Impressive. And I’m not easily impressed but I was impressed by the writing style, the blatant truth, the journalistic approach that the writers of The Corner took to constructing their book. It took me about 4 days to finish the 500 page book and let me tell you, I am more knowledgeable and more understanding because of it.
I’m sure that I am stale in reading and writing up on the book…seeing that the infamous The Wire on HBO is based on the book.
I came across the book in our family library. I had seen it a couple of times before but nothing led me to pick it up and read. It wasn’t until I finished Book 3 of the Malloreon that I picked it up…sort of as a distraction. It became my main read.
The Corner is about the open air drug markets in East Baltimore. More importantly, its about the lives of the people involved- from the crack fiends(as opposed to crack heads) to the dealers, the buyers, the sellers, the environment, the despair, the hopelessness, the Hope, the Culture, the money, the greed, and the lifestyles. Now when I hear rap/Hip-hop songs sing about their corners, I know what they are talking about.
The authors- David Simon and Edward Burns in a nutshell wrote a powerful book based on their observations of a busy drug corner in East B-more. At the center of the story is the McCullough family- a real life family where both parents went from Grace to Grass and their son DeAndre who is a small time drug dealer. The authors turned a one year stint on the corner- gaining the trust of the inhabitants and being observant bystanders to bring us a chilling and raw- no holds- account of what we as a society continue to ignore. This book opened my eyes to a world that I only hear about but couldn’t for the life of me phantom. I couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the senseless destruction of one’s life by ones hand. I couldn’t understand how people can see themselves getting sicker and sicker and not stop the cycle. I wouldn’t understand why government services and the police were ineffective. I couldn’t phantom why a teenage would have a baby for a drug dealer. But after reading this book…..I had some answers, maybe not all, but some. I now understand how without a strong and social response to this growing epidemic, it would grow and reach our doorsteps. I think on another note, this book speaks to the power of supply and demand and capitalism at its best. There will always be drugs and people willing to supply as long as circumstances give rise to Demand. From an economic background, I was shocked at the elaborate and advanced system of advertisement and marketing that went into the drug trade. These people could definitely give Corporate America a run for their money.
I wouldn’t give away the details but I encourage you to pick it up and read. It would shock you. You will not pity the real life characters in the book. It would move you beyond pity. It would not be a sensationalized read BUT it would make you think and hopefully react.
Below is an editorial by Publishers Weekly from the BarnesandNoble.com website:
In the authors' note, Simon (Homicide) and Burns, a retired patrolman and detective with the Baltimore Police Department, encapsulate their year-long (1992-1993) experience on a west Baltimore street corner interviewing drug addicts and watching children grow up too fast. They masterfully present a theater of the drug war as they follow four generations of the McCullough family, concentrating on 15-year-old DeAndre, who attempts to rise above the mistakes of his heroin- and cocaine-addicted parents but fails to escape the pressures of the street. Yet his story allows exploration of other issues, such as the history of the corner's drug activities and the attitudes of the police, the social workers and the high-school teachers who have all but lost hope for the area's children. Part family neighborhood portrait, part political-social analysis, the book conveys the feeling of helplessness of those who awake every morning thinking only of their "next blast" and the arrogance of those who condemn them for it. The loss of innocence chronicled here is summed up by a line from one of DeAndre's poems: "Hungry for knowledge, but afraid to eat."
I’m sure that I am stale in reading and writing up on the book…seeing that the infamous The Wire on HBO is based on the book.
I came across the book in our family library. I had seen it a couple of times before but nothing led me to pick it up and read. It wasn’t until I finished Book 3 of the Malloreon that I picked it up…sort of as a distraction. It became my main read.
The Corner is about the open air drug markets in East Baltimore. More importantly, its about the lives of the people involved- from the crack fiends(as opposed to crack heads) to the dealers, the buyers, the sellers, the environment, the despair, the hopelessness, the Hope, the Culture, the money, the greed, and the lifestyles. Now when I hear rap/Hip-hop songs sing about their corners, I know what they are talking about.
The authors- David Simon and Edward Burns in a nutshell wrote a powerful book based on their observations of a busy drug corner in East B-more. At the center of the story is the McCullough family- a real life family where both parents went from Grace to Grass and their son DeAndre who is a small time drug dealer. The authors turned a one year stint on the corner- gaining the trust of the inhabitants and being observant bystanders to bring us a chilling and raw- no holds- account of what we as a society continue to ignore. This book opened my eyes to a world that I only hear about but couldn’t for the life of me phantom. I couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the senseless destruction of one’s life by ones hand. I couldn’t understand how people can see themselves getting sicker and sicker and not stop the cycle. I wouldn’t understand why government services and the police were ineffective. I couldn’t phantom why a teenage would have a baby for a drug dealer. But after reading this book…..I had some answers, maybe not all, but some. I now understand how without a strong and social response to this growing epidemic, it would grow and reach our doorsteps. I think on another note, this book speaks to the power of supply and demand and capitalism at its best. There will always be drugs and people willing to supply as long as circumstances give rise to Demand. From an economic background, I was shocked at the elaborate and advanced system of advertisement and marketing that went into the drug trade. These people could definitely give Corporate America a run for their money.
I wouldn’t give away the details but I encourage you to pick it up and read. It would shock you. You will not pity the real life characters in the book. It would move you beyond pity. It would not be a sensationalized read BUT it would make you think and hopefully react.
Below is an editorial by Publishers Weekly from the BarnesandNoble.com website:
In the authors' note, Simon (Homicide) and Burns, a retired patrolman and detective with the Baltimore Police Department, encapsulate their year-long (1992-1993) experience on a west Baltimore street corner interviewing drug addicts and watching children grow up too fast. They masterfully present a theater of the drug war as they follow four generations of the McCullough family, concentrating on 15-year-old DeAndre, who attempts to rise above the mistakes of his heroin- and cocaine-addicted parents but fails to escape the pressures of the street. Yet his story allows exploration of other issues, such as the history of the corner's drug activities and the attitudes of the police, the social workers and the high-school teachers who have all but lost hope for the area's children. Part family neighborhood portrait, part political-social analysis, the book conveys the feeling of helplessness of those who awake every morning thinking only of their "next blast" and the arrogance of those who condemn them for it. The loss of innocence chronicled here is summed up by a line from one of DeAndre's poems: "Hungry for knowledge, but afraid to eat."
2 comments:
hmm okay maybe i should check ou t the book.
You should!! Are you back in blog world or still on your sabbatical?
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