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caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Misogyny, Antisemitism, and Fire/Fire injury
mittens_10's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
solnit_and_sebastian's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Racial slurs, and Racism
Moderate: Child death, Death, Hate crime, Police brutality, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism
blombern's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Police brutality, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Blood, Antisemitism, and Grief
saara_ilona_muu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I don't want to give any spoilers, but I will say that though it was a very tough read, I loved the first 3/4 of the book. Then things just got to the point where I had too many questions about how things were turning out. Like ... when he's surrounded by so many rich people, why weren't they able to hire a better lawyer and get him some coaching... and why was a kid who was so good at debate able to be painted into a corner so thoroughly, and then with all of the character assassination, why was he just able to head north for school anyway with no repercussions in that corner? Just messy.
Despite all of that, the book was still worth reading and gave me a lot to think about.
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol
paulabekkerus's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Classism
mbrogs2024's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
criticalgayze's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
Because I finished this, and especially because it was for a class on reading and evaluating texts when planning high school curricula, I did want to get into it a little bit.
My greatest issue with this book is that it lacks nuance. It is an introspectionless tour of all the trauma Black people, especially Black male teens, can face in this country. Justyce is put through trauma after trauma without processing any of it, both internal or on a larger social scale. I think this is exasperated by a poor editorial decision not to put this one entirely in first-person narrative. This lack of introspection is extra weird when given all of Justyce's avenues for exploration: he's in the prep school progressive "Societal Evolutions" class, he's on the debate team, AND his best friend's mom is a mental health care specialist. All of this leads me to believe the lack of reflective pieces was likely also a poor editorial call to slim down the narrative to be "intense" or something.
Oh, and these boys are also gross about girls. Listen, I get the possible over-sexualization of young people and the hormones and the wealth and class patriarchal elements and the whatever else of it all, but as an educator, I don't hear young boys talking like this about girls to this extent. And, even if they are, you would think a book by an adult, especially a femme author, would want to portray at least one of these male characters as progressive on this front. It's some nausea-inducing that one of the last lines of the book is the main character talking about how his girlfriend is going to "have [his] babies," which caused this one to end on a bitter note for me.
In the book's favor, the tight, "action-filled" plot is propulsive, and the book's middle was successful at pulling on my heart strings, but it still wasn't enough to redeem this one for me.
Graphic: Gun violence, Racism, Police brutality, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Cursing, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
kathis_wonderland's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I wanted to read this book for a very long time. It reminded me of THUG but was different in so many aspects as well. What BIPoCs have to face every single day is devastating and a crime. No human being should be discriminated. No matter what. Reading books like this break my heart on so many levels. But is important to get this reality out there more. I learn something new every time I read a book. And I learn even more when it is about a topic that I am personally not affected by. This book helped me to broaden my horizon even more and to keep on calling out racist people and content.
I really liked the concept of the journal that Justyce writes. He is trying to apply concepts to his own life, which is good for learning. The entries give a great insight into Justyce's life and how he is thinking about the world. Jared is one character I absolutely hated! He talked about reverse racism and how he was the one being discriminated. He only saw his mistakes towards the end as he realized that ALL BIPoCs experience racism, even when they are the "good" BIPoCs. Even though the second half of the book was really heartbreaking and unjust, I liked how the book ended. It showed that people can change. Beliefs can change. But you have to be willing to open your eyes and listen to the experiences of people and believe them!
This book gives a strong message to its readers. The story is heartbreaking and shows perfectly that America has a problem with gun violence and racism (but that is also a problem for all of the world). I can highly recommend it to everyone! Really liked it.
Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Police brutality, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Blood, Grief, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Alcoholism
tetetaeskz's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, and Police brutality
Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Grief, Murder, Cultural appropriation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism