Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - Dear Martin

Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

Dear Martin by Nic Stone

50 reviews

marabdelmageed's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-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: Complicated

Content Warnings

mandi4886's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional 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: Yes

Everyone needs to read this book!

Content Warnings

riella_reads's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

This was a very powerful read. I've been hesitant to read this, along with a few others based on the subject matter. The injustice that occurs in this book also happens every single day and it makes me so mad. I was so livid reading this, at the complete ignorance and disregard for some of these characters. I know this was the intent of the book and it was done well.

I will definitely read the second book, and more from this author. I really enjoyed the writing style and think that while difficult, it is important to read. I'm really glad I finally read this and I'm going to make an active effort to try to read more like it, despite the difficult subject matter.

Content Warnings

harmonyrose's review against another edition

5.0

emotional informative reflective sad 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: Complicated

Content Warnings

rkreads's review against another edition

5.0

challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

effys's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

My god this book hit me so hard. It really represents how we really have not come far as a society and how many white people act like just because we all sit on the same seats on a bus segregation doesn’t exist anymore. I’m mixed race and grew up seeing both sides of everything and I think this book really represents that well and I could connect to it with my own experiences.

This book really got me quite emotional but it’s definitely a great read that starts a conversation that needs to be had.

Content Warnings

strange's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book had a lot of good things to say, and I think it did a very good job of exploring these topics, especially towards readers who may have been a bit naïve towards the subjects at play (this book is YA, and therefore targeted towards teens still learning about how race plays into our society). But everything that wasn't social commentary was... unremarkable. The romance and love triangle felt unnecessary, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were something added in later on in order to make the book more marketable as a more conventional YA Contemporary. The rest of the book makes up for it, but every time romance came into play it felt more like a dramatic teen show than the insightful novel it had proven itself to be. That, and the fact that I think it could have been a bit longer and more drawn out, is what brings down the star rating for me a bit.

Content Warnings

sisters_reads7's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is the best book I have ever read!

Content Warnings

jpellwood's review against another edition

4.0

emotional informative inspiring 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: Yes

Content Warnings

valeriabee's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring 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: Yes

Actively avoiding GoodReads for fear of racist comments that I might find. I read this in a single day. It helps that the book is short. But more than anything, I was attached to Justyce's story. This is another one of those honest books that doesnt shy from the reality of matters or attempt to make the racism palettable. In fact, Nic Stone went IN on the racist comments, mindsets, behaviors. I mean, there are some moments when youre reading what white kids are capable of doing and you think "there is no way they don't see the problem with that" but I know that it's very possible. I have seen and argued with people that were the exact same way as Jared and Blake.

When Justyce got accepted into Yale early admission I was a little sad for him. I live in New Haven, down the street from Yale, I teach Black and brown students who have lived in New Haven their whole life. New Haven itself is diverse, but Yale? Yale is elitist. While it does the bare minimum with diversity and inclusion (which is decidedly different from equity and justice), it is an institution founded on the exclusion of non-white, non-wealthy, non-male. It has improved, but it's a system. Not to mention the overhype of Ivy leagues. I just knew that Justyce would have to keep fighting to feel seen or understood even after graduating from his prep school.

I am very interested in how some characters have grown. I think the end really speaks to what a college education can do for the capacity to think critical and be more open. I, however, will always take a "changed" racist with a grain of salt. It's unsettling. I understand how someone who sits relatively in the middle can he moved, but someone who was so dead set on their prejudices? It makes me wonder if I should or (could) forgive the white boys from my high school who behaved the same as these white boys? But can I forgive myself for the microaggressions I have thrown into the world? Should I be forgiven?
I think Justyce's experiment of Being Like Martin is a great vehicle for asking these questions. Justyce asks himself (or Martin) very difficult questions about how he should move through the world as a black boy. He asks questions about interracial relationships, whether theyre worth it. Dear Martin brings attention to the nature and impact of interpersonal/low-level racism on systemic racism. I am glad this book is as popular as it is because it is a message that deserves to be heard. Especially in a time when Black people are refusing to be used and abused by the system that has continuously attempted to hold them down.

Content Warnings

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