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Title: When I Was the Greatest
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young Adult- Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Release Date: January 7, 2014
Source: public library
Synopsis via Goodreads:
A lot of the stuff that gives my neighborhood a bad name, I don’t really mess with. The guns and drugs and all that, not really my thing.
Nah, not his thing. Ali’s got enough going on, between school and boxing and helping out at home. His best friend Noodles, though. Now there’s a dude looking for trouble—and, somehow, it’s always Ali around to pick up the pieces. But, hey, a guy’s gotta look out for his boys, right? Besides, it’s all small potatoes; it’s not like anyone’s getting hurt.
Nah, not his thing. Ali’s got enough going on, between school and boxing and helping out at home. His best friend Noodles, though. Now there’s a dude looking for trouble—and, somehow, it’s always Ali around to pick up the pieces. But, hey, a guy’s gotta look out for his boys, right? Besides, it’s all small potatoes; it’s not like anyone’s getting hurt.
“I felt good. I felt like, somehow,
we were all winning.”
we were all winning.”
In 240 pages Jason Reynolds paints an urban coming-of-age tale told through the eyes of a 15-year-old male. When I Was the Greatest is reminiscent of Of Mice and Men combined with a vanilla Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. The story is told in first person through Ali, "government name" Allen, an aspiring boxer who avoids fighting and captures the adventures of him and his neighbors, while exploring what family is over time.
The character building is a priority in this story with the overall plot taking a back seat for the majority of the book. And honestly, it works. With a series of anecdotes, Ali's narrative guides us through the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn with his friends Noodles and Needles in tow. The secondary characters are authentic with their own splash of diversity and growing pains. Since the plot does take the back seat the pacing is slower, to a fault, with all of the action coming to life in the last 100 pages or so. In each chapter the storyline exposes more of each character's background, in turn testing the sacrifices necessary to be secure the bonds of family and friendship.
My one dislike is that everything is a little vanilla. Each chapter is almost too easy resulting in a gift packaged book and beelines for the first source of conflict resolution. However, this isn't enough to discredit the journey of young black males in the city and is an area where relative literature is lacking.
3.5 Stars: A modern coming of age tale with a classic literature twist.
The plot sounds like one exciting journey, though one that possibly carries quite a heavy topic! Maybe if there's not literature element fleshed out, the book could be EVEN BETTER. =)
ReplyDeleteAlicia @ Summer Next Top Story