Hello everyone!
Recently, I read the book Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. This book was very entertaining to read, so I decided I should share my love for it with everyone!
After reading the first nine pages, I was hooked on this book. The way Angie Thomas contrasts Maverick’s thinking process in this book to his maturity in The Hate U Give is simply perfect. Concrete Rose gives a unique perspective on how responsible Maverick had to be and how much of that responsibility he actually handled. Throughout the book, there is a great amount of character development as well.
Concrete Rose highlights Maverick’s life before he had children.
In the beginning of the story, Maverick learns that he might’ve had an accidental baby. He had sex with this woman right after he broke up with his girlfriend, but he kept telling himself that the baby wouldn’t be his. Sadly, for him, he learned about this baby when he and his girlfriend got back together. This brought problems for him, unfortunately, these aren’t his only problems he has to deal with.
Maverick is part of a gang, and an unspoken rule about being in a gang is that once you join, you cannot leave unless you do something exceptional. Once Maverick realized the responsibility of having a baby, he wanted out of the gang. Luckily, the leaders of the gang were getting killed, so he could have a chance with the new leader, who was his best friend.
Since Maverick is a black person who lives in the hood, he has to deal with a lot to begin with. Angie Thomas doesn’t fail to point out on the fact that Maverick isn’t in his situation because he likes it. He’s in his situation because of the system in the lower-class community. A lack of jobs causes people to do things they wouldn’t have otherwise.
The references between Concrete Rose and The Hate U Give in the story are interesting as well. I won’t say them because they have slight spoilers, but after reading The Hate U Give, you’ll like Concrete Rose a lot more.
Despite the intricacy of this book, it still has its problems. To me, the ending was quite abrupt, and the internal dialogue was intentionally grammatically incorrect the entire book. For example, instead of saying, “He talked too much,” it would say, “He talk too much.” I understand why Angie Thomas did this though; some black people speak this way.
Ultimately, Concrete Rose is a good book. I’d give it a 7.5/10. I’d recommend reading it to anyone over the age of 13. This book is excellent for people who want to read an interesting book, or just a story that’s not completely boring. Do NOT read this book before you read The Hate U Give. If you do, you won’t be able to appreciate it as much as you could.
I hope you enjoyed my review! Until next time…
Peace!
- Marshall
Great job on your book review, Marshall. I have never heard of The Hate U Give nor have I heard of Concrete Rose, but the way you described the plot really intrigued me. I'm gonna have to do further research on what happens in this book later. By the way, if you hadn't already known, a movie adaptation for The Hate U Give released in 2018. Great job on your review overall!
ReplyDeleteI read this book as well, and honestly liked how his internal dialogue wasn't grammatically correct because it made his thoughts seem more personal, like he was actually thinking them. But great blog post!
ReplyDeleteThe plot of these books seem very abstract. Though I wish your review went a little more in detail about the two book's contrasts and similarities as well as more of their main broad ideas rather than very specific aspects of what is going on. Great review though, definitely made the books stand out!
ReplyDeleteI like that you pointed out the true horrors of the real world, where a character, in this case Maverick, must face being in a gang AND dealing with an unintentional pregnancy simultaneously. I see parallels in the book I read, _How I Became A North Korean_, where there is ALSO an unwanted pregnancy (except from the point of view of a young woman) and traumatic events as a result. The North Koreans, regardless of location, are regarded as the lowest-of-the-lower class because of the discriminatory system they are living in (even in South Korea), much like Maverick in _Concrete Rose_.
ReplyDelete