Book Review: On the Come Up

On the Come Up, by Angie Thomas

This is not my world. It's Bri's world, and she's letting me visit. Bri is a champion tour guide. She tells me things. Things I didn't know. Things I need to know.

Things like how woefully ignorant I am about popular culture, particularly black popular culture. For instance, I had no idea black nerds existed, and that superheroes and comic books are a thing among young African-Americans. I also learned about daps, snapbacks, and timbs.

Look, I am an old white guy living in the suburbs, Bri, Angie Thomas's smart, hip, talented, and ambitious protagonist, is a 16-year-old black girl living in the ghetto with her mother and brother. Her father, a popular rapper, was killed in a drive-by shooting when she was a child.

Bri wants to emulate him, but she also wants to be her own person -- in many ways, that's a common enough struggle for any teen-ager. But Bri's life is more complicated.

For one thing, members of the gang who shot her father are contemptuous of and try to thwart any success she might achieve. Her mother, a recovering heroin addict, is trying to raise her two children and find a decent job. Her brother -- who returned home after college to help out the family but can only find a job making pizzas -- likes to analyze everyone with his degree in psychology. Her aunt, who is also her mentor,  is a drug dealer. Her paternal grandparents like to throw shade on her mother. Her best friends are growing up with their own crises.

And Bri finds out that people -- even perfect strangers -- judge her through lenses tinged with bias, pre-judgment, and outright bigotry. Her teachers condemn her as "aggressive" when she speaks her mind. White parents blame her rap lyrics for any violence that occurs. Even those with good intentions see her as a ghetto hoodrat, and want her to become one -- or at least play the role.

How she handles that is shown through Thomas' masterful story-telling and crisp, descriptive writing. Thomas knows her characters and their lives. She bring them into ours with dignity, compassion, and respect.