Dear Martin by Nic Stone

Hey everyone! I'm back and this first book review is one that goes along with the holiday we all celebrated in the name of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This review will have some spoilers, so beware. If you haven't read the book, you may not want to read this review yet.

So let me just jump right in and say that I did really enjoy this book. I think it hit on some social issues that we are facing now in our society but it did it in a multifaceted way. The main character is a young black man, Justyce McAllister, who goes to a school that is predominantly white. He comes from a neighborhood in Atlanta, GA that is not great, but through the efforts of his mother, he goes to a prep school in order for him to achieve more than his mother did. Every parents' dream for their child. Except for Justyce, there is more to it.

Everyone around his has a different idea of what it will mean for him to succeed and reach his goals and that is what really made this book for me. It gives the reader a look inside of his mind and the many social aspects of his life. Not only does he have his friends and teachers at the Prep school that he goes to telling him what he should do, but he also has his mother telling him something different and his friends from his old neighborhood telling him what he should do.

The other reason I really enjoyed this was the uncomfortable topic that it discussed and the fact that the book was set up like a discussion. During parts of the book, discussions on certain topics, such as race, were set up as in almost a script format. In the past, I haven't really enjoyed this type of setup, but for some reason in this book it worked. It was easy to identify the speaker and follow the discussion the characters were having.

This book does deal with topics that are uncomfortable, but they need to be talked about. I feel that this book dealt with those uncomfortable topics in a way that made you just a little bit uncomfortable and also managed to question beliefs and right vs. wrong.