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A review by thewildnorry
The Black Kids by Christina Hammonds Reed
3.0
On the surface, this book seems incredibly similar to The Hate U Give. So many of the elements are the same: the author's use of lyrics, the character's school situation and friend group, her questionable "blackness," a secret relationship with a white boy, and the climax of a riot. There are other things that are similar that verge into spoiler territory, but this alone should make the point.
There are moments when this book feels incredibly similar to The Hate U Give as well. But to write off this book as a copycat or fan fiction would diminish the powerful narrative and storytelling prowess that Hammonds Reed shows.
This language in this story is nothing short of beautiful, and yet even in its lyricalness, it's incredibly accessible. It does not feel like an author showing of the way some stories do, but instead feels like she's pulling us into the tale. She's a master of concise characterization. There were several times where one sentence was all it took for me to feel like I knew and understood a character or a relationship.
While some may critique this book for overall lacking action, I thought this was an interesting choice (interesting being a positive thing here) because overall it felt more like the unraveling of our main character's life. As if we were untangling a large knot she found herself in. I loved that.
Rather than focusing on one specific issue of the time period: the Rodney King riots, this book has the main character, Ashley, explore bits of the Guatemalan civil war, the AIDS crisis, and other parts of history as well. In addition to confronting the past/present, Ashley has to deal with sorting through friends, love interests, and family relationships. Ashley faces so many conflicts and change that it feels as overwhelming as real life can feel in such moments of crisis.
That said, at points it was TOO much. While books can mirror reality, to thread in all of the sub plots and stories that fizzle out in our daily lives made aspects of this book seem unnecessary and overall, the book lacked a direct focus which could have added to its poignancy. The fact that this story didn't just focus on the Rodney King riots or trying to figure out friendship was good, but each character, no matter how minor, was given a backstory, and this story was just to short for each backstory to be full fleshed out or well done. The amount of serious issues the character faced was also significant, but the sheer volume of them led to a similar problem, where few felt as if they were fully dealt with. In fact one of the major subplots led to a huge scene, and then there was absolutely no fall out. It was like reaching the climax of the story telling pyramid, and then it was just done there.
There were some other issues I had with the story, but it's difficult to tell if my issues stem from the fact that I was given an unedited ARC copy or if it was a flaw of the writing.
There are moments when this book feels incredibly similar to The Hate U Give as well. But to write off this book as a copycat or fan fiction would diminish the powerful narrative and storytelling prowess that Hammonds Reed shows.
This language in this story is nothing short of beautiful, and yet even in its lyricalness, it's incredibly accessible. It does not feel like an author showing of the way some stories do, but instead feels like she's pulling us into the tale. She's a master of concise characterization. There were several times where one sentence was all it took for me to feel like I knew and understood a character or a relationship.
While some may critique this book for overall lacking action, I thought this was an interesting choice (interesting being a positive thing here) because overall it felt more like the unraveling of our main character's life. As if we were untangling a large knot she found herself in. I loved that.
Rather than focusing on one specific issue of the time period: the Rodney King riots, this book has the main character, Ashley, explore bits of the Guatemalan civil war, the AIDS crisis, and other parts of history as well. In addition to confronting the past/present, Ashley has to deal with sorting through friends, love interests, and family relationships. Ashley faces so many conflicts and change that it feels as overwhelming as real life can feel in such moments of crisis.
That said, at points it was TOO much. While books can mirror reality, to thread in all of the sub plots and stories that fizzle out in our daily lives made aspects of this book seem unnecessary and overall, the book lacked a direct focus which could have added to its poignancy. The fact that this story didn't just focus on the Rodney King riots or trying to figure out friendship was good, but each character, no matter how minor, was given a backstory, and this story was just to short for each backstory to be full fleshed out or well done. The amount of serious issues the character faced was also significant, but the sheer volume of them led to a similar problem, where few felt as if they were fully dealt with. In fact one of the major subplots led to a huge scene, and then there was absolutely no fall out. It was like reaching the climax of the story telling pyramid, and then it was just done there.
There were some other issues I had with the story, but it's difficult to tell if my issues stem from the fact that I was given an unedited ARC copy or if it was a flaw of the writing.