On The Come Up | Three Hallows Book Club

On the Come Up | March Book Club | #ThreeHallows

*Braces self* I have never read The Hate U Give. I am aware that among the book community that is verging on blasphemy but alas it is true. On the bright side, this meant I went in to reading On the Come Up with absolutely zero expectations.

When it came round to buying my copy of On the Come Up, Amy told me that Waterstones were doing a special purple sprayed edges edition. If you're anything like me, then you'll also be a sucker for books with sprayed edges. So, I dragged my friend Dan in store and quickly purchased this stunning edition.

There is no doubt that this novel needed to be written. Angie Thomas discusses a lot issues black people face that I can not even begin to relate to. I think it is especially important that this story was written for a YA audience, making it more accessible for everyone and bringing important, relevant discussions to a younger audience. It was very insightful to see the world from another perspective and I really enjoyed reading this book.

The only issues I had with this book were with the writing style. It made me cringe at times. The story this book tells can be absolutely heartbreaking when you are reading about the struggles of Bri's family and learning about her father. I believe the story spoke for itself. I loved the story. There were just a few too many pop culture reference insertions for my taste. I appreciated the repeated Black Panther references as it was made clear the characters adored this movie. Wakanda Forever. Whereas, one-off references to other pop culture such as Star Wars just felt thrown in for the sake of making Bri seem nerdier. This is me being really picky but I just wanted to give an honest review.

Something I struggled with in this book is Bri's internal rap commentaries. I loved reading the raps which Angie Thomas wrote for Bri and I love that they were included. However, when Bri hears words and starts thinking about how to rap them, I just felt very distracted and taken away from the story. I understand this was probably intentional, to really put the reader into Bri's head and really show how rapping was intrinsic to her as a person. But for me, as a reader, it took some of the enjoyment out of reading. As soon as I felt myself getting in to the story, I was immediately thrown out of it by thinking about how many syllables particular words had.

Despite struggling with this book, I did really enjoy my time reading it. When I first picked it up, I wasn't sure at all if I could even make it through but the story kept me going.

Overall, I am going to give On the Come Up book 3 out of 5 stars. Although I completely adored the story, I did struggle with Angie Thomas's writing style at times. The Hate U Give has been added to my TBR pile though as I am keen to read more of her stories.

Don't forget to check out the other members of the Three Hallows book club: Rachel and Amy.

March's book!

Next month the Three Hallows will be reading Girls with Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young.

The Girls of Innovations Academy are beautiful and well-behaved—it says so on their report cards. Under the watchful gaze of their Guardian, they receive a well-rounded education that promises to make them better. Obedient girls, free from arrogance or defiance. Free from troublesome opinions or individual interests.

But the girls’ carefully controlled existence may not be quite as it appears. As Mena and her friends uncover the dark secrets of what’s actually happening there—and who they really are—the girls of Innovations Academy will learn to fight back.

Fancy reading along with us? Get your copy here.

My post for Girls with Sharp Sticks should be up on April 27th. Don't forget to tag us in your posts and use #ThreeHallows to update us on your reading.


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