Review: Dear Martin

Dear Martin by Nic Stone
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Easily comparable to Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give, Nic Stone's debut Dear Martin, while delivered in a physically smaller package, is no less gut-punching and devastating and firmly rooted in the real-world issues of systemic racism and police brutality. That gut-punch quality owes a lot to the fact that unlike THUG, Stone's book, being so much smaller, doesn't have nearly as much room for the little things in life to liven things up. Not that it doesn't have some of those little things, though - especially when we see Justyce's friendship with Manny and relationship with SJ, strained though both may be. But Stone delivers greatly on an emotionally raw and yet minimalist narrative, splitting the novel between news transcripts, sections written to resemble a screenplay (and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Stone began this as a screenplay, actually) with heavy emphasis on dialogue, and of course Justyce's letters to MLK, which serve more as a diary than anything else. And just like Angie Thomas, Nic Stone is dangerously gifted at tackling issues to which there are no easy answers, and making that crystal clear. Jus has to deal with way too much stress in his life, poor guy, between the blatant ignorance of his classmates and his having to keep his relationship with SJ secret because his mother wouldn't want him dating a white girl...and of course the crime that serves as this book's climax, almost smack in the middle.

(I shouldn't have been reading this one at the cafe so soon before starting work.)

I eagerly await whatever other books Nic Stone writes in the future, and until then, I'm headcanoning this one as part of the Albertalli-Thomas universe as well. No doubt Jus and Starr can bond over their all-too-similar experiences, and then go hang out with the likes of Abby and Bram and Simon to lighten things up.

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