“Thomas has crafted a microbrew of American race politics at a time when it was/is sorely needed.”

So much has been written, and justifiably, about the social, political, and emotional impact of this book, and I can only underscore it. It is, at its front, a work of significance for its moment (and those before and after it), and so it exists and works differently from what we might call traditional literature: it is as much counter-narrative and manifesto as it is a novel.

I’ll highlight a few areas which stood out for me, though, on the reading side of the book:

–A protagonist delicately placed between several conflicting ideologies and spaces, young enough to be poorly-equipped to navigate them expertly, yet also young enough to develop genuine agency and righteousness. I love a flawed protagonist who muscles (even stumbles) towards justice.

–Characters who–despite everything they directly witness–defy justice and sensibility for their own ideas of safety and power. Ironically and importantly, a comfortable white girl and an older black gang leader serve equally here.

–Families who define themselves–despite marriages, career, and class differences–by their relationships to one another, and that these bonds make them strong.

–Minor characters who themselves visibly fall into completely different positions of internal conflict from our protagonist and Khalil, who themselves struggle (at times unseen) with the decisions they must make.

Thomas, therefore, has crafted a microbrew of American race politics at a time when it was/is sorely needed. Does it sometimes miss a beat, have a stilted moment, too-handily arrange a scene? Remember what purpose the book serves. For me, the largest criticism I have of this work is hardly its fault: that the story is so “timely” (from tech to vocabulary) that the problems it addresses may tragically outlast its currency.