Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas

79 reviews

ninascozydayreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When I heard about Thomas having written a prequel to The Hate U Give (one of my favorite novels) starring Starr’s father, I bought it as soon as it came out. But, because I’m me, it took me years to actually read it. Concrete Rose is the story of Starr’s father, before he was her father, when he was just Maverick. When he was just a 17 year old kid who suddenly had a son (Starr’s older brother Seven) to provide for. Given how much I liked The Hate U Give, I was sure to love this one, and I was right. Concrete Rose is a slower read that is more character driven than plot, and therefore making this a bit harder to get into. Maverick is not without his flaws, and sure, he does bad things, but the book does a great job of showing the necessity of it all. As it details the hard choices that Maverick has to make, it also feels so real - it doesn't try to gloss over anything. It also challenges manhood, and specifically Black manhood - the ideas of what a "man" is supposed to be. As always with an Angie Thomas book, the subject matter is heavy but written in an approachable way, making this a quick but still somewhat challenging read. And let's be real Angie Thomas just knows how to write. And does it well. (bewerkt)

What I found most interesting about this novel is that it is written entirely in AAVE. Something I sometimes struggled with, as I’m not used to reading in AAVE, but that I appreciated nonetheless as it also helped in defining the character. The one point of critique I had at the AAVE was that the novel tended to explain the language used. Maverick said a lot of “what that means” to explain a term, sometimes unnecessarily so as the definition could be gathered from context, but I also feel that if you’re going to write in AAVE, embrace it fully. Add a glossary if necessary, but don’t let explanations interrupt the text. Overall, I really did enjoy this book and the characters. This however shouldn’t be the first Angie Thomas book you pick up, because it does have references to The Hate U Give that you will miss otherwise. Start at the beginning, with The Hate U Give. And then, definitely come back and read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Racism, Drug use, and Pregnancy

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Classism, Violence, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Murder, Death, Pregnancy, and Bullying

Moderate: Drug abuse, Infidelity, Excrement, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Stalking, Vomit, Drug use, Police brutality, Mental illness, Medical content, Death of parent, Confinement, and Addiction

Minor: Slavery, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcohol

Incarcation, Gang violence

btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

challenging hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Drug abuse, Pregnancy, and Racism

Minor: Vomit, Bullying, and Cursing

asourceoffiction's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When I read The Hate U Give a few years ago, I fell completely in love with Starr and her family, and the whole community. So it was so good to revisit them. Maverick felt like a character with a huge backstory and I loved being able to delve into that.

In THUG, Mav has his shit together and he's a calming, safe presence for his kids. So it's kind of comforting and sweet to see him as a scared kid who's in way over his head, and how he develops from one extreme to the other.

It's funny, even knowing the outcome of this book I still had my heart in my mouth at times. This is another heartbreaking story from a community beset by tragedy, but with so much love at its heart. Going so deeply into Mav's history and learning more about him made me want to go back to THUG and see how much I missed the first time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Pregnancy, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Racism

eyescanbecruel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Pregnancy, and Drug use

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, and Abortion

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Racism, Abandonment, Grief, Toxic friendship, Death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Drug use, Cursing, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual content, Infidelity, Abortion, Addiction, and Medical content

brookey8888's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow was this a good book. I’m so happy she decided to write this because maverick was probably one of if not my favorite character in the hate you give. I just really enjoyed getting his back story and to see how certain things came to be. This talks about such important topics. I really liked the characters in this especially the family. This book had me going through all the emotions. I’m so glad I finally read this one and enjoyed it. Plus the cover is gorgeous. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, Classism, Murder, Racism, Drug use, Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Toxic friendship, and Violence

gurnoor's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Racism, and Drug use

Minor: Sexual content

cranedphoenix's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Honestly this book was real good
An emotional ride the entire way through 

Spoiler

From Dre's death, to Mav almost killing Red to all the babies to King being an ass

This books covers so many different topics and it actually works and doesn't feel like it's trying to do the most
I also love how complex all of the character relationships are

Spoiler

especially when it's obvious to everyone but Mav that his Ma and Moe are together
But I also loved Iesha, as bad as it is that she kinda left Seven with Mav, like Mav you just gotta feel for her

The only character I truly grew to dislike was ofc King, even tho he's also a bit complicated he really just ends up being reasonably and perfectly unlikeable

Spoiler

love the rose quote about cutting off what won't let them grow which is pretty much Mav needing to cut off King

I could probably go on and on but I'm surprised I ended up liking it so much considering I wasn't too sure if I would when i started

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Racism, Drug use, and Drug abuse

Minor: Abandonment

bratlingling's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Read it in go, really loved the characters, the plot is not really finished and more just a chapter in the main character's life

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Drug abuse, Cursing, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Death of parent, Racism, and Police brutality