Book Review: Dear Martin by Nic Stone
I read this book the week before BookCon a few months, so I’m excited to finally review it because I loved it so much. After this review I have another YA review that was actually a NetGalley ARC, then I have two more travel narratives from the 18th century (both non-fiction), and then I’m finally back to reading. Technically I haven’t finished reading the next three books I plan to review, so I have some more reading, but I’m still excited to get my hands on something new after that. Here we go! ♥︎
All I can think now is “How different would things have gone had I not been a black guy?” I know initially the cop could only go by what he saw (which prolly did seem a little sketchy), but I’ve never had my character challenged like that before.
Last night changed me. I don’t wanna walk around all pissed off and looking for problems, but I know I can’t continue to pretend nothing’s wrong. Yeah, there are no more “colored” water fountains, and it’s supposed to be illegal to discriminate, but if I can be forced to sit on the concrete in too-tight cuffs when I’ve done nothing wrong, it’s clear there’s an issue. That things aren’t as equal as folks say they are.
I need to pay more attention, Martin. Start really seeing stuff and writing it down. Figure out what to do with it. That’s why I’m writing to you. You faced way worse shi—I mean stuff than sitting in handcuffs for a few hours, but you stuck to your guns… Well, your lack thereof, actually.
— i.
“I’ve been tellin’ you since you were small that you gotta make a place for yourself in this world,” she said. “You thought I was playin’?”
I sighed again.
“You ever consider that maybe you not supposed to ‘fit’? People who make history rarely do.”
So I picked up this book because I wanted to meet an author at BookCon (whose tickets weren’t sold out), and I came across Nic Stone—and I had read The Hate U Give earlier in the year, and Dear Martin covers the same topic, in a different way. It revolves around a black teenager named Justyce, who is one of the only people of colour at his rich boarding school. After a racist encounter with a police officer (which ended up with Justyce on the ground in handcuffs), he begins writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a way to cope with police brutality. Then a bunch of other things happen but I don’t want to spoil too much, obviously. But I loved it so much, so of course I finished it before BookCon, and I was so glad I picked to meet Nic Stone, because this book was incredible and raw and important in every single way. If you want to skip to the end just to know my final thoughts, feel free to do so!
— ii.
“You can’t change how other people think and act, but you’re in full control of you. When it comes down to it, the only question that matters is this: If nothing in the world ever changes, what type of man are you gonna be?”
Ah, where to begin. There’s just so much to say about this book without wanting to go off on a tangent. Well I will say this—there were many unexpected twists and turns that I didn’t see coming, and the way the book was set up, I just, wow. The book is divided into two parts for a reason, and the events that happen just before part two are completely unexpected. You think the book is going to be about Justyce’s way of healing from his encounter with police brutality, then there’s a 180 degree spin and you don’t know what to do or feel or think next. Which again, is the point that was trying to be made about police brutality (I think, correct me if I’m wrong)—young black kids are just out there living their lives, and the next thing they know is they’re dead. Their world, and their world around them is altered forever without warning or even knowing it’s going to happen. It’s a brutal wake up call, and it’s one of the many reasons why I truly believe in order to become better allies, white people have to read books like these, no matter how ‘uncomfortable’ they may be. Everyone has to read these stories, if we want to put police brutality to an end, and it must come to an end.
Anyway, I think the plot’s progression throughout this story was very real, and it was one of the things that makes this story so brilliantly written. I think had all the events just happened at the beginning or even outside of the novel, it wouldn’t have as deep of an impact as it does, so absolute kudos to Nic Stone for that.
— iii.
SJ: Sorry, Doc. As I was saying, my great-grandparents immigrated to this country from Poland after narrowly escaping Chelmno.
Jared: What?
SJ: It was a Nazi death camp. And you just proved my point again. You’d spew a lot less asininity if you were willing to see beyond the eighteenth hole of your country club golf course.
I think my personal favourite part about the book was the characters and the various journeys they went through to get to where they were by the end. Of course there’s Justyce, the focal point of the book, and the most important part. By the end of his letter writing to Dr. King, he’s unsure of where to go next, but you see how far he’s come since before he even encountered the police. I think he’s very brave, a complex and really well rounded character, and his development I was subtle but so moving and powerful.
I wasn’t expecting Jared’s journey in the background, at all. Don’t get me wrong, I still don’t like him, but I was surprised to see him learn just a little bit more by the end. Then it made me angry because if it takes that event to realize that he is privileged and he must work to be a good ally, then the world really truly hasn’t progressed or isn’t as good as white people love to make it out to be. But we need characters like Jared because there are so many Jareds out there in real life who don’t ever change, and we must try to find a way to make sure that all the Jareds in the world change so there are no more.
One of the things I wasn’t expecting in the best way possible was Sarah-Jane. I never thought there was a place for Jewish characters in any story regarding social justice (in any way, shape, or form), but then my jaw literally dropped to the floor when I found out. Furthermore, her relationship with Justyce is literally everything to me. At a time where the black and Jewish communities don’t really get along (which I can only imagine how awful it must be for black Jews), it is more imperative than ever that we team up together as allies, because as Dear Martin shows, we are so much more powerful together than apart. The reality is, both communities suffer from oppression from the same/similar hands, and are infused together in so many ways, so I think we must try harder to be better allies with each other. I know this wasn’t the main point of the story, but I cried because of how much I related to Sarah-Jane and her entire character (and yes, I told Nic Stone all this in person and she signed my copy of Dear Martin with the Star of David and I cried some more). As a bonus note, even she goes on a journey throughout the novel in terms of being a better ally, which I hope to be doing as well, everyday.
— iv.
What I find most interesting reading through the letters: I can’t figure out what I was trying to accomplish. Yeah, I wanted to “be like Martin,” but to what end? I wasn’t trying to move mountains of injustice or fight for the equal rights of masses of people…
So what exactly was I trying to achieve? I’ve been thinking about it for days and haven’t come up with an answer.
I’d also like to discuss Stone’s writing style, which I really enjoyed. I think one of the aspects that make people, especially young adults/teenagers, really want to read this book is Justyce’s way of coping by writing letters to Dr. King. The book alternates between his letters and third person. I really think this makes a big difference. I generally find that young adults or teenagers want to hear directly from voices of their potential peers (in a contemporary setting), and it makes the story a lot more real. Of course it’s real either way, but I think by reading through Justyce’s letters, there’s an extra emotional, raw aspect that wouldn’t be there. Justyce’s voice and his letters are really the key that brings this story together, and I really think this is what makes it so incredible and amazing.
— v.
But that’s the thing, Martin. I CAN’T not notice when someone is eyeing me like I’m less than, and at this point, my mind automatically goes to race.
No clue what to do about that.
Which brings me back to my original point: What was my goal with the Be Like Martin thing? Was I trying to get more respect? (Fail.) Was I trying to be “more acceptable”? (Fail.) Did I think it would keep me out of trouble? (Epic fail.) Really, what was the purpose?
What I do know: I just went from being one of three black students in a class of 82 to one of…well, very, very few in a much larger number. Yeah, Garrett Tison is gone, but like Mr. Julian said, the world is full of people who will always see me as inferior.
Overall, I adored this book, but on a wider level, this book is so important to read, regardless of my personal opinion. I would 10000% recommend reading this book to literally anyone and everyone. Please read it. If you read my review? Read it. If you just skipped to the end to read my final thoughts? READ IT. That’s it. Those are my final thoughts. This book is super important and essential and so flawlessly done, it’s definitely going up on my favourites shelf.
If you’ve read Dear Martin, please let me know what you thought about the book in the comments below!
Rating: ★★★★★ | GoodReads
