
Title: Everywhere You Don’t Belong
Author: Gabriel Bump
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Pages: 264
Rating: 5/5
TW/CW: Parent abandonment, Police brutality, Murder, Gang Violence
This is one of the books that you MUST read. Claude grew up on the Southside of Chicago. He was abandoned as a young child by his parents (I resonated with this). and moved in with his grandmother whose was a activist and loved Claude with all her might, but despite that, Claude was sad and hurt that his parents gave up on him. He often cried about it and who could blame him.
Many other events triggered him as well growing up in Chicago. Events such as a young man getting shot by a cop for simply helping out a neighbor and feeding their cat. Of course, the cops thought negatively of this young man without knowing who he was. They assumed he just wanted to rob someone. As you can imagine riots did ensue. Gangs were terrorizing Chicago, and more and more people were getting killed. Fed up with all the injustices and the constant toxic environment he was around, Claude decides to move to Missouri and attend College there as well. When he gets there he assumes that he was going to get away from things; start a new beginning. He quickly finds out that running to another state wasn’t going to stop the same injustices he was trying to get away from.
I absolutely loved this book. What an amazing story. A story that unfortunately is still relevant in today’s society. This story made you mad, made you want to cry, and made you want to laugh. I loved it, and I think you will too. Special thanks to Algonquin Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.