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jmebooks 's review for:
Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America
by Jill Leovy
I was motoring through HARD to finish before the library pulled it back off my kindle app!
I think this book told an interesting and important story, but in a meandering and non-engaging way. It dealt mainly with one murder, and used that as an entree to discuss crime in LA; gangs, and why society doesn't care much about black on black crime (meaning the media doesn't cover it and the police don't work as hard/throw resources at solving them). There were some fascinating historical points here - comparing 2000's LA to the Jim Crowe South (where black on black crime was sort of shrugged at.) I was really moved by the stories of witnesses who wouldn't testify, for fear of retribution - that's something I hadn't thought about and wasn't portrayed in any crime shows I've watched.
It was just ok for me. I think the 2 star dock comes from just general meandering in the storytelling. There were a lot of other murder stories introduced which didn't really get us anywhere (besides the feeling of this is a lot of dead black teenagers.)
I think this book told an interesting and important story, but in a meandering and non-engaging way. It dealt mainly with one murder, and used that as an entree to discuss crime in LA; gangs, and why society doesn't care much about black on black crime (meaning the media doesn't cover it and the police don't work as hard/throw resources at solving them). There were some fascinating historical points here - comparing 2000's LA to the Jim Crowe South (where black on black crime was sort of shrugged at.) I was really moved by the stories of witnesses who wouldn't testify, for fear of retribution - that's something I hadn't thought about and wasn't portrayed in any crime shows I've watched.
It was just ok for me. I think the 2 star dock comes from just general meandering in the storytelling. There were a lot of other murder stories introduced which didn't really get us anywhere (besides the feeling of this is a lot of dead black teenagers.)