A review by ehmannky
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

emotional hopeful tense
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved everything about this book and it made me cry a whole lot with all of the squishy dad feelings and the love that Thomas just pours into every word of Maverick's story. I feel like the metaphor or a rose blooming and pruning away toxic people to become better was handled wonderfully. It's amazing that Thomas had me on the edge of my seat while reading because I just didn't' know what Maverick was going to do or how his story was going to pan out when in fact I did know, because I have read The Hate U Give. Prequels are hard to do effectively, and Thomas succeeded. 

Additionally, this book was just a work that is imbued with love and it just warms my heart to see such empathy and care extended to characters who are so vilified in US culture. Like! Maverick sells drugs and is a member of a gang and
contemplates murder! He almost shoots someone! I've never seen a contemporary YA book have a character nearly kill someone on purpose and for that character to be sympathetic.
The whole book is really exemplary of the idea that being good is a not an innate quality of a person, but rather a result of the choices someone makes. It's not a one-time thing, and a few bad actions do not mean that you are doomed to be a Bad Person. Just stellar all around. 

I also loved the use of AAVE in the structure of the book. It took me a second to get into the flow of the book, since I'm white and I don't have linguistic fluency AAVE. But it just was such the right choice for the story to bring you right into the story with Maverick. 
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