TRUE TRUE

A senior transfer student quickly learns that his prestigious, predominately white private school is a war zone for Black kids like him.

To cope with all that’s going on, proud Brooklynite, second-generation Jamaican American, and bookish robotics nerd Gil Powell is advised to read Sun Tzu after the long, difficult trip to Augustin Prep on the Upper West Side takes an even more daunting turn. When a racist classmate and his goons bait Gil into deploying his martial arts training to defend himself, he’s suspended and placed on probation. The interpersonal bigotry reveals systemic patterns affecting students of color at Augustin, but even as this takes its toll, Gil relies on The Art of War to guide him through an abundance of stressors: School commitments take him away from family and community, his father’s in Jamaica struggling with his immigration documents, and his grandmother’s dementia is worsening. Even as romance enters his life, Gil is at war on so many politically justified but all-encompassing fronts that he struggles to find time for himself and hurts those he cares about. At times, the presentation of the conflict is a bit on the nose, and ultimately, as Gil takes it upon himself to rage against the machines of inequity, the rage, stress, and anxiety pose threats that Gil, his community, and empathetic readers may all need help navigating.

An intense, insightful take on the art of surviving the war on your existence.