Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - On the Come Up

Such a great book! It was very easy to immerse myself into the story - the characters were believable and all had strong, distinct voices of their own. This book included issues facing youth today - class struggles, racial discrimination, violence from authority, drugs infiltrating neighborhoods and lives therein, friendships and romantic relationships, familial ties, people's expectations and judgements... Excellent writing that I became fully invested in.

I noticed a lot of people have a problem with how Bri speaks to her mother and thinks about her ("she isn't polite enough! That's her mOtHeR!")

Spoilers:

These people must be so fortunate to have never had a parent abandon them. Jay decided to take up the hobby of consuming Crack when her husband/her children's father was murdered. Think about it from a young child's point of view. A young child who had to then be raised by a grandparent that clearly resented that same mother would likely develop a sense of resentment toward her, themself. Bri clearly states she doesn't feel like Jay deserves or should be called mom because of this. Of course there is a lack of respect and reverence from Bri - Jayda broke that sense of security and trust! It's great she turned her life around and came back but that doesn't mean Bri can just magically forget and move on. That was ✨️ trauma ✨️ and that requires a lot of work to heal. Bri's decision making and way of treating others made sense to me. I've met people with similar upbringings who conducted themselves as Bri does in the book.

Content Warnings

cinceredavis's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book was extremely well written and very easy and interesting. It's genuine and personal. Bri feels like a natural person and everything she goes through feels very real. I love the casual talk about sexuality and how they don't make it the character's whole personality trait. There's more to them than being attracted to the same sex. This book does have some dark themes such as death, drugs, sexism, and a few other things. I overall loved the book and would've read it in one sitting if it was during the summer and I didn't have school.

Content Warnings