On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
Genre: YA Realistic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.
On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.
MY OPINION: ****
AHHH I am so excited that I finally finished this book!
I've been really behind on reading for the past couple of months and it's been a while since I've read a good book. Of course, since this is Angie Thomas's new book, it's obviously going to be good.
I just want to start out by saying that I. Loved. The. Hate. U. Give. For a while, it was my favorite book of all time. Not that that's changed lately, but I just haven't formally announced a new favorite book. I loved it so much. You can read the review on my profile but it was such a powerful and amazing book, especially for the times we are living in now.
This book was not as emotionally heartbreaking and earthshattering as THUG and that's okay. I loved the concept behind this book. I thought it was original and different from what I usually read.
Bri is a teenage rapper who's living in Garden Heights. She's been having problems lately, what with her mother losing her job and their lack of food, electricity, and basic needs. She's ambitious and her Aunt Pooh is her greatest fan. Her aunt is caught up with dealing drugs, though, and the irony of the situation is, her aunt provides for them despite her aunt doing the things they are told not to do. I loved that whole idea because it was unique and honest to life, something that rarely occurs in young adult books anymore.
Bri is an amazing rapper, to be completely honest. Some of her lyrics really hit me hard, not that I coud personally relate. It opened my eyes to the lives of some people out in the world that don't directly relate to me but whom I wish I could help.
For example:
"There's a beast that roams my streets and he goes by the name of crack cocaine. It's kinda strange how he gets in the veins and turns mothers into strangers who only share the same name."
Wow, I could honestly write an entire essay about the themes and messages behind those two lines.
"Unarmed and dangerous, but America, you made us, only time we famous, is when we die and you blame us."
That is beyond amazing and also so true. It's sad how America has made an entire group of people into something they aren't.
Then Bri gets her first opportunity to record a song and she writes what becomes a controversial song titled "On the Come Up." There are lines in it speaking about the stereotypes that America has made colored people into. She talks about guns and gangs and everything that she isn't but who she is believed to be by others. But lines in a song are always taken out of context and of course, she blows up and it's not all positive.
I loved the idea behind this book. To be completely honest, I found it to be more interesting than THUG when thinking about characters and a story behind it.
The biggest problems for me about this book:
*Bri was not my favorite character. She honestly made herself so unlikable by being sarcastic and rebellious at all times possible. She kept making awful decisions and she criticizes her recovering drug-addict mother and her pizza-delivery-boy older brother. Not to mention the way she treats her friends. I get that she liked Malik but just because he's with another girl and is giving you his honest opinion about your song (and that opinion made a lot of sense) doesn't give you the right to treat him awfully. She also was so disrespectful to not only her teachers at school but also her own mother.
*I felt like the serious topics in this book weren't dealt with as well as in THUG. I understand that I shouldn't be comparing this to THUG but I feel as if it's important to certain topics to try to get to that same level. We had the generic stereotypes that white people have against minority races and I felt as if those ideas weren't dealt with. We had a mother who was completely against Bri's song and I never felt any conclusive ideas to that whole story. We had white people listening to rap but not understanding or accepting the lyrics, which was something that could have been elaborated on. And obviously we had racism that was beyond unacceptable but was never fully dealt with by any character in the book.
So basically, my biggest problem was the lack of conclusion to a lot of the ideas that Angie Thomas brought up in the book.
Overall, the book was enjoyable and unique. I loved the romantic aspect of it as well, because I felt as if that was less talked about (obviously) in THUG. I would recommend this book to readers looking for a strong and powerful novel about important and controversial topics that we are dealing with in our modern world today in 2019.
Main Character: Bri
Sidekick(s): Curtis, Sonny, Malik, etc
Villain(s): Racism, misunderstandings, etc
Realistic Fiction Elements: This book was all very real to life.
*sorry for the rambly review. I've been trying to get back into all of this again*
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