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jrhoffer1913's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. This is an amazing book. Very thought provoking and helping me take a small step forward in better understanding racism. Read this book.
birdinflight1's review against another edition
5.0
Angie recommended this, so I got it from the library for William. He said it was the best book he'd ever read, so I read it, too. It reminded me a lot of The Hate U Give. Very current. Very relevant in terms of race relations, racial profiling, the justice system. Eye-opening for a me, to see inside the mind and heart of a young black teen boy.
austryhere's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
heidikundin's review against another edition
4.0
Wow. Just WOW. I'm having a really hard time putting into words just how important this book and its message is.
I added Dear Martin to my "Want to Read" shelf as soon as I heard about it in July 2017, and I pre-ordered it on Amazon so that it showed up in my Kindle on its release date in October; however, I didn't actually get around to reading it until the following January. In that amount of time, I had completely forgotten the synopsis that is listed in the book description, so I went into this knowing only that it was about race relations, and I am SO glad that I didn't already know/remember what was going to happen in Part Two. If I had known what was going to happen, I likely would have spent the first half of the book anticipating it and just waiting for it to happen, but without knowing, I was absolutely devastated, and the impact was even more dramatic.
There will undoubtedly be a ton of comparison between Dear Martin and The Hate U Give, and I think that both are equally important and both have messages that NEED to be shared. They are, however, VERY different, and I would highly recommend reading both of them. I loved both novels, and I will certainly be encouraging my own children to read them once they're in high school.
My only complaint with Dear Martin is that I wish it would have been twice as long with twice as many details and some of the minor characters more fleshed out. I felt that there were times that the book sort of "fast-forwarded" itself with situations that read, (paraphrasing) "When we were done presenting our arguments..." instead of actually allowing the readers to hear those arguments and become a part of the action. There is SO much about this book that was absolutely fantastic, but I felt like it could have been even MORE. All-in-all, a very worthwhile read, though!
I added Dear Martin to my "Want to Read" shelf as soon as I heard about it in July 2017, and I pre-ordered it on Amazon so that it showed up in my Kindle on its release date in October; however, I didn't actually get around to reading it until the following January. In that amount of time, I had completely forgotten the synopsis that is listed in the book description, so I went into this knowing only that it was about race relations, and I am SO glad that I didn't already know/remember what was going to happen in Part Two. If I had known what was going to happen, I likely would have spent the first half of the book anticipating it and just waiting for it to happen, but without knowing, I was absolutely devastated, and the impact was even more dramatic.
There will undoubtedly be a ton of comparison between Dear Martin and The Hate U Give, and I think that both are equally important and both have messages that NEED to be shared. They are, however, VERY different, and I would highly recommend reading both of them. I loved both novels, and I will certainly be encouraging my own children to read them once they're in high school.
My only complaint with Dear Martin is that I wish it would have been twice as long with twice as many details and some of the minor characters more fleshed out. I felt that there were times that the book sort of "fast-forwarded" itself with situations that read, (paraphrasing) "When we were done presenting our arguments..." instead of actually allowing the readers to hear those arguments and become a part of the action. There is SO much about this book that was absolutely fantastic, but I felt like it could have been even MORE. All-in-all, a very worthwhile read, though!
michdenisereads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
librarylandlisa's review against another edition
4.0
A must read. Writing is a little weak in the beginning but it is a very gripping read. Great read-a-like with Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give.
quiltyscientist's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Definitely smashed my heart to pieces.
ciuli's review against another edition
3.0
I finally got to read this book I've had on my TBR list for a while now and I was really excited because I had read amazing reviews about it. So before writing my thoughts on the book, just let me explain the reason behind me giving just 3/5 stars.
If I were to judge this book basing my review only on the plot, and on the feelings expressed, I would give 10/5 stars, totally worth it and it opened my eyes on so many things that I didn't even pay attention to before. But unfortunately, the author's writing style wasn't really my cup of tea, especially those grocery list kinda paragraphs that were supposed to be dialogues. I'm sorry, but I seriously can't with those. so yeah, that's why I only gave it 3 stars.
Now going to the book per se, it was a unique experience reading this book. it was definitely mind-blowing and mind-opening, and it shed light on issues I don't think I've ever noticed before. I have to be honest here, some of these things felt surreal while reading them because my first reaction was "this can't be true, people can't be so cruel and racist", but then I remembered all the shootings and battles for equal rights that take place in America and that we hear of daily on the news. I think this is also due to basic law differences between America and Italy, my country, such as that in italy you can't carry any gun or weapon , wether you are a simple person or a police officer off duty. If something like what happened in this story, and what happens quite often in America I have to say, were to happen in italy, it wouldn't matter if you were black or white, PO or not, you had a gun on you, outside of a shooting range, you were carryng it for no good reason at all, you shot someone, you're going to jail. End of the story. I know this is not the point of the book and that the focus is on social and racial disparities, but to me the sole thought of this guy carrying a gun and shooting someone from inside his car into another car is terrifying. I don't even know how Americans can go around with their lives peacefully knowing someone can pull a gun out their pants at any moment and no one can say anything about it because it's permitted by the law!
What I really liked about this book was how it showed both sides of the medal. While the main purpose of this book is to have people reflect on how they perceive black people and hopefully open more than a couple eyes on the issue, it also spends some time showing how the reverse is also possible, due to decades and centuries of oppression that led to prejudice and lack of trust.
overall, I liked the story, didn't really like the writing style, but if you're looking for something to open your eyes on racial disparities than you should definitely pick this book up.
If I were to judge this book basing my review only on the plot, and on the feelings expressed, I would give 10/5 stars, totally worth it and it opened my eyes on so many things that I didn't even pay attention to before. But unfortunately, the author's writing style wasn't really my cup of tea, especially those grocery list kinda paragraphs that were supposed to be dialogues. I'm sorry, but I seriously can't with those. so yeah, that's why I only gave it 3 stars.
Now going to the book per se, it was a unique experience reading this book. it was definitely mind-blowing and mind-opening, and it shed light on issues I don't think I've ever noticed before. I have to be honest here, some of these things felt surreal while reading them because my first reaction was "this can't be true, people can't be so cruel and racist", but then I remembered all the shootings and battles for equal rights that take place in America and that we hear of daily on the news. I think this is also due to basic law differences between America and Italy, my country, such as that in italy you can't carry any gun or weapon , wether you are a simple person or a police officer off duty. If something like what happened in this story, and what happens quite often in America I have to say, were to happen in italy, it wouldn't matter if you were black or white, PO or not, you had a gun on you, outside of a shooting range, you were carryng it for no good reason at all, you shot someone, you're going to jail. End of the story. I know this is not the point of the book and that the focus is on social and racial disparities, but to me the sole thought of this guy carrying a gun and shooting someone from inside his car into another car is terrifying. I don't even know how Americans can go around with their lives peacefully knowing someone can pull a gun out their pants at any moment and no one can say anything about it because it's permitted by the law!
What I really liked about this book was how it showed both sides of the medal. While the main purpose of this book is to have people reflect on how they perceive black people and hopefully open more than a couple eyes on the issue, it also spends some time showing how the reverse is also possible, due to decades and centuries of oppression that led to prejudice and lack of trust.
overall, I liked the story, didn't really like the writing style, but if you're looking for something to open your eyes on racial disparities than you should definitely pick this book up.