The 57 Bus
is an absolutely enrapturing non-fiction book about a real event that happened
in Oakland California. The story is a detailed novel about two teens, the crime
one committed, and how it affected their lives forever. Sasha, an agender
teenage student attending
Maybeck
Private High School, and Richard, an African-American student from Oakland High
School. Two people that probably never have met, except for one thing they had
in common- the 57 bus ride home that day. The book dives deep into different
topics like discrimination, apparent flaws in the youth justice system, and
peer pressure specifically. It’s a book that really makes you think, and wonder
about the different perspectives of the characters. Richard, who struggled immensely throughout
his childhood and early adolescence, was working hard to make changes to his
life, better himself, and work to help support his large family along with his
mother. Sasha is someone who has struggled with acceptance and identity for
almost their whole life. If the two had met under different circumstances, they
most likely would have just simply glanced at each other in passing, without
interacting at all, but this was a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong
time. On the bus that day, Richard had been with a cousin and one other person.
Sasha was sleeping in the seat behind them, dressed in a skirt. Richard fell
victim to being peer pressured into what was supposed to be a simple prank, but
ended with Sasha in a burn ward and Richard in a 14-month long trial, and years
of jail time after that. At the very first interrogation, Richard gives a
statement proving that his actions were a hate crime while panicked, therefore
leading him to be tried as an adult. Sasha goes through months of treatment for
their burns, eventually gaining back full health despite the atrocious wounds.
Even after Sasha’s story ends, however, Richard continues to fight for himself
and do the very best he can in court, despite being tried as an adult for his
crimes. Many things could have been different about his sentencing if only he
hadn’t claimed homophobia so quickly despite his accepting nature, if he hadn’t
grown up in the conditions he did, or even if he weren’t a person of color. The
57 Bus highlights multitudes of issues with our current society, and even the
smaller problems that affect it, in one amazing story.
I found The
57 Bus to be an extremely interesting and enlightening read. It provides
multiple in-depth and real-life examples of discrimination, peer pressure, and
flaws in our justice system. The book really makes you think, and question
things that you may not have thought about before, and how there really is no
firm line between a perpetrator and a victim. The two can be one and the same,
and this book really goes to show that. As a reader that generally enjoys
mostly dystopian novels, I found this Non-Fiction read to be extremely
enjoyable. In the book, I really liked how many different perspectives they
showed throughout the entire story, and how that really affected a reader’s
viewing on that person. While I now view Richard as an unfortunate victim along
with Sasha, it is most likely that he would only be viewed as a perpetrator if
we were not given his own backstory and telling of his emotions, thoughts and
the true depth to the event. The one thing about the book that bothered me was
the layout, and how it really wasn’t written in chapters but rather 1-5 page
snips, but it wasn’t really too large of an issue, in my opinion. I think this
book would be a great read for young-adult readers that are looking for a good
book to make them think a bit more about our society as a country and race, or
about how many layers there can be to a story that can be almost completely
overlooked. This book was really one of those stories that had me thinking
about it for days after, and how lots of the circumstances shown in it could
really apply to almost anyone’s life. Overall it was a really great read, and I
would definitely recommend it.
Reviewed by
Morgan R. 8th Grade
