On the Come Up by Angie Thomas

On The Come Up by Angie Thomas
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Pages: 435
Rating: 💜💜💜💜💜
Buy it: Amazon |  Book Depository

As the daughter of an underground hip hop legend who died right before he hit big, Bri's got massive shoes to fill. But Bri soon finds herself at the centre of controversy and portrayed by the media as more menace than MC. And with an eviction notice staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it - she has to. Even if it means becoming the very thing the public has made her out to be.

I know you shouldn't compare an author's books, especially two stories that are so important. However, I feel the only way I can truly talk about how many emotions this book made me feel is by relating it to how many emotions THUG made me feel.

This story felt so different from THUG, and yet so similar. I felt like we got to see more of Garden Heights in this book, from the gang life to the drug problems that held the Heights in its grips. I know THUG showed police brutality and the whole black rights movement, but this book felt more gritty... and scary. For some reason I felt more connected to Bri than I did to Starr, maybe because her story was more rooted in family dynamics and trying to overcome other people's perceptions of you (even if it has terrible consequences).

Bri wasn't as instantly likeable as Starr (she was more argumentative for one) and I spent a lot of the book mentally trying to telepathically make her shut up, but you can't help but love her by the end of the book. She stands up for herself when she feels that people are trying to push her into a certain box and doesn't let anyone control her. This is especially evident when she starts to rap more, as she wants to be successful but doesn't want to lose her identity as a rapper. She is especially strong when everyone starts trying to tell her what to rap about, and decides it is best if she decides what goes into her raps, rather than listen to other people. Talking about her raps, they were incredible (you can tell Angie Thomas used to be a rapper), and I honestly think that those raps would have the power to reach out to hundreds of unrepresented people if they were actually released. You could feel the pain behind her lyrics, and I found myself cheering along at some of the burns that she created during her battles.

My favourite part of this book was the fact that Bri didn't want to be used as a symbol of hope. She didn't want people to use her story as a story to inspire her movement; she just wanted people to forget what happened and leave her alone. She wanted her family to have money. She wanted her dad back. It was so different from what Starr went through in THUG and it was nice to see that side of humanity that doesn't want to make a deal out of things (especially if they think it will make things worse for themselves). There are even scenes in the book where Bri argues with people who want her to use her story to promote black rights in her school, and she straight up refuses, which I think is important for people to see.

I also loved that Bri didn't end the story with her ideal happy ending. Much like the ending of any Pixar film, everything went the opposite way from what was expected. But by writing it this way Angie Thomas made the story feel more realistic, because even though Bri didn't get what she wanted she ended up with a happy ending. This story was as much about black rights as it was about Bri's journey to figure out what was right for her

So all in all, a very moving book with plenty of fun moments meshed into the story line. Angie Thomas has once again shown her pure talent as an author, and I can't wait to read more stories from her (no matter how much they break my heart).