#bri jackson

Background: I know that this isn’t considered a part of The Hate U Give’s series, but it mentions the events and is set in the same city, so I’m counting it. I am SO far behind on the hype for this. I am kicking myself for waiting. I should have paid full price and bought it the day it came out. Unfortunately I was a dumbass and waited until it was on book outlet for $7. I have seen the error in my ways and will buy Concrete Rose as soon as I physically can (I’m Sooooo sorry Angie).

First Half: Starr and Bri are two very different people. These are very different books. In the first half a lot of issues have been brought up, dreams vs expectations, poverty, broken families, addiction, brutality and profiling. The raps are amazing, you can tell that Angie Thomas used to write her own. I kinda wish that we had some real rappers make songs to her lyrics, you know? Release On The Come Up: The Album. The stakes are still high, but they are a lot more personal than in THUG. I’m not sure how the book is going to end, I don’t know if there is going to be a happy ending. ALSO! THERE ARE QUEER CHARACTERS!!! MULTIPLE!! That was one thing that I really missed in THUG but she brought it full circle. I’m really enjoying the book so far and will try my hardest to finish in in one night (I’ve got 6ish hours to stay up before I’ll be too sleep deprived at work and 220 pages, but I’m not a super fast reader, so we’ll see if I can do it).

Second Half: There were high stakes for Bri, but the solution didn’t compromise what she needed with what she wanted. It wasn’t as dark at THUG but Bri had unresolved trauma that she needs to work on. It also had a happier ending than THUG. This was more grounded. In my opinion, this could happen to more people. I have had friends who had their power turned off, I don’t live in nearly as bad of an area as Bri and her family, but there are people that I know that do. This book brought up so many issues that aren’t talked about. Whether it was the inherent misogyny of the music industry, homophobia, addiction, it was handled very well. I think that this was even better than THUG.

#12DaysofRevBlackWomen | Day 5: New Age Revolutionary (2010+)

I couldn’t narrow this one down to just one, so I chose the first two that came to mind when I thought of voices that stuck to me when I recently picked my reading habits back up: Angie Thomas & Tomi Adeyemi.

This book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

On The Come Up - Angie Thomas

This book really made me respect rap and hip hop. I love reading Angie Thomas, because of the social aspect of her books. I’m not American, and where I’m from we don’t really have racism towards black people, but more against the immigrants (and racism is mostly based on language). I think it’s important that people know that racism is still something that happens, and happens a lot. When I take the train in the morning, and my compartment is mostly filled with people of color, the person who checks the ticket, usually only checks them. “Because they are more likely to not have bought a ticket.” Funnily enough, I know more white people who never buy a ticket than people of color. Way more. 

4/5 stars