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A review by moonofpages_
All American Boys by Brendan Kiely, Jason Reynolds
3.0
3,7/5 stars
This story felt very honest. It’s breathtaking and it really made me think about a lot of things in life. It’s a very powerful story and it has such an important message.
I liked how we both got a perspective of the victim and a witness, and they don’t even really get in touch with each other in this book but that didn’t really bother me. I felt bad for Rashad, being accused of doing nothing, just because of the way he looks and for his race. It’s just something that can’t be denied. It’s something that happens in our lives. People get judged by their looks and races, and stereotypes still have a too powerful part of our society. And most of the time, people ignore it, they feel bad for a little time but that’s it. Before I read this book I never really thought deeply about it, but oh man, after reading this book I just won’t be able to put this out of my mind.
“Had our hearts really become so numb that we needed dead bodies in order to feel the beat of compassion in our chests? Who am I if I need to be shocked back into my best self?”
Quinn was such an inspiring character, I really adored how he ACTUALLY DID something about it. He had to turn his back towards his best friends older brother Paul, who beat Rashad, even though Paul has always been there for him and he always felt like an older brother for him too. It must have been so hard for him to do that, but he stood strong and did something about the situation. At the beginning it frustrated me that he just stood by Paul’s side without even knowing the truth, but how he develops throughout the story really amazed me.
What I really liked, is that they went in depth about Rashad’s drawings and what he was feeling and thinking when he was drawing it. I just really loved that we got to see how he was expressing his strong feelings and how he put it out on paper.
I hated Rashad’s dad throughout the book but I liked that towards the ending he kind of felt a little less like a caring less dad and he shows he actually does care about what happened to his son.
There were a lot of scenes involving basketball, which in some way I kind of liked, but in other ways, I did find a little less interesting because I don’t really know that much of it.
The ending felt very powerful and I was satisfied with it.
This book really did something for me, it definitely changed me in some kind of way. And when a book can do that, you know it’s a great one.
“Nobody says the words anymore, but somehow the violence still remains.”
Link to the review on my blog: https://whisperingstoriesdotblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/book-review-all-american-boys-by-jason-reynolds-and-brendan-kiely/
This story felt very honest. It’s breathtaking and it really made me think about a lot of things in life. It’s a very powerful story and it has such an important message.
I liked how we both got a perspective of the victim and a witness, and they don’t even really get in touch with each other in this book but that didn’t really bother me. I felt bad for Rashad, being accused of doing nothing, just because of the way he looks and for his race. It’s just something that can’t be denied. It’s something that happens in our lives. People get judged by their looks and races, and stereotypes still have a too powerful part of our society. And most of the time, people ignore it, they feel bad for a little time but that’s it. Before I read this book I never really thought deeply about it, but oh man, after reading this book I just won’t be able to put this out of my mind.
“Had our hearts really become so numb that we needed dead bodies in order to feel the beat of compassion in our chests? Who am I if I need to be shocked back into my best self?”
Quinn was such an inspiring character, I really adored how he ACTUALLY DID something about it. He had to turn his back towards his best friends older brother Paul, who beat Rashad, even though Paul has always been there for him and he always felt like an older brother for him too. It must have been so hard for him to do that, but he stood strong and did something about the situation. At the beginning it frustrated me that he just stood by Paul’s side without even knowing the truth, but how he develops throughout the story really amazed me.
What I really liked, is that they went in depth about Rashad’s drawings and what he was feeling and thinking when he was drawing it. I just really loved that we got to see how he was expressing his strong feelings and how he put it out on paper.
I hated Rashad’s dad throughout the book but I liked that towards the ending he kind of felt a little less like a caring less dad and he shows he actually does care about what happened to his son.
There were a lot of scenes involving basketball, which in some way I kind of liked, but in other ways, I did find a little less interesting because I don’t really know that much of it.
The ending felt very powerful and I was satisfied with it.
This book really did something for me, it definitely changed me in some kind of way. And when a book can do that, you know it’s a great one.
“Nobody says the words anymore, but somehow the violence still remains.”
Link to the review on my blog: https://whisperingstoriesdotblog.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/book-review-all-american-boys-by-jason-reynolds-and-brendan-kiely/