On the Come Up

Seriously so good!!!!!

"𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒈𝒚." 𝕆𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕌𝕡 - 𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘦 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘴 ⭐ ( 8 / 10 ) That quote sums up this book perfectly. Not just for Bri Jackson but nearly everyone else in the book -save her brother and mother. Her brother definitely seemed to have his head on straight from birth. But that's a whole other thang. So I definitely dug this one specifically for the facts that its a good representation of the lower income side of the hood without trying to glamour it up. Everybodys trying to make it, sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't. I like that you keep waiting for the change and you get...Denzel Washington in Training Day. Granted you eventually get something positive it's not the outcome you expect. For Bri. Not her situation. She could have had things a little easier on HERSELF if she had just stopped trying to be grown and spoke up. I get she thought it was helping and taking a burden away, but honey child, you're a baby you, parents and the olders are there to help and not the "hood" olders. 👀 Aunt Pooh. Instead, she hid everything ignored her intuition and kept digging holes because a) shes a black teen in poverty America and b) she's angry on top of it. Nothing good comes of it if you dont lean on folks a little. But we all learn. Anyway liked the book, it was well put together. I think I would've loved it more in High School but good is good man. ℍ𝕒𝕡𝕡𝕪 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕟𝕘 ᒍAY MAY OUT!

I perhaps am not the ideal audience for this book. I'm a lateish30something mom. I don't frequently listen to rap or hip hop music because I can rarely remember the words (with exceptions for songs like "Can I Get A" or "How Many Licks") and am one of those people who loves to sing along with pretty much everything I listen to, so it is frustrating for me when I can't. I was born into white privilege and don't have a clue what it feels like to live in a dangerous neighborhood, go without heat or food in my home, be afraid of the police, be trailed in a store as if I'm going to steal something, etc.

Despite all this, I liked this book quite a bit.

Quick Pro/Con List to summarize my general feelings on the book:

CONS
1. While I'm no stranger to hearing (or saying) swear words, there were a lot of them in the beginning - to the point that it was distracting. These do continue throughout the book but the frequency tapers off and it does become less distracting.

2. Bri. Our MC, Bri, was incredibly difficult for me to like. She does rash things, she's frequently rude and/or disrespectful, she is petty, she is a hothead, she throws hissy fits and gets mad and says crappy things to strangers, friends, and family alike when they're not agreeing with her. She's a lot to handle. She is also a teenager, which makes some of the behavior pretty typical. By the the end of the book, I still hadn't really warmed up to her the way I had hoped I would, but I did acknowledge the progress she had made and recognized that her age and her life experiences had much to do with her character.

PROS

1. The saving grace of characters such as Jay (Bri's mom), Trey (Bri's brother), and her friends/classmates/potential love interests. Jay was a breath of fresh air. She had a hard past as an addict and came across as very genuine and very human and very...mom like.

Jay puts her hands to her mouth like she's praying. "One: Check. Your. Tone," she growls.

Oh, if I had a dollar for every time I've had to say this exact same thing to my tween daughter...

2. I appreciate the issues addressed and/or touched on. There was a lot going on here, but I don't think any of it didn't need to be said. There are references to black people being targeted by police and riots, black people having to have a set of unspoken rules just to stay safe ("don't give them a reason"), profiling/assumptions made just for being black (hoodlum, hood rat, affiliated with gangs, guns, stealing, etc.). There's poverty, violence, gangs, drugs (selling of and/or implication of selling). There are important lessons about the impact of words and about a responsibility we have to our impressionable youth. All of these things were interwoven into this story that on the surface seemed about a young girl wanting to pursue a hip hop career but was clearly trying to be about much more.

Additional note: I have not yet read [b:The Hate U Give|32075671|The Hate U Give (The Hate U Give, #1)|Angie Thomas|https:i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476284759l/32075671._SY75_.jpg|49638190], so I don't have that to compare this to. That may be a good thing because it seems that many reviewers had a hard time liking this one as much due to loving THUG so much.

3 Stars

It was really good I like her character development!

Easy to read young adult fiction book. Easy to follow; use book to unwind and relax.