Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Punching the Air

📚Book Review📚

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yousef Salaam was an empowering and poignant story told in verse. I first discovered this unique narrative technique with Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. I can truly say that after reading a handful of books in this style, it’s one of my favourites.

The story of Amal, a young Black teen wrongly incarcerated, navigates a deeply flawed world determined to cage him in. With his artistic talent, the support of his mother, and the bonds of friendship, Amal finds the hope within to survive, to thrive, and to heal.

The story was deeply moving and the poetry palpable. Despite the biased and broken system, Amal is able to rise up.

I’ll end this with one of my favourite poems, Dust.

“They can’t kill you in here
but they will try, Umi says
from across the round table

That’s the point
Locking you up isn’t enough
for them They will try
to crush your spirit until
you’re nothing but—

Dust
we both say together

And what does dust do, Amal?
What did Maya Angelou say about dust?
Umi asks

It rises, I whisper”
…

I encourage you all to read this one. 🫶

Content Warnings

knifewifestan's review

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

brookey8888's review

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow was very good. I honestly had no clue what this was about when I picked it up, I just recognized the author. This is such an important story that everyone should read. It does discuss hard, but important topics so be prepared. Some of the poems(?) gave me goosebumps. The reason it’s a 4.5 is because it did take me a while to get used to the verse and kind of connect with the story, but once I did I couldn’t put this down. Highly recommend!

Content Warnings

mark_of_a_reader's review

Go to review page

emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

stevielynne's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

fromjuliereads's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is such an important book. I am so glad I read it.
I don't read books written in verse generally, but I really enjoyed this one. And it worked so well as the way to tell their truth. It had so many important moments to it, and I cannot wait to discuss this book as part of the book club I am in that is reading it.
Definitely recommend this book. Especially if you like books written in verse or any kind of artistic expression for a story.

I did read this as an ebook because that is what was available to me at the time. However I have a feeling that print is the way to go with the artwork incorporated. Also it could be a very cool audiobook.

Content Warnings

More...