Book Review :: On The Come Up, by Angie Thomas

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
ISBN: 1406372161
on 2019-02-07
Genres: Fiction, Young Adult
Pages: 448
Source: Walker Books AUS
Goodreads

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. But now that her mom has unexpectedly lost her job, food banks and shutoff notices are as much a part of Bri’s life as beats and rhymes. With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it—she has to make it.

On the Come Up is Angie Thomas’s homage to hip-hop, the art that sparked her passion for storytelling and continues to inspire her to this day. It is the story of fighting for your dreams, even as the odds are stacked against you; of the struggle to become who you are and not who everyone expects you to be; and of the desperate realities of poor and working-class black families.

Last updated on 19 January 2024

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What is On the Come Up by Angie Thomas about?

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas is about Brianna ‘Bri’ Jackson is a teen with a dream; to become a hit rapper. After battling in the local rap ring, she finally gets her break and records a song in a studio. But her powerful lyrics about the way society sees her, her family, and the other people in their neighbourhood is taken out of context, out of turn, out of the rap itself, and she finds herself in the middle of a back-firing scene that escalates out of proportion.

On the Come Up follows Bri, her brother, their mum (who is doing her best raising her two kids alone, with little money, after her husband (also a rapper in his time) died years prior) and her two best friends, Malik and Sonny. As well as trying to advance her rap career at just 16 years old, Bri is struggling to keep her grades up, is trying to keep it together for her mum, gets into trouble at school with the security guards about something so minor it because a whole debacle (and understandably so! You’ll see!), and also sort out her feelings for Malik and how Curtis and his somewhat welcome advance fit into that.

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My thoughts on On the Come Up

I really enjoyed this book. As Angie Thomas’ return to the world of YA, The Hate U Give being her very first book (check out Sophie’s review of THUG on Blogger’s Bookshelf), is done superbly and with great characters, plot, and tackling some of the issues that plague society.

So why just a 4 star rating? On the Come Up was really good, don’t get me wrong, and I highly recommend reading it. I just didn’t feel that emotionally connected or involved with the characters in a way that I think I (and many others!) did for THUG. Books differ, yes, it’s true, but it was just lacking that little bit extra something to make me feel a bit more.

Having said that! It’s another super important story to be told, and Thomas does such an excellent job of it. Bri as a character is annoying a lot of the time, but she has mad skills with words. I was reading the back of the book and it turns out that Angie Thomas was a rapper back in her teen years! It makes so much more sense now; how she crafted the rhymes and half-rhymes to create such powerful raps for Bri’s character, and how Bri thinks about words throughout the course of the book. A perfect example of writing what you know, perhaps.

On the Come Up is a Young Adult book about race and equality, about following your dreams, standing up for what’s right, and remembering who your family are. It’s about friendship and love and loss and hate. And it’s about time you read it.

Have you read it yet? What did you think? 

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Thank you Walker Books Australia for this review copy! This does not affect my review and thoughts and opinions are my own.