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A review by nkeshyy
Solo by Kwame Alexander, Mary Rand Hess
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
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? No
5.0
There is a lot of inspired genius and taste that lives in writers of verse novels and books, and I must say it took me a moment to get in on this. This is my second since finishing The Poet X last year, and I completely recommend it. Solo is a gorgeous young adult coming-of-age type story that’s guaranteed to tug at your heartstrings and leave you at the edge of your seat with want.
The book tells the story of Blade Morrison, a 17-year-old musician and son of a Rock legend, a celebrity unravelling from his problem with alcohol and drug addiction. From the beginning of the book, Blade exists on the sidelines of his superstar family and is shown to be dealing with a lot of pressure that comes with the spotlight - feeling like he does not belong in this hard rock family as a soul and blues-y writer, yearning for the love of a dead mother, and add on top of that a codependent kind of love with a girlfriend he’s not supposed to be with. It’s so teen angsty, it’s relatable for young readers.
I appreciated how the writing and language of the story resonated with the protagonist and the age group this book’s written for, showing Blade’s growth from who he is at the beginning and the end in stages that were easy to follow, we may as well have been growing with him.
There’s quite a lot I lot I loved about the book, but two things rang the loudest: how the writers dealt with the Ghana part of the story, providing us with a voice and guide-view that shared and introduced us to the country and its people, and the vast culture, and working it all into the central theme of the rock-and-roll and music. Solo is firstly a story of a family finding their center and loving each other amidst the bludgeoning weight of grief and loss; but, it is mostly a love letter to music, as shown by the writers’ addition of musical trivia and rock-and-roll tidbits at every beat. I enjoyed that so much, I learned a lot.
The book tells the story of Blade Morrison, a 17-year-old musician and son of a Rock legend, a celebrity unravelling from his problem with alcohol and drug addiction. From the beginning of the book, Blade exists on the sidelines of his superstar family and is shown to be dealing with a lot of pressure that comes with the spotlight - feeling like he does not belong in this hard rock family as a soul and blues-y writer, yearning for the love of a dead mother, and add on top of that a codependent kind of love with a girlfriend he’s not supposed to be with. It’s so teen angsty, it’s relatable for young readers.
I appreciated how the writing and language of the story resonated with the protagonist and the age group this book’s written for, showing Blade’s growth from who he is at the beginning and the end in stages that were easy to follow, we may as well have been growing with him.
There’s quite a lot I lot I loved about the book, but two things rang the loudest: how the writers dealt with the Ghana part of the story, providing us with a voice and guide-view that shared and introduced us to the country and its people, and the vast culture, and working it all into the central theme of the rock-and-roll and music. Solo is firstly a story of a family finding their center and loving each other amidst the bludgeoning weight of grief and loss; but, it is mostly a love letter to music, as shown by the writers’ addition of musical trivia and rock-and-roll tidbits at every beat. I enjoyed that so much, I learned a lot.