Dear Martin by Nic Stone Teaser Review and Sommelier Post

Dear Martin by Nic Stone is an eye-opener. Overall, I would rate it a 10/10. As a short read, it still manages to introduce quite a few mind-bending themes. It deals with police brutality, wrongful arrest, internalized racism, systemic racism, overt racism, 'reverse' racism, and many other difficult themes.

Justyce, the main character, is someone I can relate to for the simple matter that we are both driven, hard-working, and ambitious individuals. On the other hand, he grew up in a poor neighborhood and was a black teenage male whereas I have grown up a privileged white teen girl.

The book is told through both the third person perspective, letters Justyce writes to MLK, and some conversational dialogue similar to a play. I met Nic Stone a few months ago, and she explained that she chose to include some of this play-like dialogue because she didn't want to betray anyone's inner thoughts during these conversations; she wanted us to all draw our own conclusions as though we were in the room ourselves. I think this is fascinating and some of the most difficult and eye-opening conversations were held through this type of writing.

As for the song that matches this book, I would say it's Feels Like We Only Go Backwards by Tame Impala. What first catches the attention is the title, which seems to lament the archaic systemic racism that dates back to the 1600's when America was founded. Parts of the song, including the lyrics "I got my hopes up, oh no, not again" which connects to Justyce's warring feelings of hope and despair at different parts of the book.

Additionally, the line "the seed of indecision isn't me, oh no" relates to Justyce's struggle that"In that moment, when I thought I was dying, it hit me: despite how good of a dude Martin was, they still killed him, man." This, for me, hit hard when Justyce was ready to give up on his dream and how he wanted to be like Martin.