Scan barcode
A review by ponch22
Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
4.0
I loved [b:The Hate U Give|32075671|The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)|Angie Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476284759l/32075671._SY75_.jpg|49638190] (both the novel and its film adaptation), so I was excited when I heard [a:Angie Thomas|15049422|Angie Thomas|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1471998209p2/15049422.jpg] was releasing a prequel to the story.
[b:Concrete Rose|52822210|Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0)|Angie Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585585629l/52822210._SY75_.jpg|78970822] tells the story of Maverick (Starr's father in THUG) when he's just a 17-year-old trying to finish high school while dealing drugs as a King Lord & trying to make a name for himself. Most people still call him Li'l Don after his father, a previous King Lord leader whose currently in prison.
Unfortunately for him, he finds out a one-night stand he had while he and his girlfriend Lisa were on a break resulted in a pregnancy, and Iesha (the mother) abandons their son as soon as his parentage is confirmed. Mav quickly realizes the responsibilities of fatherhood and decides to quit selling drugs. Many sleepless nights, several failed tests, and one part-time job later, he's close to failing 12th grade and no longer has tons of cash to support his son or help his mother pay the bills.
His relationship with Lisa is not helped when she finds out he's a father with another woman, and someone close to him gets killed in an act of seemingly senseless gun violence. There are a lot of themes shared between this and THUG but not much dealing with police brutality or racial profiling. I wish I remembered more about how Mav, Lisa, Iesha, & King (Mav's ex-best friend who was the supposed father of the baby that turned out to be Mav's) related with one another in THUG and I sort of want to re-read it now that I have this new prequel story fresh in my mind.
Concrete Rose doesn't get a full 5* because the ending felt very rushed—there's a revenge story teased throughout, as Mav tries to find his friend's killer & wants to take a life for a life, but the way the mystery unfolds and eventually concludes was quite disappointing. Also, the African American Vernacular English writing style took a long time for me to get used to—I mean, a late passage literally made me roll my eyes:
I believe Thomas has said this will be the last story she'll write about the Garden Heights characters, but I still wouldn't mind a third book in the series—perhaps something between this and THUG from Lisa's perspective as a young mother going to college...
[b:Concrete Rose|52822210|Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0)|Angie Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585585629l/52822210._SY75_.jpg|78970822] tells the story of Maverick (Starr's father in THUG) when he's just a 17-year-old trying to finish high school while dealing drugs as a King Lord & trying to make a name for himself. Most people still call him Li'l Don after his father, a previous King Lord leader whose currently in prison.
Unfortunately for him, he finds out a one-night stand he had while he and his girlfriend Lisa were on a break resulted in a pregnancy, and Iesha (the mother) abandons their son as soon as his parentage is confirmed. Mav quickly realizes the responsibilities of fatherhood and decides to quit selling drugs. Many sleepless nights, several failed tests, and one part-time job later, he's close to failing 12th grade and no longer has tons of cash to support his son or help his mother pay the bills.
His relationship with Lisa is not helped when she finds out he's a father with another woman, and someone close to him gets killed in an act of seemingly senseless gun violence. There are a lot of themes shared between this and THUG but not much dealing with police brutality or racial profiling. I wish I remembered more about how Mav, Lisa, Iesha, & King (Mav's ex-best friend who was the supposed father of the baby that turned out to be Mav's) related with one another in THUG and I sort of want to re-read it now that I have this new prequel story fresh in my mind.
Concrete Rose doesn't get a full 5* because the ending felt very rushed—there's a revenge story teased throughout, as Mav tries to find his friend's killer & wants to take a life for a life, but the way the mystery unfolds and eventually concludes was quite disappointing. Also, the African American Vernacular English writing style took a long time for me to get used to—I mean, a late passage literally made me roll my eyes:
Flowers, fruits, and vegetables can grow anywhere, among anything. They were made for that. I mean c'mon, when God made that sh—stuff, I gotta stop cussing so much—when he made that stuff, he didn't put them in garden plots.
I believe Thomas has said this will be the last story she'll write about the Garden Heights characters, but I still wouldn't mind a third book in the series—perhaps something between this and THUG from Lisa's perspective as a young mother going to college...