Reviews with content warning for Grief - Punching the Air

Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam

9 reviews

junglejelly's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

I'm not one for poetry but this book is incredible.

The authors do such an amazing job creating such gorgeous but heartbreaking work with such few words. The whole thing is captivating. I couldn't put the book down.

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aprilyvonne's review

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

📚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. 🫶

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zombiezami's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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brookey8888's review

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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!

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