When I attended Mark’s recent Bay Area event, he described Anger is a Gift as an epic contemporary.

Epic fits perfectly.

When you pick up Anger is a Gift, you may notice a few things:

1. It’s gorgeous cover, a young man looking at the streets of Oakland (!). The colors blue and orange, orange being the color for gun violence prevention.
2. An engaging title. Anger is a gift. It’s a funny concept, anger being a gift. But anger can be fuel, can be the start of necessary revolution.
3. It’s length compared to a typical contemporary. There’s A LOT of story here. There are many characters and perspectives, including across culture and age. There’s exploration of intense topics such as police brutality and militarization of schools and racism.

The first 400 pages establish the world that Moss and his family and friends live in. It’s our world - it’s Oakland, CA. It’s the world from the viewpoint of a gay young man of color along side adults from his family and neighborhood. It’s the world from his friends, who are from a variety of backgrounds. Each viewpoint is important to consider because personal experiences shape how a person comes at an issue.

The last 100 pages are how Moss and his friends come at a multitude of issues that revolve around police brutality and perceived “school safety”.

This book feels very personal, as it absolutely should. To make it even more personal, take a listen to the audiobook, which is narrated by Mark himself. He nails the emotions!