Dough Boys: 07/29/21

Dough Boys by Paul Chase is a companion piece to So Done (2019). It's a novel told in the alternating points of view of best friends Deotae "Simp" Wright and Roland "Rollie" Matthews. They play basketball together. They also run drugs for their coach.

For Simp, the money means he helps his mom and his siblings. It means a more comfortable living. For Rollie he's not sure the drug side gig is what he wants from life. He's in GATE. He has a future that involves higher education and music. He's got a chance to audition if he can just keep his life together long enough.

While I struggled a bit with following the alternating stories of Tai (Metai) and Mila (Jamila) in So Done, I found Dough Boys a fast and compelling read. It helped to have the neighborhood set up in the previous book. But the boys' voices also resonated with me in ways that the girls' didn't.

In terms of themes and tone Dough Boys is a good follow-up read for two of Angie Thomas's novels: On the Come Up (2019) and The Concrete Rose (2020).

There's a third book, Turning Point (2020)

Five stars

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