How It Went Down (edició 2015)

Magoon focuses on the shooting of a black teenager and then tells the story from the many voices in his community, including near-strangers, best friends, family, and the people who think they know him best. It's a story about community as much as it is about racial tensions and the brutalizing of young black men. It's a poignant, lyrical story that slowly seeps out the heartbreak on each page. Worth the read. ( )

One story, at least more than ten points of view. A young black man is shot by a white cop. Was it only because of a stolen Snickers bar? This thrilling story captivates with its intense themes. I would suggest this to a mature middle school English class. There is a lot to unpack in this novel as it tells of Tariq's life. ( )

When Tariq Johnson is killed, everyone has a different opinion about what exactly happened and who Tariq really was. People are complicated and eye witness testimony is flawed. ( )

In this novel Magoon uses the viewpoints of 18 characters to look at the shooting death of a Black teenager, Tariq Johnson, by a white man in an unnamed city. These characters include his friends and relatives, a politician, local shopkeepers, men and women, a politician, witnesses and not--a variety of people living or working, or who formerly lived, in the neighborhood. These 18 different viewpoints also show how everyone who knew Tariq knew a different side of him. From his best friend to his younger sister, to the shopkeeper he regularly bought groceries from, to the friends convincing him to join the neighborhood gang--everyone thought they knew him, and all would be surprised at his real self. This did, though, also make the story somewhat hard to follow. Who was he? And what really happened when he was shot? This is never answered definitively, but I think that is part of the point of the story. There is no way to know.

I am not the target audience for this YA book. And it very much is a YA book, bringing in concerns of teens everywhere--friendships, the future, school, money, fitting in, hopes and dreams, staying true to yourself, siblings, parents. Even the design of the book feels very YA to me (large chapter heads, lots of blank space). My teen sons both read this for school, and neither enjoyed it. They both found it confusing and "terrible". My kids do not like fiction and only read what fiction is required for school, so it doesn't surprise me that they did not like this. This is a reader's book in construction and lack of resolution. ( )