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On The Come Up

On The Come Up

MusicYoung Adult
Pages
448
Published
2019
Language
English

Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Bri wants to be one of the greatest rappers of all time, or at least make it out of her neighborhood. It is a lot to live up to: her late father was an underground hip-hop legend who was killed just before he hit big. But with her mother recently laid off and eviction looming, Bri's dream feels less like ambition and more like necessity.

When Bri finally pours her anger and talent into a song, it goes viral, but for all the wrong reasons. Painted as a menace by the very people who should champion her, she has to decide who she wants to be, and whether success is worth becoming the caricature the world wants to make of her.

Set in the same Garden Heights neighborhood as The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas's On the Come Up is a fierce, funny, and deeply moving story about art, poverty, and the power and cost of your own voice. It is a love letter to hip-hop and to every kid told to make themselves smaller.

Prose complexity
4/10

Vibe

InspiringGrittyEmotionalHopeful
Coming of Age

Genres

Music Young Adult YA Contemporary Contemporary Literature

About the author

A
Angie Thomas

Angie Thomas is an American author of young adult and middle-grade fiction. She was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and studied creative writing at Belhaven University, where she earned a BFA. As a teenager she was a rapper who was featured in Right On! magazine. Her debut novel, The Hate U Give (2017), was acquired by Balzer + Bray in a 13-house auction and debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. She followed it with On the Come Up (2019) and Concrete Rose (2021), and has co-...

Characters

BriProtagonist

A sharp, ambitious sixteen-year-old aspiring rapper and daughter of an underground legend.

Aunt PoohSupporting

Bri's aunt and would-be manager, tangled up in the streets.

JaySupporting

Bri's mother, in recovery and struggling to keep the family afloat.

TreySupporting

Bri's older brother, holding the family together.

All characters in On The Come Up

Frequently asked questions

  • Does this book need to be read in a specific order with the author's other work?

    This novel is not a sequel to The Hate U Give, though both stories take place in the same neighborhood of Garden Heights. You can read them in any order as they function as standalone narratives.

  • Is there a film adaptation of this book?

    A feature film adaptation directed by Sanaa Lathan was released in 2022 and is available to stream on Paramount+.

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