Adversity and Uncertainty: November 2024 Book Recommendation

 

Hollywood depections of high school and your high school years often frame those four years as one of the best times of our lives. An equal mix of familial reliance and stability, individual independence, self-discovery, and rigidity. In actuality, there is some truth to this, though that mix varies from kid to kid. And yet, despite the uniqueness of every teenager's high school experience, I believe there's one thing that Hollywood does not cover much: College Applications. 

The book's full title is "Show Them You're Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College", a very lenghty yet apt description of what the book is about. It a nonfiction that reads like a coming-of-age story that covers the life of senior-aged boys in Los Angeles, as they try to navigate the stress and pressures of the college application season. In the mix of all this, we are also shown a normal life for these boys, where they face other challenges and joys as well, such as family matters, dates, homecoming, and the 2016 election. The writing style is a blend of documentary and novel, an appropriate fit considering the subject matter and the author's background. 

But perhaps the most important theme that lingers throughout this book is that of class, and the division between the impoverished and the affluent. Yes, the book does cover the stories of multiple boys and their struggles and trepidations, but the author does a brilliant job at how those aspects of late boyhood is reflected across the lines of class. Throughout the book, the author showcases groups of boys from two different highschools and communities: The largely black and hispanic Gateway city of Compton, rife with gang violence; and the affluent city of Beverly hills, home to Hollywood's elites. Both cities are significantly famous in the sphere of pop culture, and that also plays a significant role in the psyche of these boys. Hobbs does a wonderful job with handling the stories of the boys of both environments with equal coverage, free from bias, and gives a compelling narrative that intends to make the reader sympathize with both groups (Though I've seen many reviews that favored the Compton boys). 

The strength of "Show Them You're Good" lies in the individual stories of the boys themselves. The biggest key in what makes this book so great is it's ability to capture a stage in a man's life that is often so difficult for pop culture to depict accurately, and that is the whirlwind of excitement, dread, and anxiety a boy faces before he commits to becoming a man, and the part where he must make decisions that can determine the trajectory of his life. I can feel myself re-living my senior years, and most importantly I can feel myself to be in the shoes of these boys. Hobbs' story includes a wide cast of teenage boys, each with their own unique struggles and stories, the most compelling of which, in my opinion, is the story of Carlos, a DACA youth who dreams of following his brother's path by getting into Yale. 

I first discovered this book as I wandered through the college section of my public library, and it was definitely worth it. I think this book is a captivating read, and I recommend that you read this book in all it's entirety, (the ending and the details surrounding what lies ahead for the boys in the book are too satisfying to spoil). "Show Them You're Good" is a perfect book, and it was truly a pleasure to read it from cover to cover. I give this book 5 stars.