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Show Them You're Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year before College
Four teenage boys are high school seniors at two very different schools within the city of Los Angeles, the second largest school district in the nation with nearly 700,000 students. Author Jeff Hobbs, writing with heart, sensitivity, and insight, stunningly captures the challenges and triumphs of being a young person confronting the future - both their own and the cultures in which they live - in contemporary America.
Combining complex social issues with the compelling experience of the individual, Hobbs takes us deep inside these boys' worlds. The foursome includes Tiofilo, a nonchalant skateboarder harboring serious ambitions to attend an elite college despite a father who doesn't believe in him; Carlos, son of undocumented delivery workers, who aims to follow in his older brother's footsteps and attend Yale; Own, ambivalent about high school in general but still yearning to fulfill the expectations of his successful and loving parents; and Sam, devoted member of the academic decathlon team who lives in a tiny cramped apartment with his Chinese mother and Jewish father and cannot wait to have some independence.
Filled with portraits of secondary characters including friends, peers, parents, teachers, and girlfriends, this masterwork of immersive journalism is both intimate and profound and destined to ignite conversations about class, race, expectations, cultural divides, and even the concept of fate. Hobbs's portrayal of these young men is not only revelatory and relevant, but also moving, eloquent, and indelibly powerful.
Combining complex social issues with the compelling experience of the individual, Hobbs takes us deep inside these boys' worlds. The foursome includes Tiofilo, a nonchalant skateboarder harboring serious ambitions to attend an elite college despite a father who doesn't believe in him; Carlos, son of undocumented delivery workers, who aims to follow in his older brother's footsteps and attend Yale; Own, ambivalent about high school in general but still yearning to fulfill the expectations of his successful and loving parents; and Sam, devoted member of the academic decathlon team who lives in a tiny cramped apartment with his Chinese mother and Jewish father and cannot wait to have some independence.
Filled with portraits of secondary characters including friends, peers, parents, teachers, and girlfriends, this masterwork of immersive journalism is both intimate and profound and destined to ignite conversations about class, race, expectations, cultural divides, and even the concept of fate. Hobbs's portrayal of these young men is not only revelatory and relevant, but also moving, eloquent, and indelibly powerful.
352 pages, Hardcover
First published August 18, 2020
46 people are currently reading
2659 people want to read
About the author
Jeff Hobbs
6 books536 followersJeff Hobbs grew up in Kennett Square, PA and graduated from Yale in 2002 with a BA in English Language and Literature. He is the author of Seeking Shelter (and Amazon Best Book of 2025 so far) and The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace (winner of the LA Times Book Prize and NY Times notable book of the year), Show Them You’re Good, and Children of the State. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. He does not like criticizing the work of others and so only posts books on Goodreads to which he can earnestly give four or five stars.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
September 26, 2020
Show Them You’re Good by Jeff Hobbs is a nonfiction book that follows several young men as they finish up high school and work through the highly competitive and stressful process of choosing (and being accepted to) their choice of college. Hobbs flips between the struggles and joys faced by a handful of Compton students at the Animo Pat Brown Charter High School and those of several students attending Beverly Hills High School. The Compton students, mostly minorities, must overcome poverty, being undocumented in America (DACA/dreamers), neighborhood violence, and the overall low expectations decision-makers hold for the level of learning in Compton. The Beverly Hills boys, while living in wealth and safety, also have struggles. Brooding loner Dylan McCray wants to ask out Brenda Walsh, but what would her twin brother Brandon say? Should Steve Sanders continue sporting that do with the tight curls? Most alarming of all, where will they all go to study for their ACTs once the health department shuts down the Peach Pit for having rat droppings in their chocolate malts?
Show them You’re Good shines a light on the complications and anxieties students go through as they continue their journey from high school to college. A lot depends on how these kids deal with the very large responsibility of their future. It’s enough to make even ditzy Donna Martin break down and give up on her dream of achieving that coveted degree in Fashion and Marketing. The good news is that many of these boys (from both schools) have a solid understanding of what they need to do and a strong work ethic to put in the effort. They are also supported by kind and hardworking team of teachers and counselors.
Show them You’re Good shines a light on the complications and anxieties students go through as they continue their journey from high school to college. A lot depends on how these kids deal with the very large responsibility of their future. It’s enough to make even ditzy Donna Martin break down and give up on her dream of achieving that coveted degree in Fashion and Marketing. The good news is that many of these boys (from both schools) have a solid understanding of what they need to do and a strong work ethic to put in the effort. They are also supported by kind and hardworking team of teachers and counselors.
September 14, 2020
I really enjoyed this book. I was well informed by this book. My daughter just started college and I didn't realize what a stressful time it was for her. She asked her dad and I for a lot of information but I didn't really understand why it was needed. Such as financial records, Military benefits, copies of income tax records, etc. She seemed a little stressed as she had deadlines to meet and of coarse we were having trouble locating all the information she needed. I have never attended college so I wasn't aware of how much planning it involved especially as you enter your senior year in High School, not to mention the applications you have to fill out to various colleges you would like to attend. This book is about four young men who grew up and attended school together. They came from diverse backgrounds and of different races. In their last year of high school they all have to meet different challenges in order to land the best college possible. This is the story of the obstacles they overcame and the men became.
September 2, 2020
I thought that this was going to be a book about the college application process. The author follows a bunch of boys (too many, I was constantly losing track of which kid had which story) during their senior year. A set of them attended a segregated charter school in a Latinx neighborhood in L.A., and a set of them attended Beverly Hills High. I expected there to be a rich discussion of the higher education superstructure and its unequal access issues.
But this was more about the ordinary lives of kids. They go to fast food restaurants and get ready for the prom. Reading it was a lot like how I remember adolescence -- there was a lot of sitting around doing nothing.
And the parts about college -- certainly, kids had different opportunities and different sets of knowledge and expectations about college based on race and class -- didn't really take us anywhere or offer the reader new insight. I think it's possible that the author wanted to step back and let the stories "speak for themselves," but I wanted more research and analysis of what these stories mean.
Still, this is an engaging piece of narrative nonfiction and could be an interesting jumping-off point for your own investigation of education inequality. Interestingly, the author chooses to follow kids at two "high achieving" schools -- so the comparisons between the opportunities for kids can't start merely at the differences between K-12 schooling.
But this was more about the ordinary lives of kids. They go to fast food restaurants and get ready for the prom. Reading it was a lot like how I remember adolescence -- there was a lot of sitting around doing nothing.
And the parts about college -- certainly, kids had different opportunities and different sets of knowledge and expectations about college based on race and class -- didn't really take us anywhere or offer the reader new insight. I think it's possible that the author wanted to step back and let the stories "speak for themselves," but I wanted more research and analysis of what these stories mean.
Still, this is an engaging piece of narrative nonfiction and could be an interesting jumping-off point for your own investigation of education inequality. Interestingly, the author chooses to follow kids at two "high achieving" schools -- so the comparisons between the opportunities for kids can't start merely at the differences between K-12 schooling.
August 10, 2020
Show Them You're Good highlights the journeys of several high school boys, from two different LA schools, as they navigate their senior year. Hobbs showcases the diversity of experiences and the hard work these young men put in, as well as their apathy and the inherent randomness of college admissions and choosing a life path.
It's an interesting read, but I don't feel that it contributes anything particularly groundbreaking or profound to the literature on first-gen and low-income youth. And I felt that Hobbs didn't use the boys' own voices as often as I'd like; sifting through an adult's interpretation of their story fell flat to me.
It's an interesting read, but I don't feel that it contributes anything particularly groundbreaking or profound to the literature on first-gen and low-income youth. And I felt that Hobbs didn't use the boys' own voices as often as I'd like; sifting through an adult's interpretation of their story fell flat to me.
August 23, 2020
Four young men struggle with personal and public dreams and deficits as they move from their last year of high school into an uncertain future, in this thoughtful portrayal by the award-winning author of THE SHORT AND TRAGIC LIFE OF ROBERT PEACE.
Jeff Hobbs began his composition after speaking engagements at two Los Angeles high schools: Ánimo Pat Brown Charter and Beverly Hills. School administrators gave him access to the students during the 2016-17 academic year. He sat with these young men and invited them to share their hopes and concerns. SHOW THEM YOU’RE GOOD arose from hours spent in conversation and observation.
The focus of the book is on four teenage boys. Tio, who is popular and is always striving to be cool, navigating a skateboard along the sidewalks, was secretly dogged by a sense of insecurity: Would he be able to get into the University of California? Carlos, the child of hard-working but undocumented migrants, has an older brother studying at Yale. Can he follow in those footsteps? Owen is a child of privilege whose chronically ill mother is one pervasive worry, and a sense of general ennui is the other. Jon’s situation is complicated by a Chinese mother who sees his worth only in continual academic achievements and the highest test scores.
Hobbs follows these teens and their companions through their senior year, studying for college prep exams, dating, competing in athletics and dealing with events in the world outside, including the critical lead-up to and results of the 2016 presidential election. It is apparent that in their meetings with the boys, Hobbs gained their trust, so he was able to examine their motivations and private fears in a manner that reveals them as both unique and, in many ways, typical of their age, culture and place.
Even those from the most comfortable backgrounds worried about money for college, and though fortified with high grades and high hopes, those from immigrant families needed not only financial but also governmental support. Events like spring break and senior prom loomed large, each one like a hurdle to be leapt over in the race toward an acceptance letter, a scholarship and the possibility of even greater conquests.
In a satisfying tie-up, Hobbs gives glimpses of the young men’s eventual successes and first months in their new academic environments. Especially gratifying is Carlos’ discovery that he has hitherto untapped journalistic skills and is able to write sensitively about his experiences as the son of migrant workers. Hobbs wisely does not draw conclusions, since life is for living and there is much on the horizon for his young protagonists. But readers inevitably will wonder if a sequel is envisioned.
Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
Jeff Hobbs began his composition after speaking engagements at two Los Angeles high schools: Ánimo Pat Brown Charter and Beverly Hills. School administrators gave him access to the students during the 2016-17 academic year. He sat with these young men and invited them to share their hopes and concerns. SHOW THEM YOU’RE GOOD arose from hours spent in conversation and observation.
The focus of the book is on four teenage boys. Tio, who is popular and is always striving to be cool, navigating a skateboard along the sidewalks, was secretly dogged by a sense of insecurity: Would he be able to get into the University of California? Carlos, the child of hard-working but undocumented migrants, has an older brother studying at Yale. Can he follow in those footsteps? Owen is a child of privilege whose chronically ill mother is one pervasive worry, and a sense of general ennui is the other. Jon’s situation is complicated by a Chinese mother who sees his worth only in continual academic achievements and the highest test scores.
Hobbs follows these teens and their companions through their senior year, studying for college prep exams, dating, competing in athletics and dealing with events in the world outside, including the critical lead-up to and results of the 2016 presidential election. It is apparent that in their meetings with the boys, Hobbs gained their trust, so he was able to examine their motivations and private fears in a manner that reveals them as both unique and, in many ways, typical of their age, culture and place.
Even those from the most comfortable backgrounds worried about money for college, and though fortified with high grades and high hopes, those from immigrant families needed not only financial but also governmental support. Events like spring break and senior prom loomed large, each one like a hurdle to be leapt over in the race toward an acceptance letter, a scholarship and the possibility of even greater conquests.
In a satisfying tie-up, Hobbs gives glimpses of the young men’s eventual successes and first months in their new academic environments. Especially gratifying is Carlos’ discovery that he has hitherto untapped journalistic skills and is able to write sensitively about his experiences as the son of migrant workers. Hobbs wisely does not draw conclusions, since life is for living and there is much on the horizon for his young protagonists. But readers inevitably will wonder if a sequel is envisioned.
Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott
August 16, 2020
Show them You’re Good by Jeff Hobbs was the nonfiction narrative book that I didn’t know I needed or would have predicted that I would love as much as I did. The subtitle is A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels, the Year Before College which appealed to me as a curious reader and a mom. I appreciated that the author did not inject himself into this story at all – the book is about the boys, their friends, and their families. The book felt substantial but wasn’t tedious or too long and it definitely made me think. I thought about how different it is for some families in our country than it is for me and my family. I thought about the fact that we teach kids to think critically, write logically, and work for the greater good but they see many examples of adults who do not do that. The boys were all likable but also imperfect and ambitious but sometimes procrastinators. What I missed in the very detailed description of this year in their lives is mention of faith. I hope that at least some of them had a praying mother or a youth pastor helping them as they make these decisions about their education and their future. This book comes out on Tuesday August 18, 2020 – thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for a copy to read and review, all opinions are my own.
January 12, 2021
This book a movingly good portrayal of the intersection between boyhood and manhood. It’s reassuring to see so many similarities between one’s own adolescence and those of nine boys across the country. Invest the time in learning which boys are which - difficult with only first names - and you’ll be rewarded throughout.
September 18, 2023
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise is so interesting to me, and it theoretically was. I just couldn’t really get into it. The writing style threw me off a bit I think? It also jumped around perspectives a lot and it was a little hard to keep track of who was who. But it was good, mostly. I almost DNFd but decided to just stick it out. I really respect the author and the story as a whole, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy reading it 🤷🏼♀️
October 25, 2020
As a graduate of the 60's I found myself remembering some of the same angst and experiences. I also got a look at the experiences of today's high school students. The author did a wonderful job bringing the reader into the lives of these students and their friendships. I was sad to see them go their separate ways after graduation but knew there was a future only they could create.
My biggest disappointment was the the pinpoint focus of these students to get into the "top" schools. (Maybe the author chose these students because of their desire to attend these schools.) All of our children are college graduates (one with a PhD in microbiology and genetics and teaches in a small college) All went to college in our state and none to any of the upper tier colleges mentioned in the book. We feel they all received top notch educations and they are all successful and happy.
At the end of the book is a passage I have read over and over: "Lives that had shared the same canvas, even the same intricate brushstrokes, began to feel distant, then strange, then hardly known. They were all familiar with this aspect of life; it wasn't new or novel or even something to be mourned. It was part of the passage.....It happened because it was the nature of being a person, and everything they did--every single thing, in school or at home, with others or alone, conscious or unconscious, meaningful or nonsensical, every single thing--was geared toward discovering what exactly it meant to a person."
My biggest disappointment was the the pinpoint focus of these students to get into the "top" schools. (Maybe the author chose these students because of their desire to attend these schools.) All of our children are college graduates (one with a PhD in microbiology and genetics and teaches in a small college) All went to college in our state and none to any of the upper tier colleges mentioned in the book. We feel they all received top notch educations and they are all successful and happy.
At the end of the book is a passage I have read over and over: "Lives that had shared the same canvas, even the same intricate brushstrokes, began to feel distant, then strange, then hardly known. They were all familiar with this aspect of life; it wasn't new or novel or even something to be mourned. It was part of the passage.....It happened because it was the nature of being a person, and everything they did--every single thing, in school or at home, with others or alone, conscious or unconscious, meaningful or nonsensical, every single thing--was geared toward discovering what exactly it meant to a person."
February 10, 2021
Show Them You're Good: A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year before College
3/5.
Interesting topic, but honestly overall a bit long winded and in need of a trim. It follows a bunch of boys and their individual perspectives, but it added on more boys and it became kind of confusing. I think I merged two of the boys in my head as I read, whoops. It's nice to have a variety of perspective but the Beverly Hills Boys just weren't that interesting and I was far more interested in the boys from Animo Pat Brown. Again though, alot of unnecessary text was included that kind of diluted the point of the book. At some point the book would jump from feeling like a novel to a documentary. I listened to the book so it just took a long time, and with so many people, it was a little hard to go through. In the end it was interesting, but I didn't feel like I gained much profound information from it. It was fine.
3/5.
Interesting topic, but honestly overall a bit long winded and in need of a trim. It follows a bunch of boys and their individual perspectives, but it added on more boys and it became kind of confusing. I think I merged two of the boys in my head as I read, whoops. It's nice to have a variety of perspective but the Beverly Hills Boys just weren't that interesting and I was far more interested in the boys from Animo Pat Brown. Again though, alot of unnecessary text was included that kind of diluted the point of the book. At some point the book would jump from feeling like a novel to a documentary. I listened to the book so it just took a long time, and with so many people, it was a little hard to go through. In the end it was interesting, but I didn't feel like I gained much profound information from it. It was fine.
October 18, 2020
This book gives the reader an inside view to the lives of a handful of high school boys growing up in LA. It’s always good to have the opportunity to “walk in someone else’s shoes” as this book does. In learning how others live and hearing about their struggles and triumphs, one can go through life with more compassion empathy and understanding. I believe that’s something we all can benefit from.
December 4, 2020
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway; thanks to Scribner for the book!
I loved The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. It's one of my all-time favorite books. I didn't enjoy this one quite as much, but it was good, and if I hadn’t read Hobbs’ other book, I might rate it higher.
Because the writing is outstanding. Hobbs' sentence construction is masterful, even if it does feel in places like it’s a little hard to get into the flow of the work because of sentence complexity. It's inspiring to read a book written by an author who so obviously cares about the craft of writing.
And it was easy to tell he cared about the boys too. He wrote them incredible layers of depth not commonly associated with teenage boys. He wrote them with empathy; he painted a full picture of the details behind pitfalls or mishaps or triumphs. I appreciated how he highlighted two easily contrastable locales (Beverly Hills and South LA), and then didn’t just make easy contrasts between the boys and their lives. While astute readers could often find commonalities, he didn’t harp on these either. Emotions felt raw even within elegantly crafted prose.
While it would be neat to hear the boys tell their own stories, I think many of them probably never would (as some don't like writing), and bringing their stories together in one book offers a moving narrative of a particular point in life, and how it relates, or ends up not relating, to other points in life, to create a meditation on life as a whole. I’m glad I read this book, and I will absolutely pick up the next book Hobbs writes.
I loved The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace. It's one of my all-time favorite books. I didn't enjoy this one quite as much, but it was good, and if I hadn’t read Hobbs’ other book, I might rate it higher.
Because the writing is outstanding. Hobbs' sentence construction is masterful, even if it does feel in places like it’s a little hard to get into the flow of the work because of sentence complexity. It's inspiring to read a book written by an author who so obviously cares about the craft of writing.
And it was easy to tell he cared about the boys too. He wrote them incredible layers of depth not commonly associated with teenage boys. He wrote them with empathy; he painted a full picture of the details behind pitfalls or mishaps or triumphs. I appreciated how he highlighted two easily contrastable locales (Beverly Hills and South LA), and then didn’t just make easy contrasts between the boys and their lives. While astute readers could often find commonalities, he didn’t harp on these either. Emotions felt raw even within elegantly crafted prose.
While it would be neat to hear the boys tell their own stories, I think many of them probably never would (as some don't like writing), and bringing their stories together in one book offers a moving narrative of a particular point in life, and how it relates, or ends up not relating, to other points in life, to create a meditation on life as a whole. I’m glad I read this book, and I will absolutely pick up the next book Hobbs writes.
May 9, 2022
Jeff Hobbs previous book The Short & Tragic Life of Robert Peace was such a powerful and fantastic narrative I couldn't help but be excited to see what he would tackle next. Unfortunately the skeptic in me was certain that his follow up story Show Them You're Good would never live up to expectations and previous highs. But somehow, someway Hobbs has done it again.
This time Hobbs takes a look at a number of high school students in the process of navigating senior year and college admissions. Half the students attend Beverly Hills High School and the other half attend Animo Pat Brown Charter High School in South Los Angeles. We see the highs and lows of this most tenuous time in life on the precipice of adulthood.
One of the most impressive aspects of the book is Hobbs prose itself. So often nonfiction works are missing novelistic descriptions and high level writing. That is not the case with Show Them You're Good. Hobbs also does a masterful job of embedding us with each student and friend group, while also deleting himself from each scene. By not imposing himself, the subjects are more deservedly highlighted. I would be interested to hear a more in depth background on how the book came together and the choices made throughout the editing process.
I can't wait to see what Jeff Hobbs has in store for us next; the world will be a better place for it.
This time Hobbs takes a look at a number of high school students in the process of navigating senior year and college admissions. Half the students attend Beverly Hills High School and the other half attend Animo Pat Brown Charter High School in South Los Angeles. We see the highs and lows of this most tenuous time in life on the precipice of adulthood.
One of the most impressive aspects of the book is Hobbs prose itself. So often nonfiction works are missing novelistic descriptions and high level writing. That is not the case with Show Them You're Good. Hobbs also does a masterful job of embedding us with each student and friend group, while also deleting himself from each scene. By not imposing himself, the subjects are more deservedly highlighted. I would be interested to hear a more in depth background on how the book came together and the choices made throughout the editing process.
I can't wait to see what Jeff Hobbs has in store for us next; the world will be a better place for it.
September 28, 2020
For my Student Affairs/educator friends, this should be required reading. Also for friends who are parents of teenagers. Hobbs’ does a pretty amazing job of capturing the nuances of the urban teenage male worldview from various vantage points along the privilege spectrum. His writing can be a bit overblown - there were multiple sentences that would have benefited from a sharper red pen and editorial presence - but his astute rendering of all that is happening under the surface of seemingly mundane time in school, hanging with friends, negotiating family and making sense of daily life in this American political, cultural and social moment, was worth re-reading some passages to clarify their meaning. His portrayal of the boys was both caring and honest; he captured their curiosity, bemusement, anxiety, boredom and hope with clarity and without sentimentality. I found myself wishing I knew what they were up to now - but likely they are this years’ college seniors. That’s probably the hardest part of digesting this account - knowing that all the ups and downs they weathered compare little to what was in store for them in 2020.
November 25, 2020
When I saw that Jeff Hobbs had written another book, I was eager to read it. I previously read "The Short Tragic Life of Robert Peace" and then attended a P&P author event to hear him speak. I found him to be an articulate, caring individual and was genuinely moved in his personal account of his former roommate from Yale. I think this experience must still haunt him in that he is again writing about disadvantaged young men in America in their pursuit of attaining opportunities in higher education.
Jeff Hobbs can really write. He also can vividly bring back the memories of what it means to be a senior in high school feeling both the possible promises of the future and the trepidation in leaving everything that is familiar. He spent years writing and interviewing youth from 2 different high school experiences in Los Angeles - at Beverly Hill HS and at a charter school. I was invested in learning what happened to each student. I cared about them and their families. I learned more about what it is like to be a DACA applicant and the multiple pressures on the student in every aspect of their lives. Worth reading.
Jeff Hobbs can really write. He also can vividly bring back the memories of what it means to be a senior in high school feeling both the possible promises of the future and the trepidation in leaving everything that is familiar. He spent years writing and interviewing youth from 2 different high school experiences in Los Angeles - at Beverly Hill HS and at a charter school. I was invested in learning what happened to each student. I cared about them and their families. I learned more about what it is like to be a DACA applicant and the multiple pressures on the student in every aspect of their lives. Worth reading.
December 25, 2020
this book does an exceptional job at portraying the ironic culture of high school, the application process to college, and the intricacies of how it works. Even if you are not a senior in high school, you will relate to how these 9 boys feel as they navigate through the most important closing chapter of their high school career. the feelings of despair as nothing in the application process seems to be going right, the fear of one student as he is trying to get into Yale all while his family is about to be evicted from their South LA apartment. If you are a parent of a stressed out senior, or junior in high school, I almost beg of you to read this book. Your kid might not be able to say what they are going through during their college application process, and you might not understand how to help, but this book helps break away from all of the numbers, the acceptance rates, the statistics, and mainly focuses on the feelings and human emotions that come with navigating through all of this, both for the parents and the students.
There are a lot of characters to keep up with (I kept getting Harrison and Owen confused) but for the most part, this is a very gripping read.
There are a lot of characters to keep up with (I kept getting Harrison and Owen confused) but for the most part, this is a very gripping read.
May 24, 2023
After a two-year hiatus from nonfiction, I am so thankful I started with Show Them You're Good. In this illuminative work, we follow two groups of boys from Los Angeles, one from Beverly Hills and the other from Compton, as they navigate their senior year from start to finish. In the course of their school year, Hobbs chronicles the dreams, fears, and realities that come from two disparate worlds within the same city.
What makes Show Them You're Good shine is the candor and transparency these boys allow the reader. Through their respective journeys, we experience the safety of privilege, the disappointment of crushed dreams, the indifference of public institutions, and the hope we all cling to as young adults navigating an increasingly complex world.
If you ever had the privilege of attending college, this book will resonate deeply within you. It will make you feel like a high schooler again, and you will feel yourself walking alongside these boys as they prepare themselves for what's held in the ivory towers of academia.
What makes Show Them You're Good shine is the candor and transparency these boys allow the reader. Through their respective journeys, we experience the safety of privilege, the disappointment of crushed dreams, the indifference of public institutions, and the hope we all cling to as young adults navigating an increasingly complex world.
If you ever had the privilege of attending college, this book will resonate deeply within you. It will make you feel like a high schooler again, and you will feel yourself walking alongside these boys as they prepare themselves for what's held in the ivory towers of academia.
September 10, 2020
This ambitious study tracks a crowd of young men as they struggle to get into Ivy League universities. In their number, the depth of individual talented and eloquent young men got lost, for me. I did enjoy reading the entire book and learned some things:
1) Thee is a politicization of high school students unlike anything I recall. I don't even remember having a meaningful confab about a president-elect until after graduation.
2) Picking elite schools mean you can get shunted off to a program you didn't want, just to attend that school. I would like to know more about this - is getting a nameplate education worth trading your career goal for?
3) The student directly affected by DACA was enlightening. At least I didn't have to navigate college planning with the federal government deciding how to adjudicate the effect on me of my parents' errors.
1) Thee is a politicization of high school students unlike anything I recall. I don't even remember having a meaningful confab about a president-elect until after graduation.
2) Picking elite schools mean you can get shunted off to a program you didn't want, just to attend that school. I would like to know more about this - is getting a nameplate education worth trading your career goal for?
3) The student directly affected by DACA was enlightening. At least I didn't have to navigate college planning with the federal government deciding how to adjudicate the effect on me of my parents' errors.
December 31, 2020
" 'We're all here because we're not all there'"
With depth and focus, Jeff Hobbs looks over the shoulders and reflects the times of young men in Loss Angeles as they navigate their final year of school and open the doors beyond to the whole world. What is school to a child/young man from Compton, from Beverly Hills, from the life of a Dreamer,from a "slacker".
This was a great sociology book and Hobbs did his homework. But I wished that he'd spent less time on the history of the SATs and the response of Governor Pat Brown to the collapse of the house of cards that was the California Public School System than he did. Education history is a whole different book. As observational sociology this is a great book, but there are 2 books here. I was glad to see the epilogue and now wonder what's going on with these men. 4/5
With depth and focus, Jeff Hobbs looks over the shoulders and reflects the times of young men in Loss Angeles as they navigate their final year of school and open the doors beyond to the whole world. What is school to a child/young man from Compton, from Beverly Hills, from the life of a Dreamer,from a "slacker".
This was a great sociology book and Hobbs did his homework. But I wished that he'd spent less time on the history of the SATs and the response of Governor Pat Brown to the collapse of the house of cards that was the California Public School System than he did. Education history is a whole different book. As observational sociology this is a great book, but there are 2 books here. I was glad to see the epilogue and now wonder what's going on with these men. 4/5
November 2, 2020
My rating for this one is really 4.5 stars. Hobbs immerses us fully in the lives of the young men he profiles. Their courage and camaraderie, their hopes and anxieties, their successes and failures all receive empathetic treatment from a highly skilled writer. I found myself rooting for each of the boys as they competed and cooperated in pursuit of college admission and their shot at the American dream. This book compares well with "Common Ground" by J. Anthony Lukas, which remains among the five best books I've ever read. It only lacks the rich historical context that made "Common Ground" a peerless study of family life and education in contemporary America. "Show Them You're Good" won me over, too, as a portrait of my former hometown. I recommend it highly!
July 10, 2020
Following the lives of (more than) 4 high school boys for their senior year of high school yielded all of the emotions and hijinks that one would expect. The specialness is in the college quest by mostly first generation applicants, some undocumented, most monetarily poor. I almost never skip paragraphs or pages in books but I did in this case--too many descriptions of places or ideas that had little or no bearing on the boys or the decisions they had to make. I did appreciate the the author's follow-up letting readers know how/what the boys were doing.
Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC to read and review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC to read and review.
March 28, 2022
This had so much promise (ie I had high expectations) for this to be one of those profound, “everyone should read this” kind of books.
It fell flat for a couple of reasons. From a practical standpoint, the book promises to follow 4 young men but in fact follows way more than that and I’m not sure to what end other than to confuse me, the reader. I hoped for more research driven conclusions but in lieu of those, something felt detached about each of the boys’ narratives.
I want to read more about the inequalities of our education system and how different students experience those inequalities but this book didn’t quite get there for me.
It fell flat for a couple of reasons. From a practical standpoint, the book promises to follow 4 young men but in fact follows way more than that and I’m not sure to what end other than to confuse me, the reader. I hoped for more research driven conclusions but in lieu of those, something felt detached about each of the boys’ narratives.
I want to read more about the inequalities of our education system and how different students experience those inequalities but this book didn’t quite get there for me.
February 26, 2023
Love the concept behind this book, but felt that it fell short of what it could have been. It never fully built-out the boys' respective personalities, but it did have me really curious to find out where they each ended up and captured pretty brilliantly the simultaneous absurdity and profundity of the high school experience and its place as a cornerstone of one's life in many ways. For those who don't understand what privilege is and how it manifests, this feels like a Reader's Digest explanation of it-- how the path to college looks different for poor brown kids from kids in an affluent high school.
October 24, 2020
I listened to this on Audible. It is by the same author as The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, which I might have preferred but this had value too. It follows a handful of boys in Los Angeles during their last year of high school and briefly into their first semester of college. The boys range from undocumented to Beverly Hills wealthy and it walks through all their hopes and insecurities as they consider the end of their high school days and what comes next. It was slow in the beginning and its easy to confuse the characters but it was also thought provoking and thorough.
November 17, 2020
Author follows the lives of several male LA high school students- immigrants from Mexico & Central America in a poor school district, sons of privilege from a very wealthy school district just 20 miles away as they complete their senior years and stress over the college application process. They are all very bright students with high aspirations but with different struggles at school and home. I enjoyed reading the book (would give it a 3.5) but would have liked even more information about their backgrounds. They were seniors in 2016 so many current day issues.
September 27, 2020
I really enjoyed the concept of following the two groups of boys from two different LA high schools for a year and seeing where they went and what happened that year after high school, but I feel like some of the depth got lost purely b/c of the number of boys. It was sometimes hard to keep track of who was who and I also feel like we got more insight/information about some more than others. Interesting, but not hugely revelatory.
October 7, 2020
I knew roughly what this was about when I won a copy. Thank you for the free giveaway! It was an interesting read. I guess I didn't realize it took place in 2016 and the election year fallout would be included. I also question how these kiddos will repay the crippling debt if they didn't receive full rides to some of these schools. I would have like to have known a little bit more about that aspect of the story but realize that can be very personal.
December 4, 2020
Really liked this book. Jeff is able to pull you deeply into the lives of four boys during their Senior year in LA. He goes far beyond just narrating their lives, and gets into the underlying fears and motivations driving their sometimes irrational behaviors. You find yourself rooting for every kid in this book, while getting outraged at the systems that prevent them and their families from thriving.
October 4, 2020
Interesting and very timely. I do not in any way remember my college application process to be a FRACTION this terrifying, complicated, or competitive. Can I just say I am SO glad I attended university when I did (late 80's) because there is NO WAY I would have been admitted with my good-grades-yet-poor- SAT scores!
February 16, 2021
The stories of these young men really made me think about how unfair our education system is. I knew it was unfair but to hear real stories makes it hit home. I also think high school students of all ages are under way too much pressure! I wish the best for all the young men portrayed here. The author did a great job of pulling me in.
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