Anger is a Gift (Oshiro)
(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)
A few starter notes:
First, this was a book group monthly pick.
Second, I didn't recognize Mark Oshiro's name until I read the bio at the end of the book and discovered he's the Mark of the Mark Does Stuff blogs. Why this matters is that it is possible that I've met him at a con. I recall "Mark Does Stuff blogs" mentioned in the program of a sci-fi con from a few years back. (I could say that there was a ping of jealousy there at the thought of how many "mrburke" blogs there were at the time, but I don't review the latest anything nor have I ever interviewed anybody.)
Third, if this hadn't been a book club pick, I might've stopped about a third of the way through the book.
Fourth, with topics like this, I prefer nonfiction, or at least something based on a true story. (Licenses may be taken.) The reason for this is with nonfiction, when something "over the top" occurs, you think "Wow! That happened!" With fiction, you may just roll your eyes and say that it doesn't work like that. Granted, much later in the book, it gets explained why it does work like that, but I would've bailed before that explanation if I hadn't wanted to participate in the group chat.
Finally, in the after notes, we find out that this was originally conceived as a science-fiction trilogy. I don't know about three books, but one might've been enjoyable. In this case, the "over the top" nature of some of the scenes would've worked well in some dystopian future city, with shades of "this is happening now". There isn't much more I can say about this without throwing out spoilers, so I won't.
The story revolves around Morris Jeffries, Jr, known as "Moss". We meet him and his best friend Esperanza returning home on BART where they meet Javier. Moss and Javier hit it off and start dating. Moss lives alone him his mother ever since his father was shot by cops outside a store up the street from his house. Esperanza lives with her adoptive white parents. Javier has been alone with his mother since his father just left. Much of the rest of the cast introudced in the first couple of chapters reads like those inclusion checklists editors say not to do. They all get along great and this has to be the most agreeable student body to ever attend a run-down, falling apart, underfunded public high school. About the only contrarian opinion was a mention of a student who wouldn't date a bisexual and get rounded derided as a dinosaur. As a teacher, this doesn't particularly ring true, particularly around the time that this was being written. (Also, about that time, contrary to the text, most of the staff was aware what Tumblr was and kept tabs on what social media platrforms the students used, not that the followed any on them.)
While young romance and social protests are important in the first few chapters, it then moves on to police brutality and police in the schools. One incident leads to metal detectors being installed, but they don't act like any metal detectors who likely have ever encountered. This leads to one of those "over the tops" scenarios that had me rolling my eyes. Maybe with a little more setup, it might've been different. I've worked at high schools with metal detectors for the past dozen years or so. The first one, coincidentally, got them installed after a small riot occured in the school when officials from the district were present. Obviously, they were nothing like the ones depicted in the book. They weren't even permanent. The were portable who they could be put away before the cafeteria got used from lunch. And while school safety ran the equipment, they weren't NYPD and they couldn't do anything without someone from the Dean's office or security there to oversee it.
Anyway, it was an interesting story of what some people have working against them and what lengths they have to go to just have a protest to get things changed. The police respond to charges of police brutality with more brutality. By making it a YA contemporary novel, i.e. set in the real world, only small victories are possible with the hope of bigger changes to come.
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