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A review by mariahistryingtoread
As Brave as You by Jason Reynolds
3.0
Jason Reynolds is supposed to be one of the best Black middle grade authors around. His name is well circulated in most diverse book-ish circles I've been in. So I was looking forward to seeing what all the hype is about.
The basic premise is simple and the synopsis largely encompasses the majority of the relevant plot points within the book. There are some minor events, but it really is just one somewhat sleepy summer at the grandparents.
Reynolds captured the atmosphere very well. How it felt to be in a new environment with all these different rules to parse and how fun it could be but how nerve-wracking too because you don’t see them often or know them too well. On top of all that are often interpersonal issues that you, as a kid, do not understand the depth of but are still affected by due to the tension it still creates. It reminded me of time spent at my own grandparents’ as a kid, minus the manual labor.
That being said it was at times a little too much like visiting my grandparents ie. it could get pretty boring. The first seven chapters are a rehash of information we already know based on the synopsis. This could have been cut down to one or two chapters easily. Most of the book is a cycle of the same handful of activities - going to the market, pulling weeds in the garden, visiting a summer friend, feeding the birds - rinse and repeat. Yes, I understand summer is not always go, go, go. That did not stop me from finding it repetitive.
The huge incident involving shooting the gun doesn’t happen until nearly 70% into the book. And the fallout leaves a lot to be desired. There’s a lot of trauma broiling under the surface involving Genie’s father and his grandfather that is not much addressed. Family infighting, especially when it has spanned generations, can’t be fixed in one summer so I’m fine that it’s ambiguous. I liked that it was messy and unpleasant because both sides had a measure of culpability. What I didn’t like was that I felt misled.
I was expecting more effort. I thought this would be a book about Genie helping to heal his fractured family. While he took steps in this direction it was almost entirely incidental which was disappointing given what I thought the book was going to be about based on how the synopsis was framed.
The book was decent. Reynolds writes kids super well. I felt immersed in the world. I wanted more to happen, but that was my misplaced expectations and personal preference at war with the author’s intentions for this novel. However, I will argue more should have happened as this book is rather sparse on the plot which is why this is only 3 stars for me. The summer was fun for Genie to experience - it was not fun to actually read about. Still, Jason Reynolds is clearly a good writer and based off of this book I am looking forward to reading his other work.
The basic premise is simple and the synopsis largely encompasses the majority of the relevant plot points within the book. There are some minor events, but it really is just one somewhat sleepy summer at the grandparents.
Reynolds captured the atmosphere very well. How it felt to be in a new environment with all these different rules to parse and how fun it could be but how nerve-wracking too because you don’t see them often or know them too well. On top of all that are often interpersonal issues that you, as a kid, do not understand the depth of but are still affected by due to the tension it still creates. It reminded me of time spent at my own grandparents’ as a kid, minus the manual labor.
That being said it was at times a little too much like visiting my grandparents ie. it could get pretty boring. The first seven chapters are a rehash of information we already know based on the synopsis. This could have been cut down to one or two chapters easily. Most of the book is a cycle of the same handful of activities - going to the market, pulling weeds in the garden, visiting a summer friend, feeding the birds - rinse and repeat. Yes, I understand summer is not always go, go, go. That did not stop me from finding it repetitive.
The huge incident involving shooting the gun doesn’t happen until nearly 70% into the book. And the fallout leaves a lot to be desired. There’s a lot of trauma broiling under the surface involving Genie’s father and his grandfather that is not much addressed. Family infighting, especially when it has spanned generations, can’t be fixed in one summer so I’m fine that it’s ambiguous. I liked that it was messy and unpleasant because both sides had a measure of culpability. What I didn’t like was that I felt misled.
I was expecting more effort. I thought this would be a book about Genie helping to heal his fractured family. While he took steps in this direction it was almost entirely incidental which was disappointing given what I thought the book was going to be about based on how the synopsis was framed.
The book was decent. Reynolds writes kids super well. I felt immersed in the world. I wanted more to happen, but that was my misplaced expectations and personal preference at war with the author’s intentions for this novel. However, I will argue more should have happened as this book is rather sparse on the plot which is why this is only 3 stars for me. The summer was fun for Genie to experience - it was not fun to actually read about. Still, Jason Reynolds is clearly a good writer and based off of this book I am looking forward to reading his other work.