha lives through - I hanged onto every word. The essays were all fantastic too, and helped embed how important the story was in the mid 2000s
March 6, 2022
First off I’m a Black feminist and my review will be written from that perspective. This book has me feeling so conflicted. On one side I feel that this is the true lived experience to girls living in ends especially Black girls. But I feel as though the author could have done more in the revisited version to retell Keisha story in a more fluent way. I think the character deserves more than being raped twice and having her only support system (which is abusive in some manner) ripped away from her.
I think she did a good job in presenting how young black girls in proximity to men who commit crime, are treated by the people around them and the system (there is abit where Ricardo is arrested and the fact that Keisha was just raped was completely ignored, reinforcing the invisibility of BW) . In the revisited version I think Jade could have done more in establishing how the system fails young black girls. Everything was so flat and so surface level, there was no progression or too little character development.
Jade had a great idea but she did by take it far enough. The revisited version still seemed like a Facebook story, despite how patriarchy operates in ends at some point we all learned a lesson or two. But I just feel like Jade presents this aspect of girlhood in a rather disrespectful way. Especially finding out that this isn’t from her lived experience at all. Knowing that the revisited version should have taken a lot more care in giving “girls from ends” the respect they deserve.
However, I still understand what Jade was trying to do in terms of black girlhood. Often times we experience violence with no way to understand or express what has happened to us and we just moved on. I do agree with her on certain aspects in the authors notes and what she was trying to do but I honestly believe this shouldn’t have been published unless the revisited version really dived deeper into how black girls are failed by various social institutions.
There is no detailing what the character wants or presents outside of their sexuality, it’s only until the end that we get an idea of what she wants. What are her hopes? What are her dreams? The fact she doesn’t have any or it’s not detailed enough and the focus on her sexuality and body as a 17 year old girl makes me very uncomfortable. The story didn’t seem to do what the author thought she was doing, I also think it was rather rushed from the authors notes it seems like there was some serious time constraints and she didn’t get to write what she really wanted to.
All in all, I think maybe because of my personal journey and how I feel regarding the presentation of black womanhood, sexuality and girlhood I felt rather uncomfortable by how much constant violence Keisha faced and there is no deeper discussion in terms of understanding what has happened. I think she wasted a iconic moment by sticking to the OG version too much.
Personally, I didn’t care for the essays written in the hard back copy. It seemed like everyone was just trying to justify why there is a book about a young black girl being raped multiple times including statutory and putting it under the guise of black sexuality. Respectfully as far as I’m concerned the main character is 17 and is still a minor and this is just very disturbing.
I’m going to reflect and update this review soon. Sorry that it’s long xx 😘
I think she did a good job in presenting how young black girls in proximity to men who commit crime, are treated by the people around them and the system (there is abit where Ricardo is arrested and the fact that Keisha was just raped was completely ignored, reinforcing the invisibility of BW) . In the revisited version I think Jade could have done more in establishing how the system fails young black girls. Everything was so flat and so surface level, there was no progression or too little character development.
Jade had a great idea but she did by take it far enough. The revisited version still seemed like a Facebook story, despite how patriarchy operates in ends at some point we all learned a lesson or two. But I just feel like Jade presents this aspect of girlhood in a rather disrespectful way. Especially finding out that this isn’t from her lived experience at all. Knowing that the revisited version should have taken a lot more care in giving “girls from ends” the respect they deserve.
However, I still understand what Jade was trying to do in terms of black girlhood. Often times we experience violence with no way to understand or express what has happened to us and we just moved on. I do agree with her on certain aspects in the authors notes and what she was trying to do but I honestly believe this shouldn’t have been published unless the revisited version really dived deeper into how black girls are failed by various social institutions.
There is no detailing what the character wants or presents outside of their sexuality, it’s only until the end that we get an idea of what she wants. What are her hopes? What are her dreams? The fact she doesn’t have any or it’s not detailed enough and the focus on her sexuality and body as a 17 year old girl makes me very uncomfortable. The story didn’t seem to do what the author thought she was doing, I also think it was rather rushed from the authors notes it seems like there was some serious time constraints and she didn’t get to write what she really wanted to.
All in all, I think maybe because of my personal journey and how I feel regarding the presentation of black womanhood, sexuality and girlhood I felt rather uncomfortable by how much constant violence Keisha faced and there is no deeper discussion in terms of understanding what has happened. I think she wasted a iconic moment by sticking to the OG version too much.
Personally, I didn’t care for the essays written in the hard back copy. It seemed like everyone was just trying to justify why there is a book about a young black girl being raped multiple times including statutory and putting it under the guise of black sexuality. Respectfully as far as I’m concerned the main character is 17 and is still a minor and this is just very disturbing.
I’m going to reflect and update this review soon. Sorry that it’s long xx 😘
August 17, 2022
I was really excited to pick this up and it is another from Merky books but I clearly just didn’t “get” this. I liked the fact that it was the original text from Piczo and that it had been kept the same. But to be on the third sex scene by page 40 was just a bit much for me… I found it really repetitive in that sense. I’m sure I’ll read the essays at some point which will probably help me understand it more.
December 7, 2021
Nostalgia ultra . I digested the book straight into my veins
October 13, 2023
Amazing!!! Especially the rewrite, and the emotional, beautiful ending of the rewrite - but also the original, because of how raw it was. The essays were incredible too.
October 17, 2021
I love a bit of fresh closure on a Sunday!
What an absolute time machine this has been!
The retelling was *chef's kiss*
Jade's voice is so important to the culture, often forgotten by literature and I can't wait to read more from her.
What an absolute time machine this has been!
The retelling was *chef's kiss*
Jade's voice is so important to the culture, often forgotten by literature and I can't wait to read more from her.
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January 9, 2023Another book where a star rating would be a difficult one to pin down. Ultimately this book isn't really for me, it was written for and resonated with a generation of young Black girls/women and a few Black boys who received it at the time it was written. This version, published for the first time and including a rewrite and essays, simply brings it to a larger audience and explores its impact almost 20 years later. If I rated it purely based on my own enjoyment as a thirty-something white woman, I wouldn't be reflecting the potential impact of the novel for someone else. I appreciate this is, in general, the truth for most star ratings but in this case it feels important to point that out.
That said, I'm really glad I read this. If you don't know, Keisha the Sket was a bit of a phenomenon when it was initially written anonymously (by a 13 year old girl) and distributed to mobile phones via bluetooth. It tells the story of 17 year old Keisha, a sexually voracious teen who falls in love with Ricardo and finds herself haunted both by her past and what the young men and boys around her think that means about how they can treat her. It's written in slang and text speak, contains a lot of explicit sex scenes including non-consensual and gang rape encounters as well as exploring the joy of female friendship and a genuinely loving relationship. It's a pretty impressive narrative arc keeping the age of the author in mind as well as shockingly sexual, especially keeping in mind the naivety the author - known only as Jade LB - claims in the intro and particularly in a time pre-Google! It's the kind of book that would have been received with horror and censorship had the adults around at the time got their hands on it, but in hindsight appears to have meant a huge amount to those who read it at the time. My sister's boyfriend didn't read it but certainly remembers the buzz from some of the girls at his school at the time, and magazines such as Gal Dem were ecstatic about the news that Merky Books had tracked down the author and were due to publish the story.
There are two versions of the story in the book. The first is the OG, written in the original format and failing to include any ending (because I believe Jade LB never wrote one, instead allowing others to fly free with their fan fiction endings!), and the second is the story rewritten now by the same author. I had mixed thoughts about the rewrite, although most interesting is the sense that it was very cathartic for Jade LB. I found it surprisingly harder to read than the original because the style felt more broken, switching between the original slang language and the author's more adult and articulate prose. This was effective in exploring Keisha's mindset more deeply but felt a bit disruptive to the tone and feel as a reader. I really enjoyed some of the additions - such as the greater descriptions into why Keisha's parents are so absent while others felt like a forced attempt from an adult to understand Keisha's behaviour and motivations in a way that was probably too complex for a 17 year old to be aware of.
Finally, the essays were a great addition to the book, helping place the story in literary history and offering personal accounts of what it had meant to the contributors at the time of their initial reading. I particularly liked Caleb Femi's account of it being the first time he'd encountered a female voice in regards to sexuality and masculinity in the endz. At times I felt like the erotic fiction of a 13 year old girl was being over-intellectualised and wondered whether some of the contributors were placing their own beliefs and values on the text. Again, though I did feel that way at times during reading, as I mentioned at the start it's possible that I simply didn't have the same experiences growing up and something written by a 13 year old girl in my own sphere may well have had the same impact.
That said, I'm really glad I read this. If you don't know, Keisha the Sket was a bit of a phenomenon when it was initially written anonymously (by a 13 year old girl) and distributed to mobile phones via bluetooth. It tells the story of 17 year old Keisha, a sexually voracious teen who falls in love with Ricardo and finds herself haunted both by her past and what the young men and boys around her think that means about how they can treat her. It's written in slang and text speak, contains a lot of explicit sex scenes including non-consensual and gang rape encounters as well as exploring the joy of female friendship and a genuinely loving relationship. It's a pretty impressive narrative arc keeping the age of the author in mind as well as shockingly sexual, especially keeping in mind the naivety the author - known only as Jade LB - claims in the intro and particularly in a time pre-Google! It's the kind of book that would have been received with horror and censorship had the adults around at the time got their hands on it, but in hindsight appears to have meant a huge amount to those who read it at the time. My sister's boyfriend didn't read it but certainly remembers the buzz from some of the girls at his school at the time, and magazines such as Gal Dem were ecstatic about the news that Merky Books had tracked down the author and were due to publish the story.
There are two versions of the story in the book. The first is the OG, written in the original format and failing to include any ending (because I believe Jade LB never wrote one, instead allowing others to fly free with their fan fiction endings!), and the second is the story rewritten now by the same author. I had mixed thoughts about the rewrite, although most interesting is the sense that it was very cathartic for Jade LB. I found it surprisingly harder to read than the original because the style felt more broken, switching between the original slang language and the author's more adult and articulate prose. This was effective in exploring Keisha's mindset more deeply but felt a bit disruptive to the tone and feel as a reader. I really enjoyed some of the additions - such as the greater descriptions into why Keisha's parents are so absent while others felt like a forced attempt from an adult to understand Keisha's behaviour and motivations in a way that was probably too complex for a 17 year old to be aware of.
Finally, the essays were a great addition to the book, helping place the story in literary history and offering personal accounts of what it had meant to the contributors at the time of their initial reading. I particularly liked Caleb Femi's account of it being the first time he'd encountered a female voice in regards to sexuality and masculinity in the endz. At times I felt like the erotic fiction of a 13 year old girl was being over-intellectualised and wondered whether some of the contributors were placing their own beliefs and values on the text. Again, though I did feel that way at times during reading, as I mentioned at the start it's possible that I simply didn't have the same experiences growing up and something written by a 13 year old girl in my own sphere may well have had the same impact.
September 24, 2022
As others here have said, this is a relic of the noughties. I remember my ex-boyfriend telling me about it, and I couldn’t quite believe that a piece of contemporary literature had become such a mainstay in the popular culture of his north-west London school, being passed around, shown to friends, and expanded upon in fan fiction. The essays in this collection are a great start at contextualising the whole phenomenon, though one could write so much more about sexuality, language, and black British culture off the back of this. Hopefully, the publication of this will encourage such studies. The story itself is filthy and juvenile, but compelling and arresting. It sits strangely between a condemnation of Keisha’s status as a ‘sket’, and an extended fantasy of inhabiting a positive, hypersexual black femininity. It’s sad that the original was never finished. Fascinating!
August 7, 2022
5 STARS
when i first joined social media in 2015, i would always see people reminiscing about keisha the sket.
this is a story that has stood the test of time, and breaks the boundaries of literature. this is a story that is unequivocally BLACK and BRITISH. this is story that is for us and by us. 13 year old jade lb was child genius, a prodigy!
i'm happy that we got two versions of the same story - the original text and a completed version rewritten by jade lb as an adult. i enjoyed seeing how the authoress implemented an adult understanding of sex, black female sexuality and patriarchy into the text decades later.
when i first joined social media in 2015, i would always see people reminiscing about keisha the sket.
this is a story that has stood the test of time, and breaks the boundaries of literature. this is a story that is unequivocally BLACK and BRITISH. this is story that is for us and by us. 13 year old jade lb was child genius, a prodigy!
i'm happy that we got two versions of the same story - the original text and a completed version rewritten by jade lb as an adult. i enjoyed seeing how the authoress implemented an adult understanding of sex, black female sexuality and patriarchy into the text decades later.
April 3, 2022
I never read Keisha when it circulated online, but I loved being able to read it in its original form for the first time. It took me a while to get through mostly because the subject was so heavy - multiple sexual assaults of a teenage girl that she just brushes through (as highlighted by Jade LB, “because she has to”)
Would recommend to any lovers of Queenie, London culture, or anyone looking to read about an experience that might not match their own.
Would recommend to any lovers of Queenie, London culture, or anyone looking to read about an experience that might not match their own.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 28, 2024
a black british classic, glad keisha finally got an ending she deserved. i just wish the revisited version was more in-depth and maybe had an adult version of keisha to see what she’s doing since most of the book’s original audience are also adults now. it would’ve been nice to see a form of relatability from teenager to adulthood
March 13, 2023
Loved the format of this book. Having the essay from the writer at the beginning and essays from other Black writers afterwards was really interesting for the context of the story. I think the retelling was a bit pointless as it wasn’t too dissimilar so it was repetitive.
December 29, 2024
real rating: 3.5 stars
October 18, 2021
This was my first encounter with Keisha the Sket. I was, I suppose, too young and too far removed from London culture of the 2000s to read it in its first iteration. I had noticed it amongst the dozens of advanced reading copies at my workplace and I was contemplating reading it based on the title alone, but it wasn't until I saw commentary by Candice Carty-Williams and Bolu Babalola on twitter that I realised what a cultural phenomenon I was missing out on. So, I picked it up.
If you don't know, there are two versions of Keisha the Sket in the book. The original was written by Jade LB in 2005-2007, from the ages of thirteen to fifteen, and the second version was revisited and revised by LB over the last two or three years.
The original version of Keisha is flawed in lots of ways; Jade LB, in her introduction, talks about its misogynoir and slut-shaming, which she uses the revised version to address and rectify. Despite these flaws, I found the original—The OG—incredibly charming. I lived in London for three years while studying, so I make no claims to being a Londoner or to any London culture, but there were so many voices I recognised, speaking a language I don't speak but recognise all the same, and I loved seeing that used as the only language in a book, instead of being framed as slang. More charming, though, was how obvious it was that The OG was written by a teenager—although I grew up in a different kind of world, I recognised that perspective, those big teenage ideas of what love and life are like, and the way of structuring plot and dialogue which I remember all too well into my pre-teen and teenage forays into creative writing.
Underneath this teenaged charm, there is a darkness to Keisha, the turbulence of existing as a black teenage girl in a world that is not just not designed for you, but actively works against you. It reminded me a lot of Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You, specifically the elements of the story that take place during the characters' teen years. There is an unrelenting, unwavering brutality in both. It's worth reading, it needs to be read, but it is not easy.
The second part of the book, Keisha Revisited maintains this brutality. There is also a maturity to the narrative voice and a sophistication to the structure, which understandably were missing in the original, but the spirit of Keisha as a character remains. LB also, as mentioned, rectifies other issues. It saddened me a little that the language became more (and I hate this word) 'formalised'. It is no longer written entirely in slang and Ebonics. I'm not sure why this choice was made, but it was, and I suppose at least it makes it more accessible to a wider audience (non-native Londoners or English-speakers).
I also, I have to say, struggled to read the same story twice in quick succession, although many elements were re-shaped and re-told. I'm not very good at re-reading books, personally. I ended up skimming Revisited until it reached the point where The OG finished (it had been left on a cliff-hanger). I then absolutely devoured it! The ending was .
Because I read a proof copy of the book, one of the four essays that make up the final part of it is unfortunately missing, but of course I thoroughly enjoyed reading the insights of Candice Carty-Williams, Caleb Femi, and Aniefiok Ekpoudom, especially as someone who missed out on the original cultural phenomenon.
If you don't know, there are two versions of Keisha the Sket in the book. The original was written by Jade LB in 2005-2007, from the ages of thirteen to fifteen, and the second version was revisited and revised by LB over the last two or three years.
The original version of Keisha is flawed in lots of ways; Jade LB, in her introduction, talks about its misogynoir and slut-shaming, which she uses the revised version to address and rectify. Despite these flaws, I found the original—The OG—incredibly charming. I lived in London for three years while studying, so I make no claims to being a Londoner or to any London culture, but there were so many voices I recognised, speaking a language I don't speak but recognise all the same, and I loved seeing that used as the only language in a book, instead of being framed as slang. More charming, though, was how obvious it was that The OG was written by a teenager—although I grew up in a different kind of world, I recognised that perspective, those big teenage ideas of what love and life are like, and the way of structuring plot and dialogue which I remember all too well into my pre-teen and teenage forays into creative writing.
Underneath this teenaged charm, there is a darkness to Keisha, the turbulence of existing as a black teenage girl in a world that is not just not designed for you, but actively works against you. It reminded me a lot of Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You, specifically the elements of the story that take place during the characters' teen years. There is an unrelenting, unwavering brutality in both. It's worth reading, it needs to be read, but it is not easy.
The second part of the book, Keisha Revisited maintains this brutality. There is also a maturity to the narrative voice and a sophistication to the structure, which understandably were missing in the original, but the spirit of Keisha as a character remains. LB also, as mentioned, rectifies other issues. It saddened me a little that the language became more (and I hate this word) 'formalised'. It is no longer written entirely in slang and Ebonics. I'm not sure why this choice was made, but it was, and I suppose at least it makes it more accessible to a wider audience (non-native Londoners or English-speakers).
I also, I have to say, struggled to read the same story twice in quick succession, although many elements were re-shaped and re-told. I'm not very good at re-reading books, personally. I ended up skimming Revisited until it reached the point where The OG finished (it had been left on a cliff-hanger). I then absolutely devoured it! The ending was .
Because I read a proof copy of the book, one of the four essays that make up the final part of it is unfortunately missing, but of course I thoroughly enjoyed reading the insights of Candice Carty-Williams, Caleb Femi, and Aniefiok Ekpoudom, especially as someone who missed out on the original cultural phenomenon.
January 9, 2025
3.5 stars ✨
For me, this book wasn't my typical style of book; heavily centred around sex and stuff. But it opened a well needed conversation regarding the sexualisation of black women. Although I squirmed and cringed for the majority of the book, it acknowledges the fact that black women are sexualised for almost anything they do. Keisha always faced unwarranted behaviour from men sexualising her, which is very relevant in today's society. It was a difficult read, but it did mantain my attention from the start to the finish (excluding the fact that I skipped the essays at the end). All I have is pity for Keisha, a product of an environment where women are hypersexaulised, called "skets" (hoes), and gets raped as punishment due to her rejection. Definitely challenging to read. Initially, when I read the OG, I was disturbed. As the plot sank in though, I understand Jade's approach to narrate a hypersexual teen from her viewpoint.
For me, this book wasn't my typical style of book; heavily centred around sex and stuff. But it opened a well needed conversation regarding the sexualisation of black women. Although I squirmed and cringed for the majority of the book, it acknowledges the fact that black women are sexualised for almost anything they do. Keisha always faced unwarranted behaviour from men sexualising her, which is very relevant in today's society. It was a difficult read, but it did mantain my attention from the start to the finish (excluding the fact that I skipped the essays at the end). All I have is pity for Keisha, a product of an environment where women are hypersexaulised, called "skets" (hoes), and gets raped as punishment due to her rejection. Definitely challenging to read. Initially, when I read the OG, I was disturbed. As the plot sank in though, I understand Jade's approach to narrate a hypersexual teen from her viewpoint.
December 19, 2021
I enjoyed reading The OG for the nostalgia I felt and the memories it brought back of growing up. However a lot of that was from personal recollection and I didn’t think that Keisha Revisited did much to help someone outside to this immerse themselves in. The main area I did think it shed better light on was shopping and fashion trends of the time and made me laugh at myself for how I always wore a tracksuit and thought that passed as suitably dressed (sometimes I still do). Not really sure how to star this but a 3 feels about right for the memories and discussions it provokes.
August 19, 2022
I really liked the way this book was put together. The authors intro, mixture of the original text and the re-write and the essays from black creatives, all came together really well to make an insightful read.
It left me feeling really uplifted and proud of the contributions black people have made to British culture. It is undeniable that black communities have had a huge hand in shaping this.
It was clear from reading the intro, essays and interview that the original story was a ground breaking piece of work. In a time when there was very little black British representation a teenage girl sought out a way to create her own which resounded with thousands of others.
I chose to read the OG text and the re-write in tangent, chapter by chapter. I guess I did this as I wanted to compare and remember what had happened so I could understand what changes were made. I'm intrigued to know in what order other people read the book.
It left me feeling really uplifted and proud of the contributions black people have made to British culture. It is undeniable that black communities have had a huge hand in shaping this.
It was clear from reading the intro, essays and interview that the original story was a ground breaking piece of work. In a time when there was very little black British representation a teenage girl sought out a way to create her own which resounded with thousands of others.
I chose to read the OG text and the re-write in tangent, chapter by chapter. I guess I did this as I wanted to compare and remember what had happened so I could understand what changes were made. I'm intrigued to know in what order other people read the book.
January 29, 2024
I loved this for so many reasons. The book is set up in such a nice way to include some really insightful and honest notes from the author, the original transcript, a revised version, and other essays. Though it wasn’t the main point of the story I loved what Jade LB shared about the disconnect she felt from the teenage her who wrote and shared this, and how it shaped her early adulthood. I also loved how she revised the story, staying true to what her younger self wrote while adding more context and depth.
November 1, 2024
I never read this when I was living in Hackney in 2006 but rings really true and clearly iconic. Jade, at 13, genuinely had an authorial voice and was really funny, managed to make this outrageous story into something you wanted to keep reading. I felt like I knew keisha! Making bad decisions, up for a good time ! The retelling in standard English doesn’t hit as hard but still enjoyed a bit of closure.
November 22, 2021
This gets four stars because I think the concept and everything it represents is so important. Keisha the Sket was before my time (I wouldn’t have been in double digits yet), but getting to read the actual story, the revised version (although I will admit I skimmed/skipped a lot of it because it is basically the exact same story again), and then the essays of people it influenced was fascinating. Would definitely recommend for black British women, particularly those in young adulthood.
August 10, 2025
A cultural artefact
October 3, 2022
I enjoyed the experience of reading this. A viral sensation in London schools in the 2000s, Keisha the Sket was originally an online story and has now been reworked by author Jade LB. The original story now comes with an introduction, a rewrite and a series of essays contextualising and analysing it. Keisha the Sket was groundbreaking in ways it’s 13 year old author wasn’t fully aware of at the time: for its idiomatic language of black londoners and the explicit depiction of teenage sexuality. This was a really interesting read about the contrasting pressures placed on black girls, where they are both denied childhood by being seen as adults and pressured to remain pure all at once.
June 16, 2024
I read the original story when I was young on MySpace, picking up the chapters where I could and all of the stories it inspired.
As a now 29 year old white woman, this book was a truly eye opening read about the impact, influence and deeper understanding of this story and its place in time, particularly on black British culture and how it touched and reached so many people.
The conversations and essays in this book were insightful, intelligent and IMPORTANT.
Huge props for Jade revisiting this and the team that made it possible as it’s very rare for things like this to get the platform they deserve.
Anyone that heard of/read Keisha back in the day but didn’t “get it” I think you’ll take a lot out of the commentary in this book.
As a now 29 year old white woman, this book was a truly eye opening read about the impact, influence and deeper understanding of this story and its place in time, particularly on black British culture and how it touched and reached so many people.
The conversations and essays in this book were insightful, intelligent and IMPORTANT.
Huge props for Jade revisiting this and the team that made it possible as it’s very rare for things like this to get the platform they deserve.
Anyone that heard of/read Keisha back in the day but didn’t “get it” I think you’ll take a lot out of the commentary in this book.
December 13, 2022
was a good book, played into some stereotypes and expected, but overall was eye opening especially the end credit type bit
September 1, 2022
I loved it
It was entertaining, powerful and important all in one. It managed to bring back some memories of school, as well as take me back to a time that I only really just had a glimpse of. I'm talking MSNx after school chats. I do remember the meeting groups of guys as an all girls group tho that was a classic - endless cinema trips and McDonalds for no reason than to waste time together and flirt somewhere else than in a Spanish class.
It really takes you back to the mindset of being a teen who at one point or another bassicly just is obsessed with how they appear, what others think of them, fitting in, flirting, finding themselves, trying new things and trying to be grown up.
Especially in young women, it shows this desperation to be liked, which is so easily attached to body image and sex appeal. This feels even more the case when reflecting on young women like Keisha, where as a young black girl this is highlighted even more so, to fit into rigid tropes about black womanhood.
I loved the insight into a teenage mind, the fact that this was a cultural reset at the time and was shared through whatever means possible. It takes me back to swapping songs on bluetooth on my friends carpet and having to choose between rihanna or gwen stefanis you only had so much storage.
I think the book also does such justice to dialect. Its written so literally as if its verbal, it really takes you one step further into Keishas world. I've not really seen any other book do this to such an extent - I loved it!
There is so much more to comment on like references to rape culture, language around sex, the discussion of pleasure etc etc but for now these are my initial thoughts xx
It was entertaining, powerful and important all in one. It managed to bring back some memories of school, as well as take me back to a time that I only really just had a glimpse of. I'm talking MSNx after school chats. I do remember the meeting groups of guys as an all girls group tho that was a classic - endless cinema trips and McDonalds for no reason than to waste time together and flirt somewhere else than in a Spanish class.
It really takes you back to the mindset of being a teen who at one point or another bassicly just is obsessed with how they appear, what others think of them, fitting in, flirting, finding themselves, trying new things and trying to be grown up.
Especially in young women, it shows this desperation to be liked, which is so easily attached to body image and sex appeal. This feels even more the case when reflecting on young women like Keisha, where as a young black girl this is highlighted even more so, to fit into rigid tropes about black womanhood.
I loved the insight into a teenage mind, the fact that this was a cultural reset at the time and was shared through whatever means possible. It takes me back to swapping songs on bluetooth on my friends carpet and having to choose between rihanna or gwen stefanis you only had so much storage.
I think the book also does such justice to dialect. Its written so literally as if its verbal, it really takes you one step further into Keishas world. I've not really seen any other book do this to such an extent - I loved it!
There is so much more to comment on like references to rape culture, language around sex, the discussion of pleasure etc etc but for now these are my initial thoughts xx
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