Anger Is A Gift Review

Today, I’m sharing my review of an emotional, unforgettable firecracker of a book that I want everyone to read.

Trigger Warnings:

• police violence/brutality (often graphic and intense scenes)
• panic attacks
• death
• violence (often graphic and intense scenes)
• racism
• ableism
• racial profiling

Six years ago, Moss Jefferies’ father was murdered by an Oakland police officer. Along with losing a parent, the media’s vilification of his father and lack of accountability has left Moss with near crippling panic attacks.

Now, in his sophomore year of high school, Moss and his fellow classmates find themselves increasingly treated like criminals by their own school. New rules. Random locker searches. Constant intimidation and Oakland Police Department stationed in their halls. Despite their youth, the students decide to organize and push back against the administration.

When tensions hit a fever pitch and tragedy strikes, Moss must face a difficult choice: give in to fear and hate or realize that anger can actually be a gift.

My Thoughts:

Mark Oshiro truly has a gift.

He writes in such a descriptive, realistic and gorgeous way that just pulls you in and won’t let go.

The characters are casually diverse, nuanced and allowed to be flawed. They just jump off the page and become people that you feel like you’ve known your whole life. That’s part of why this book feels so raw.

Plot wise, this book deals with some heavy topics in such an honest and unrelenting way. Oshiro doesn’t hold back with the depictions of brutality, making you really feel as though you’re there.

I don’t cry at books or films very often, like when I watched The Fault In Our Stars in the cinema and everyone around me was crying, but I was just sat there. This book not only made me cry, it turned me into a blubbering mess, not once, but multiple times.

This devastating, addictive and raw book just became an early contender for my favourites of 2019.

Five stars.

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