On the Come Up

Love another nuanced trip into Garden Heights. Bri is a great character, flawed and often unlikeable in her choices, but ultimately complexly loveable and wonderful, a truly REAL teenager. The family dynamics are great, as are the very realistic friendships. Thomas does GREAT character work with Aunt Pooh. The dialogue and songs are so accurate, Thomas has very few peers in that area. There were a few plot points that felt too easy (how would Supreme be able to take a minor to meetings/performances without parental permission?!) but overall very enjoyable. As always, strongly recommend the audio by the best narrator in the game, the true GOAT, Bahni Turpin.

Okay first of all I will like to say that Supreme reminds me of Master P when I was reading this beautiful book. Idk why but every time Supreme comes up in the book I will think about Master P.


I love it so much. This book speak volumes for me. As a mom who see so much in a poor neighborhood in the Bronx. I know a little about the hood and trying to get out of the hood. So this book and all of her books speak volumes to me.

This book is so beautiful and the raps are so good. I can't wait for more books from Angie Thomas.

I give this book a 5 stars.

Not quite in the same caliber as ‘The Hate U Give,' both in terms of writing and character development. The protagonist was a challenging character to root for. On one hand, you can understand her perspective, but on the other hand, her impulsiveness, immaturity, and lack of growth by the end of the book proved to be detrimental to the overall reading experience. Despite these drawbacks, the book remained quite readable, though.

I couldn't put this down. Bri's voice is so strong and compelling, she's a smart, funny teen who has gone through some real challenges and sometimes reacts in a realistically messy way. I was rooting for her the whole way, and I think that, like THUG, this book unpacks racist macro- and micro-aggressions in subtle and important ways.

I also love all the pop culture references sprinkled throughout–they add a lot of humor but also realism and timeliness.

Yup, she did it again, she made me cry! Thomas writes such good characters you can't help but believe in them and when they hurt you hurt too. On The Come Up maybe doesn't have as much to say as The Hate U Give or Concrete Rose but its protagonist Bri sure has PLENTY to say! This feels like it's a pretty personal write for Thomas, a teen rapper herself, and it's well written and enjoyable. Looking forward to reading more of Thomas' work in the future.

A solid 4/5.

Now, before I get into it I have to admit that The Hate You Give (Thomas's debut novel last year) is easily one of my favorite books. It's so full of heart and raw and such a product of the times.

Another thing I want to recognize about this book is I am not its primary audience. This might very well mean something more to a black audience than me.

What struck me is that while Bri is not as likable as Starr, she's probably very indicative of what it's like to be a young black woman to certain people.

The critique I am comfortable giving is that I think that the end could've been more towards the middle, so we could've seen Bri push past Supreme and grow more into herself. I felt like ending when it was just beginning was a bit anti-climatic. I also didn't really care for the Malik subplot, I didn't really care.

Where the book does shine (like THUG) is in its familial relationships, specifically Bri and her mom. Her mom is a recovered drug addict and as someone who has lost family to addiction, it was just so amazing to see such a positive example of recovery for the addict and those who love the addict.

It's so easy to forget that there's a human on either side, and I love Jay and everything she does for her children. I'm also happy to see them taking hard but necessary steps to get back on their feet. The seen where Bri goes with Jay to the shelter to get food was so powerful. It is shameful because unfortunately we live in a country where a significant amount of people think that handouts are shameful.

And as a teenager its doubly hard because while trying to find yourself you look to external factors like brand names and where you shop to help try on some different personas. 

Thomas continues to be strong. I'm definitely still a fan. If anything I would read this first, before THUG, but if you had to pick one, THUG all the way. But I'll have a special place in my heart for Bri and Jay.

Summary: Bri, a 16-year-old high school sophomore, wins her first rap battle, but that does not solve any of the problems at school or home.
On the Come Up is Angie Thomas' second book, following the massive success of The Hate U Give. While it took me a little while to get into the book, I think On the Come Up is a better book. It works particularly well as an audiobook. The narration is well done, but the lyric sections of the songs and all of Bri's internal rhyming makes the audiobook the more natural option for the book.

Bri is a 16-year-old. Her father was an up and coming rapper, who was killed when Bri was little. She remembers him more through the stories her family tells her than her personal memories. The tragedy of her father's death was compounded by her mother's depression that eventually led to a severe drug addiction. For years, Bri and her older brother lived with her grandparents, and her brother was her primary caregiver.

On the Come Up is a story of how hard work is not always enough. Bri's mother kicked her drug habit, and after a long legal fight with her in-laws won custody of her children. She has worked hard as a preschool teacher while going to college part-time to be a social worker. Bri's brother also did everything right. He graduated with honors from college, but the best job he can find in the area is at a pizza place. When Bri's mother loses her job because of a lack of funding for the preschool, they move from struggling to desperate.

Compounding the problem, Bri is a student at an arts high school in Manhattan. The students from her neighborhood know they are there as diversity and they are also frequently harassed by school security and teachers. Near the start of the book, Bri is violently taken down and handcuffed by school security, which also cascades into several events throughout the book.

I know that some do not like the language of intersectionality, but On the Come Up is an excellent example of it. The intersection of poverty, racism, sexism, trauma, lack of access to jobs and community support, etc., mean that these become exponential problems, not just the addition of issues. While there is language, violence, or discussion of violence, some romance, this is still a young adult book. Bri is presented as a teen, a child not yet grown, who is trying to make her way in the world but does not have the maturity to deal with the issues she is forced to confront.

As a whole, On the Come Up was a more satisfying book to me than The Hate U Give, not because of the result of the story, but because of the cohesiveness of the relationships. These were real, albeit flawed, people. Children were not able to solve problems that adults were unable to solve as so many young adult books illustrate. And the reality of systemic and individualized discrimination is well presented, not as an excuse for bad decisions, but as an illustration that discrimination removes the access to options.

I'm a little late to this party, and many of my feelings can be summed up by other reviewers: maybe a few too many plot lines, maybe some unnecessary romantic relationships ... but hey, I remember high school, unrequited crushes took up a lot of my dang time and I always had way too many things going on. I can't really fault a high school story for including all the elements that a high schooler would experience, and I absolutely believed all these things could be going on at the same time for Bri (crippling poverty/instability, unsafe school environment, racism, family members that are involved with gangs and drug dealers, etc.).

I LOVED Bri's mom, Jay, and I really enjoyed the glimpse into the creativity of rapping. It was also fascinating, the idea of Bri's popularity among white suburban kids who want to freak out their parents, vs. the kids from her own neighborhood, whom she doesn't want to influence to carry “clips on their hips” and whatnot, but who experience life in the same community.

I don't really know why I don't feel stronger about this book, though I did enjoy it and think Angie Thomas is a great writer.

I listened to the audiobook, and On The Come Up has the same narrator as The Hate U Give did, and even though I listened to these books years apart, I kept picturing Starr in my head instead of Bri?? That was confusing, but I think that's a problem with me and not the narrator.