Bri has a complicated relationship with her mother and her aunt, in particular, but at the end of the day, both sides know that the other loves them more than they can imagine. I think one reason this book is so whole is because of the strength of the relationships in it. There’s this energy-of life-that I felt while reading and now as I listen to the audiobook (plus Angie/Bri’s humor is unmatched). I felt like any second Bri would appear in front of me that was how real Angie Thomas wrote her and the story of On the Come Up. We see her speak her mind and be herself around the people she trusts the most (like her brother Trey, her mother, who she calls Jay, her aunt Pooh, and her best friends, Malik and Sonny).
She’s a quiet student at school, but readers may not expect that of her, as her voice on the page is so strong. Speaking of Bri: her character was so ALIVE on these pages. Other than that, however, On the Come Up and Bri, the protagonist, forge their own path and tell their own story. On the Come Up has some small connections to the events that happen in THUG as it takes place after Starr’s story and it is also set in Garden Heights. It’s no small feat following up The Hate U Give. 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. 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.
With bills piling up and homelessness staring her family down, Bri no longer just wants to make it-she has to make it.
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. As the daughter of an underground rap legend who died before he hit big, Bri’s got big shoes to fill. Or at least make it out of her neighborhood one day.
Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time.
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