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A review by kierscrivener
Dear Justyce by Nic Stone
5.0
Dear Martin is a book I read every year, so that this book tackles hard issues head on in a concise annd emotional way without losing any complexity or nuance isn't a suprise. Justyce's story is a story that needs to be told but so us Quan's and his is even less represented.
Dear Martin is Stone's debut so even though it is a favourite, I did find that it was a better audiobook as her writing is very simplistic (yet she conveyed well through the simplicity), though I also read this through audiobook, I could tell her craft has improved. Through framing, the use of stage setting when utilizing play like script and the evocative flashbacks that are interspliced with Quan now and how life in prision seems inevitable despite his intentions. It humanizes the often villianized 'criminal Black kid' it also does a lot to humanize Trey, who comes off much more sympathetic in this novel as we see the softer side of him (and I wonder in a few years if we will see a novel about him, maybe tackling fatherhood?)
Dear Martin and Dear Justyce should be required reading in school, they are both short and together form a fuller picture of how systemic racism affects different people. They are books that represent Black kids who don't see themselves in media and books or only 'good Black kids' (like Justyce, Star, etc) represented. And are important for white kids (and other poc) to see firsthand the experience of being Black, especially a Black boy who are made to be men much too young.
Dear Justyce also does an incredible job of discussing mental health and how that affects people differently and how someone who is considered disrespectful could be 'doing so' through anxiety and how as Quan receives more support and therapy he is more open as well as encouraged. Which shows how much the voices around us influence us and that we are not either all 'good' or 'bad' there are sides and there are reasons. Whether it is the disruptive kid coming from an abusive home, or the abusive man crying alone, or the 'reformed racist' still saying a lot of the wrong things, and the protagonist having homophobic beliefs. We are all products of the experiences and environments we've had and often having people who support and encourage and believe is the difference between a 'bad' and 'good' kid.
content warnings: racism, domestic abuse, cancer, incarceration, police brutality, violence, anxiety
Dear Martin is Stone's debut so even though it is a favourite, I did find that it was a better audiobook as her writing is very simplistic (yet she conveyed well through the simplicity), though I also read this through audiobook, I could tell her craft has improved. Through framing, the use of stage setting when utilizing play like script and the evocative flashbacks that are interspliced with Quan now and how life in prision seems inevitable despite his intentions. It humanizes the often villianized 'criminal Black kid' it also does a lot to humanize Trey, who comes off much more sympathetic in this novel as we see the softer side of him (and I wonder in a few years if we will see a novel about him, maybe tackling fatherhood?)
Dear Martin and Dear Justyce should be required reading in school, they are both short and together form a fuller picture of how systemic racism affects different people. They are books that represent Black kids who don't see themselves in media and books or only 'good Black kids' (like Justyce, Star, etc) represented. And are important for white kids (and other poc) to see firsthand the experience of being Black, especially a Black boy who are made to be men much too young.
Dear Justyce also does an incredible job of discussing mental health and how that affects people differently and how someone who is considered disrespectful could be 'doing so' through anxiety and how as Quan receives more support and therapy he is more open as well as encouraged. Which shows how much the voices around us influence us and that we are not either all 'good' or 'bad' there are sides and there are reasons. Whether it is the disruptive kid coming from an abusive home, or the abusive man crying alone, or the 'reformed racist' still saying a lot of the wrong things, and the protagonist having homophobic beliefs. We are all products of the experiences and environments we've had and often having people who support and encourage and believe is the difference between a 'bad' and 'good' kid.
content warnings: racism, domestic abuse, cancer, incarceration, police brutality, violence, anxiety