Book Review: On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (LL)(LM)(NK)
By Nola Kane ’19
In 2017, Angie Thomas delivered The Hate U Give, an excellent debut novel that showed the importance of fighting systemic racism and police brutality.
Now, she releases an equally supreme second novel.
On the Come Up is told through the perspective of Bri, a 16-year-old girl whose father was an underground rapper. She, too, aspires to rap, but she has a lot of baggage to deal with. She never got to know her dad, who was killed by a gang when she was a baby, and continues to live in his shadow. Her mom struggles with drugs, which she uses to cope following her dad’s untimely murder, and as a result, struggles to hold down a job.
But if there’s one thing Bri knows she has to do, it’s to be persistent in pursuing her goals. Her time comes when she gets recognized at a local rap ring after winning a rap battle against another kid who insults her deceased father in his rap.
When she goes to record a track with a producer, she writes about an incident at school where she was singled out, manhandled by security guards, and suspended for three days. The result is an exaggerated version of the experience where she retaliates instead, intended only to let off steam about the injustice.
However, it soon gets popular in the neighborhood, and over time, there are just as many people who hate it as there are who love it. The white folks in her neighborhood don’t understand the point behind the song and start treating her with contempt. Other black kids criticize her for using gang, “ratchet” language, when they know she wouldn’t actually fight back. This conflict causes her to step back and reconsider how much she wants her dream, forcing her to confront the sacrifices she will have to make.
An observation of staying true to oneself, the dangers of self-censorship, and making one’s voice heard, this book might be one of the most important releases of 2019. It’s an eye-opening novel with rich prose, and it raises important questions. Each chapter will leave you begging for the next one. My only caution is that it’s a somewhat long read, and you might find yourself up half the night reading it.
I recommend this book for anyone, but especially those who are interested in social justice and want to understand the struggles that black kids have to endure in our current social climate.
