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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
Clever, funny and interesting. One thing that struck me when I finished was the respect given to the supporting characters, they were developed and had their own arcs and interests outside of Bri.
y’all...... if you have the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, do it.
Angie Thomas does it again! Seriously so good. Set in the same area as The Hate U Give but a year later. Bri is strong, and determined to help her family through hard times. I was sucked in from the first chapter. So so good.
3.5 stars
Audiobook
I really enjoy Angie Thomas's books, especially the audiobooks. The audiobook experience was especially important in this one because of the rapping. While rapping isn't something that I'm particularly interested in, I did enjoy the commentary that was happening in this book. Especially when she spoke of people blaming songs that speak of violence for violence rather than looking at the reason for why the song was written or why people are angry.
We also spoke on topics of discrimination at school, overcoming drug addiction, and staying out of gang violence, even when it surrounds you. We saw how different decisions lead to different outcomes, but we also saw that there can be more than one way for someone to get out of the "ghetto".
I liked that Bri was working on becoming her own person, making a name for herself. She didn't just want to be her father's daughter, didn't just want to be the stereotype that people think she is, doesn't just want to be the victim.
I also enjoyed watching her go through changes while still trying not to lose those around her.
Overall, an entertaining read.
Audiobook
I really enjoy Angie Thomas's books, especially the audiobooks. The audiobook experience was especially important in this one because of the rapping. While rapping isn't something that I'm particularly interested in, I did enjoy the commentary that was happening in this book. Especially when she spoke of people blaming songs that speak of violence for violence rather than looking at the reason for why the song was written or why people are angry.
We also spoke on topics of discrimination at school, overcoming drug addiction, and staying out of gang violence, even when it surrounds you. We saw how different decisions lead to different outcomes, but we also saw that there can be more than one way for someone to get out of the "ghetto".
I liked that Bri was working on becoming her own person, making a name for herself. She didn't just want to be her father's daughter, didn't just want to be the stereotype that people think she is, doesn't just want to be the victim.
I also enjoyed watching her go through changes while still trying not to lose those around her.
Overall, an entertaining read.
On the Come Up doesn’t hit quite the same highs as Thomas’s other fiction, but there’s still lots to love. There are some great moments where we get access to the main character’s thoughts as she works through her new rhymes and their meaningful connections to her own life. I wish there were more moments like this. I was hungry for more of this as opposed to some of the other conflicts that emerge. The primary conflict focuses on the fallout surrounding the release of one song which is misinterpreted by a variety of people. There’s some interesting meditation on the way hip hop music reflects and refracts the black community for a global audience. Plenty of artists have had their lyrics misconstrued. On the Come Up won’t revolutionize an entire genre like The Hate U Give did, but it’s still an entertaining, breezy read for those wanting to return to Garden Heights.
I must admit I felt The Hate U Give was a tough act to follow and I wasn’t sure it could be done. As I started and the premise seemed a lot milder, I was sure this one couldn’t live up to the break-out hit... I was wrong!!!
This book unpacks similar issues about belonging, race, privilege, perceptions but does so in a way that is relatable and therefore hopefully more eye-opening.
The story follows 16-year-old Bri, daughter of a rap legend, whose life was taken too soon. She also has dreams of rap-stardom but does she follow in her Father’s footsteps? What does that mean? Who WAS he? Who is she? And how does she work this out in a world that has set her up to fail?
A great book for early teens and beyond. A must read!
This book unpacks similar issues about belonging, race, privilege, perceptions but does so in a way that is relatable and therefore hopefully more eye-opening.
The story follows 16-year-old Bri, daughter of a rap legend, whose life was taken too soon. She also has dreams of rap-stardom but does she follow in her Father’s footsteps? What does that mean? Who WAS he? Who is she? And how does she work this out in a world that has set her up to fail?
A great book for early teens and beyond. A must read!
How selfish is it to say, "I need you to be okay so that I'll be okay"?
No matter what my opinion of this book is, this was well crafted, well written, and a book that will go down as an amazing book for anyone to read.
Angie Thomas has this way of creating characters that are completely different from each other and yet still seem similar in my mind. Starr and Bri are both completely different characters and people, but they seem similar in a way. I really enjoyed how On the Come Up really transported me back to Garden Heights with Angie's writing. It seemed authentic and kept me completely hooked the whole time. We also got to see the life of a completely new character. Bri's problems are similar to Starr's, in that she faces discrimination and wants to bring attention to it, and yet different as her mother and older brother struggle to support their family off of only two paychecks. I truly felt her problems were brought to life in a way that could make anyone understand and maybe see a new perspective that they hadn't thought of before.
That brings me to another thing I really enjoyed about this book. It brought to life how different black teenage girls are treated differently in school because of their skin color. And I don't mean other kids being racist, I mean teachers and faculty treating children differently because of age-old stereotypes and ingrained racism. Bri is sent to the principal's office and sent to detention for what other students are given a warning for. Bri rolls her eyes and is considered a threat. A white girl does the same thing and she gets no punishment. Bri is tackled to the ground by security officers, and people want to frame her as a drug dealer in order to make what those security officers did seem more justified. Any teenager would benefit from reading this, especially in a school setting with discussions, but obviously for fun as well.
One thing I definitely liked was the family dynamic. You can truly tell she loves her family and will do anything to make sure they're protected and have a good life, and you get the same feeling from her family. You start to root for them to succeed from the beginning and it doesn't stop until the book is over. They're all such great nuanced characters and so great to read about. The friendships were also some of my favorite parts.
A couple of things I didn't like? All the pop culture references. A few? Fine. But I swear to god it seemed like they were saying 'Wakanda Forever' every chapter! I'm as much of a fan of Black Panther as the next person, but geez. Once it's overdone, it starts to get annoying. And then I started noticing every other pop culture reference and then it seemed like I was rolling my eyes a lot. So I'm not saying that references to contemporary popular things aren't great, but don't use the same ones over and over. It gets old fast.
This is probably just a 'me' thing, but I felt like I couldn't connect with Bri as I connected with Starr. I totally got what her character meant and knew who she was, but I couldn't connect with her on a personal level as I've done with so many other characters. This is why my rating isn't a full 5/5 stars. Little annoyances that are probably strictly on me as a person and not as me as a critic.
Overall, this book is very well-written, with a diverse cast of characters that had their own stories and their own endings within the book. I really liked this companion novel to The Hate U Give and if you loved that story, you'll definitely like this one! Happy Reading!!
P.S. If you haven't already bought the physical copy, I really recommend the audiobook. The narrator was PHENOMENAL and really special. As this book deals with rap, the narrator actually raps the song that Bri writes and it's so GOOD!!! Audiobook gets a 5/5 * from me.
Angie Thomas has this way of creating characters that are completely different from each other and yet still seem similar in my mind. Starr and Bri are both completely different characters and people, but they seem similar in a way. I really enjoyed how On the Come Up really transported me back to Garden Heights with Angie's writing. It seemed authentic and kept me completely hooked the whole time. We also got to see the life of a completely new character. Bri's problems are similar to Starr's, in that she faces discrimination and wants to bring attention to it, and yet different as her mother and older brother struggle to support their family off of only two paychecks. I truly felt her problems were brought to life in a way that could make anyone understand and maybe see a new perspective that they hadn't thought of before.
That brings me to another thing I really enjoyed about this book. It brought to life how different black teenage girls are treated differently in school because of their skin color. And I don't mean other kids being racist, I mean teachers and faculty treating children differently because of age-old stereotypes and ingrained racism. Bri is sent to the principal's office and sent to detention for what other students are given a warning for. Bri rolls her eyes and is considered a threat. A white girl does the same thing and she gets no punishment. Bri is tackled to the ground by security officers, and people want to frame her as a drug dealer in order to make what those security officers did seem more justified. Any teenager would benefit from reading this, especially in a school setting with discussions, but obviously for fun as well.
One thing I definitely liked was the family dynamic. You can truly tell she loves her family and will do anything to make sure they're protected and have a good life, and you get the same feeling from her family. You start to root for them to succeed from the beginning and it doesn't stop until the book is over. They're all such great nuanced characters and so great to read about. The friendships were also some of my favorite parts.
A couple of things I didn't like? All the pop culture references. A few? Fine. But I swear to god it seemed like they were saying 'Wakanda Forever' every chapter! I'm as much of a fan of Black Panther as the next person, but geez. Once it's overdone, it starts to get annoying. And then I started noticing every other pop culture reference and then it seemed like I was rolling my eyes a lot. So I'm not saying that references to contemporary popular things aren't great, but don't use the same ones over and over. It gets old fast.
This is probably just a 'me' thing, but I felt like I couldn't connect with Bri as I connected with Starr. I totally got what her character meant and knew who she was, but I couldn't connect with her on a personal level as I've done with so many other characters. This is why my rating isn't a full 5/5 stars. Little annoyances that are probably strictly on me as a person and not as me as a critic.
Overall, this book is very well-written, with a diverse cast of characters that had their own stories and their own endings within the book. I really liked this companion novel to The Hate U Give and if you loved that story, you'll definitely like this one! Happy Reading!!
P.S. If you haven't already bought the physical copy, I really recommend the audiobook. The narrator was PHENOMENAL and really special. As this book deals with rap, the narrator actually raps the song that Bri writes and it's so GOOD!!! Audiobook gets a 5/5 * from me.
I absolutely loved everything about it (except for the teens making out because they reminded me of being a teen making out and eww).
I would absolutely recommend the audiobook. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this nearly as much without listening. A lot of her home life feelings and happenings were hard to listen to because I've gone through that and I know that pit in your stomach feeling. I loved her family and everyone's connections to each other were strong. The struggle between right and wrong, and being a kid where the world doesn't give you an option to just be a kid, and drugs in the community, and some much more than meets the eye themes were executed so well. There is not anything I would change to improve the narrative.