Mark Oshiro

Struggling with panic attacks and grief over his father's death, high school junior Moss, in the face of a racist school administration, decides to organize a protest that escalates into violence.

A Novel

Anger Is a Gift

Sarah Sammis

Mark Oshiro's depiction of Oakland bears little resemblance to actual Oakland. It reads like cherry picked details from Los Angeles relabeled as Oakland.

That's not to say Oakland is a perfect city. It has its problems stemming from gentrification, lack of funding due to California's screwed up property tax laws, and sky rocketing home and rental prices. This book, does not reflect any of Oakland's actual problems.

http://pussreboots.com/blog/2018/comm...

Allie Herrington

Librarian: Yes, I will be recommending this book for purchase. Yes, I will be recommending it to readers and teachers, and probably nominating it as a top book of the year in the awards given by various international schools. As a librarian I completely get the hype surrounding this book. People should read it. It is important.

Reader: I did not enjoy this book. I know that that's kind of the point, and that I'm probably going to be called all sorts of bad names on the internet for admitting it, but that doesn't make it any less true. 
I had an extreme amount of difficulty finishing the book and I had to put it down several times. Part of that is, as mentioned by other reviewers, several plot twists, that came perilously close to bury your gays. Part of that is the way that it's written (I had a hard time staying interested. Part of it was the fact that this subject is to real, and to close to home. And part of it is, despite what others have said, there is no catharsis, only anger. And that's the problem. This book invites you to get angry, it practically dares you to. But it doesn't give you anywhere to point that anger. Except maybe at police officers. And that's correct. But also not. Because no matter what this book claims anger does nothing except breed more anger. We get (justifiably) angry at police officers for unnecessary acts of cruelty. And so we lash out. But all that does is reinforce the views of police officers that say that those who lash out are violent. And that in turn leads to more violence. Anger solves nothing. It just creates an unending circle of pain. There has to be a better way. This book doesn't show it. It just shows how more violence gets created.

Sien Van de Wouwer

I really want to write an actual review, but perhaps after I have stopped sobbing my eyes out

Tiffany Robinson

I really wanted to like this book, but I could never get into it.

Katie

3.5

Anger is a Gift is a deeply moving, important book. It shows police brutality and the violence that certain communities face in an unapologetic manner. This book follows students at West Oakland High School facing a stronger police presence in their school, and when they try to stage a walkout, there are horrific consequences.

EDIT: Immediately after originally posting I realized I forgot an extremely important part of my review. I am a white woman. I will never experience police violence in the way that the characters in this novel do, which means that my review is inherently lacking very important context. If any POC would like me to link your #ownvoices review, please comment or slide into my DMs! Your voice is definitely more important than mine when it comes to books tackling this topic.

This book did not pull any punches when it came to showing police violence, and I think that is its greatest strength. It tells us the truth. It shows the trauma that certain communities, usually mostly minorities, suffer at the hands of those that are supposed to protect and serve. It shows the frustration of the children who live in those communities. Several of the teen characters in this book had dialogue that boiled down to, “We just want to go to school!” It was extremely powerful to read.

I do feel that the writing was lacking in some parts. Some of the dialogue felt stilted, and while some of the prose was beautiful, other parts suffered from that same stilted writing. There are some spoilers for the rest of this paragraph, though I will try to stay as vague as possible, but read cautiously. (view spoiler)[The walkout at the school was responded to by police in riot gear. This is SUPER ILLEGAL. Walkouts are considered peaceful protest and schools cannot punish students for participating in them. I think it is completely plausible that the school in this book would do it anyway, but no one even mentioned that this specific thing the school and police did was illegal. I think that would have been a great thing to sprinkle in so that teen readers would be aware of their legal rights. It was hard for me to suspend my disbelief that NO ONE, not even adults that are supposedly hardcore activists, brought this up. (hide spoiler)]

I also feel that this book has too many side characters with not enough to do. I love the amount of diversity, but I do feel like there were some characters that were basically presented as X sexuality or having Y racial background (or a combination of sexual identity minority and racial minority, which was awesome to show because some folks think that a fat gay black dude with anxiety and panic attacks is too “special snowflake” ugh) but then didn’t have an active role in the story. I love Moss’s huge group of friends and I love that they celebrate each other, but I, as the reader, did not have the opportunity to celebrate them because I didn’t get to know them.

I still enjoyed this book, although it was deeply unsettling and uncomfortable to read. This is not a safe book, but it is an important book. The issues with writing and characterization are disappointing, but with more practice, Mark Oshiro can smooth those over in his future books, which I am definitely looking forward to reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me a copy in exchange for an honest review!

Alexis 

Everyone is sleeping on this book! I’ve never felt so much rage, anger and sadness while reading. I lost count on how many times I cried while reading. I don’t have enough words to describe how much I loved this book. This just became my favorite book of the entire year, I’m not even joking. It was moving but also shed light on social issues that we continue to struggle with everyday in the united stated. I recommend everyone read this book!

Overall I think it was okay. There were some awesome moments especially around the protesting and the rhetoric about using your anger for something that can make a change.

But. There was a lot that felt lacking. A lot of conversations felt empty and just didn't flow very well. Everything seemed to always focus on Moss, to the point where it felt odd that in any situation, a woman (and several different women) turned to him and said "it isn't your fault," or "this is hard for you," etc. Which might be more geared towards a young adult reader, and might be Oshiro trying to talk directly to the reader. So that just might be my adult self not wanting that in a book, it might really work for the young adult crowd.

My main issue with the novel is that Oshiro doesn't seem to stick to today's technology, and the sparking events seem like an overreaction. It is hard to discuss without spoilers, but in general, I could have accepted some of the events if this were set in the future, where technology can be more "out there" and not needing to be backed in facts. I see him trying to bring in a discussion of the militarization of police, but it is very lackluster and his handling of the technology pulled me out of the book and to Google. One term he used is so scarce that his own book pops up in a web search within the first 5 results. The magnets he speaks of don't work the way he claims, and while technology is vulnerable to magnetic fields, in the days of Overwatch, it is unlikely they would be affected much. I also highly doubt that the school could react in such a manner, that they would be okay with that kind of negative publicity.

For a young adult book, it covers a lot of difficult topics and I think it does open a conversation about police brutality and protesting and militarization of police.

Claire Klein

While the cover of this book makes it seem like a middle grade novel, it is most certainly not. This book is about police brutality but shows a different, and more graphic side to it than Dear Martin or The Hate U Give. It was extremely well written, and was full of representation. This book is very heavy, and not an "easy summer read". That being said, it is extremely relevant and sheds a light onto a subject that isn't easy to write about. It is long but it packs so much emotion into each page. This is an extremely important book.

Kate

Reading this book was like a punch to the gut. It was painful, terrifying and incredibly powerful. The events featured felt like they should have belonged in a dystopian, not a book that’s tragically realistic and inspired by current events. The fact that there were similarities between the way the kids and people in the book were treated paralleled with the treatment of characters in books like The Darkest Minds is messed up in itself but made even more so because how true to life they were. 

Although I had a few issues with the structure and pacing, the wonderfully inclusive cast of characters, Moss’s openness about his mental health and sexuality with family and friends and the loving, supportive relationship he had with his mother more than made up for it.

All in all, this was a brilliantly inclusive, heart-pounding and moving read I’d highly recommend. 

TW: panic attacks, ableism, racism, gun violence, misgendering, police brutality, internalised fatphobia

Emily Burns

river

Swathi Seshadri

Sarah Gerton

Jill Niemeier 

Flavia Louise

Áróra Lind 

*31st Annual Lammy Finalist for LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult category* *2019 ALA Schneider Family Book Award Teen Winner* *Buzzfeed's 24 Best YA Books of 2018* *Vulture's 38 Best LGBTQ YA Novels* *Book Riot's Best Books 2018* *Hyable's Most Anticipated Queer YA Books of 2018* *The Mary Sue's 18 Books You Should Read in 2018* Moss Jeffries is many things—considerate student, devoted son, loyal friend and affectionate boyfriend, enthusiastic nerd. But sometimes Moss still wishes he could be someone else—someone without panic attacks, someone whose father was still alive, someone who hadn’t become a rallying point for a community because of one horrible night. And most of all, he wishes he didn’t feel so stuck. Moss can’t even escape at school—he and his friends are subject to the lack of funds and crumbling infrastructure at West Oakland High, as well as constant intimidation by the resource officer stationed in their halls. That was even before the new regulations—it seems sometimes that the students are treated more like criminals. Something will have to change—but who will listen to a group of teens? When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes again, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.

Anger Is a Gift A Novel

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