Show Them Youre Good, Jeff Hobbs
Show Them Youre Good, Jeff Hobbs
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Show Them You're Good
A Portrait of Boys in the City of Angels the Year Before College

Author: Jeff Hobbs

Narrator: Fajer Al-Kaisi, Christian Barillas, Tim Chiou, Sean Patrick Hopkins, Timothy Andrés Pabon, Jonathan Todd Ross, Gary Tiedemann

Unabridged: 10 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/18/2020


Synopsis

The acclaimed, award-winning author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace presents a “carefully observed journalistic account [that] widens our view of the modern ‘immigrant experience’” (The New York Times Book Review) as he closely follows four Los Angeles high school boys as they apply to 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. In this “exceptional work of investigative journalism…laced with compassion, insight, and humor” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) Jeff Hobbs 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.

Blending complex social issues with each individual experience, Hobbs takes us deep inside these boys’ worlds. The foursome includes Carlos, the younger son of undocumented delivery workers, who aims to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and attend an Ivy League college; Tio harbors serious ambitions to become an engineer despite a father who doesn’t believe in him; Jon, devoted member of the academic decathalon team, struggles to put distance between himself and his mother, who is suffocating him with her own expectations; and Owen, raised in a wealthy family, can’t get serious about academics but knows he must.

Including portraits of secondary characters—friends, peers, parents, teachers, and girlfriends—this “uniquely illuminating” (Booklist) masterwork of immersive journalism is 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.

About Jeff Hobbs

Jeff Hobbs is the New York Times bestselling author of The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award in Biography, was a finalist for the Carnegie Medal in nonfiction, and was made into the 2024 film Rob Peace. He is also the author of Show Them You’re Good and Children of the State. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.


Reviews

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 handf......more

Goodreads review by Lydia

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, c......more

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 admissio......more

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 engage......more


Quotes

"This audio biography focuses on nine teenagers who are in their senior year of high school as they take exams, apply for college, play sports, date, and hang out at burger joints. . . . Most compelling are Tio and Carlos, clever and ambitious boys with big dreams who attend nimo Pat Brown Charter High School in Compton, California. The two boys are beautifully portrayed by Gary Tiedemann and Timothy Andres Pabon. Carlos is undocumented, so he is simultaneously applying for DACA and to Ivy League schools. In contrast, several of the boys come from exceedingly wealthy families and attend Beverly Hills High School. They face very different family expectations."