Book review - Doing Right

Title: Doing Right
Author: Patrick Jones
Genre: realistic fiction
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Rating:

Great...

...until it wasn't

Summary: DeQuin's father thinks he needs to be tougher. But being tough got his father a prison sentence. His uncle thinks he should just let everything go. That doesn't seem like much of a way to be a man to DeQuin. His grandfather is constantly lecturing him about the civil rights movement and standing up for your rights. When a night out with his friends goes very wrong, what will DeQuin choose? What kind of man will he be?

My opinion: (SPOILER ALERT, FRIENDS) At first, I loved this book. The characters have a decent amount of depth. The situations are complex, nothing easily solved. I really liked the interactions between DeQuin and his friends, especially his final confrontation with Martel. It encourages the reader to really think about issues of personal rights and how to make tough choices. What I didn't like was the ending. It's very sudden and leaves, I think, too many issues up in the air. I wanted more, a little sense of what might be down the road for DeQuin after his arrest.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.