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beegirl78's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really interesting read by Conley. His career decision was a direct result of his cultural background as a child, and his dissection of white, Latino, and black in the Harlem area of NYC is really well written.
catherine_hevey_'s review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
Read for my Intro to Language and Social Interaction class. Pretty interesting.
Read for my Intro to Language and Social Interaction class. Pretty interesting.
sarahbowman101's review against another edition
3.0
This is one of those books I don’t really know how to feel about. This is a memoir of Irish-Jewish Conley who grew up in the projects in NYC in the late 70s/early 80s. His parents were artists and the book follows Conley as he figures out his way around racial boundaries and public schools.
nferre's review against another edition
This is a memoir about a kid whose parents, who are free-thinking whites, are poor enough that they live in the lower east side of Manhattan at a time when that area was mostly black and Puerto Rican. These parents are not too attuned to their children and pretty much the Dalton grows up on the streets of lower Manhattan as a white minority. His descriptions are great, his insight unique. Having myself grown up on the streets of the same island, but a world away on the upper east side, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and looking into his world through a totally different window.
emilywiseman10's review against another edition
4.0
This was a book that I picked off of the recommended reading list from the Whites Confronting Racism workshop. It was SO GOOD. Its really a serious of childhood memories from a poor, white boy who grew up in the projects of New York. He reflects on his experiences as a sociologist and provides really interesting perspective -- without bogging it down with academic analysis. It was a quick read and I'm dying for someone else to read it so we can talk about it!
crousecm's review against another edition
2.0
"Reading in Common" book for incoming Freshmen, author came to campus and spoke as well.
francescamoroney's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book. Given my own personal inclinations, I would have preferred if it were written as more of a literary memoir. The sociological "lessons" the author employed often felt forced, and also not particularly scientific. But overall I liked the pacing, was sympathetic with the narrator, and was compelled by the plot.
mbp's review
4.0
This makes a great companion read to Jerry McGill's [b:Dear Marcus A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me|12696650|Dear Marcus A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me|Jerry McGill|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1333579510s/12696650.jpg|17827274]. The two friends grew up together on the Lower East Side in the 70s and early 80s, and McGill's random shooting and its aftermath are described here from a friend's perspective. Dalton's observations are honest and poignant.
twitchyredpen's review
2.0
Things happen. The things are sequential, and important, but they don't build up to anything other than the eventual moving to Whiteville and further-eventual writing this book.
Maybe the problem is I'm bad about memoirs. Maybe the problem is that I was a sociology major so none of this is all that surprising.
I'd recommend it to someone who won't be surprised but has trouble elucidating the issue, or to someone who would be surprised and would have something to think about (instead of going straight to disbelief), but past that... ehh. It was never within DNF range, but it never caught my interest either.
Maybe the problem is I'm bad about memoirs. Maybe the problem is that I was a sociology major so none of this is all that surprising.
I'd recommend it to someone who won't be surprised but has trouble elucidating the issue, or to someone who would be surprised and would have something to think about (instead of going straight to disbelief), but past that... ehh. It was never within DNF range, but it never caught my interest either.
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