Review: Anger Is a Gift

Anger Is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Apparently this one began as a sci-fi book, and there are still elements in the final print that read like they should belong there. A most literal police state, armed with high-tech riot gear that they're shamelessly deploying against high school students in West Oakland, dangerous military-grade technology that has a habit of malfunctioning horribly - and, by all accounts, intentionally - when put into use...yeah, there's a reason why one of Oshiro's characters says something about this story playing out like one of those "trendy dystopian novels" with white people running scared, except it ain't white people running scared, and it's a scary, scary reality.

Though I live near Oakland, I don't go there very often. West Oakland, I can honestly say I've only actually seen from the freeway or the BART tracks. But from what I know of the city's recent history, Oshiro nails it, right down to the ongoing issue of police brutality. I believe Aimal said in her review that setting the book in the Bay Area, long hailed as a progressive bastion, showcases how that "progressiveness" really only applies to places full of rich white well-meaners like Berkeley. Or Piedmont, home to Esperanza's parents, whose being white makes them ignorant af - and not in a malicious way either, which makes it almost worse.

So, yeah, there's a ton of maddening unhelpfulness from those with power, or PR-like wishy-washiness when confronted with how much hurt their privilege has wrought. But like a lot of other recent YA titles that deal with modern racism head-on - I'm especially thinking of The Hate U Give here - it's not all riots and protests. There's a lot of enjoyment of the little things in life, like friendship, especially. And what a support system Moss has got, from his mother to all his friends - who span a wide spectrum of racial, religious, and gender identities, also very true to the book's Bay Area setting - and of course his boyfriend, Javier, with the relationship between them being one of the cutest you'll ever see.

I won't sugarcoat it, though - this book is bloodydamn brutal. Though there's a lot of moments of various characters - not just students, but the teacher Mrs. Torrance too - reacting to escalating conflict at the school with world-weary snark worthy of an N.K. Jemisin novel to cut the tension, Oshiro doesn't hold back. You'll cry a hell of a lot reading this book, of that I'm sure. And when it all ends - in bittersweet fashion at best, and with a stern message from the youth whom the police have spent so long harassing and attacking - you'll probably find yourself staring into space for a good long while.

This world's too real. We need to stop letting that be so, like it's some kind of inextricable fact. We can be better to our fellow humans, treating them with the utmost respect they deserve.

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