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A review by kierscrivener
Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi, Yusef Salaam
3.0
“Boys just being boys” turns out to be true only when those boys are white.
Tells the story of Amal, a boy wrongfully imprisoned and subject to racism, police brutality, gentrification and the systematic oppression that criminalization of Black boys. It is written in verse and is highlighted by his own ambition to be an artist and poet before his life is defined by a wrong place mistake and his promising future is relegated to the prologue of his life.
I enjoy Ibi Zoboi as an author, her stories, her characters and I love the team up of her and Yusuf Salaam, a journalist and prison reform activist. They combined their passion for change and her passion for writing and to tell stories of and for Black youth.
I actively search out novels told in verse as the combination of poetry and story hook and immerse me better than anything else, though I still adored this story I did feel a distance between me and Amal. I think this is because we started at his conviction - which was a strong beginning. But because it is verse which means we have his thoughts more than a plot and being dropped in the midst of it, I had trouble immersing myself fully. That and it is almost singularly him, the other characters are present but not fleshed out and fleeting so he felt very island like. So even though the story was strong, I didn't feel like I got to know Amal. Which is the anchor to impact. For me this felt like a better example of themes and discussion of racism and the prison system than it is the story. I in many ways wish they had told a real life story, a nonfiction. Because the writing is incredible but for me misses what would have been gained through fiction.
3.5
Tells the story of Amal, a boy wrongfully imprisoned and subject to racism, police brutality, gentrification and the systematic oppression that criminalization of Black boys. It is written in verse and is highlighted by his own ambition to be an artist and poet before his life is defined by a wrong place mistake and his promising future is relegated to the prologue of his life.
I enjoy Ibi Zoboi as an author, her stories, her characters and I love the team up of her and Yusuf Salaam, a journalist and prison reform activist. They combined their passion for change and her passion for writing and to tell stories of and for Black youth.
I actively search out novels told in verse as the combination of poetry and story hook and immerse me better than anything else, though I still adored this story I did feel a distance between me and Amal. I think this is because we started at his conviction - which was a strong beginning. But because it is verse which means we have his thoughts more than a plot and being dropped in the midst of it, I had trouble immersing myself fully. That and it is almost singularly him, the other characters are present but not fleshed out and fleeting so he felt very island like. So even though the story was strong, I didn't feel like I got to know Amal. Which is the anchor to impact. For me this felt like a better example of themes and discussion of racism and the prison system than it is the story. I in many ways wish they had told a real life story, a nonfiction. Because the writing is incredible but for me misses what would have been gained through fiction.
3.5