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A review by kt_pags
All Souls: A Family Story from Southie by Michael Patrick MacDonald
4.0
These two books ([b:All Souls: A Family Story from Southie|105687|All Souls A Family Story from Southie|Michael Patrick MacDonald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1387743100l/105687._SY75_.jpg|87220] and [b:Easter Rising: An Irish American Coming Up from Under|90375|Easter Rising An Irish American Coming Up from Under|Michael Patrick MacDonald|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1491817689l/90375._SY75_.jpg|883100]) by Michael Patrick MacDonald were published many years ago, but I just learned of them. I was immediately intrigued because I’m an Irish-American, I grew up in Boston, I lived in the public housing projects in Everett, MA just 7 miles northwest of South Boston, and I’m the same age as the author's older brother Frankie so I know the time period this story took place and... I knew to stay the hell out of Southie.
While the projects I lived in were not as violent and tribal as the Southie projects and neighborhood, there are many familiar parallels. As a child, you accept what you are presented because you simply don’t know otherwise.
The Forced Busing Crisis began the year after I graduated high school. I remember the stunning pictures in the Boston Globe and the news videos on TV of all the absolute craziness. I’ve read Kevin Week’s book [b:Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob|434918|Brutal The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob|Kevin Weeks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348786035l/434918._SY75_.jpg|1504822] and Kevin Cullens’ book [b:Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice|16241144|Whitey Bulger America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice|Kevin Cullen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358133097l/16241144._SY75_.jpg|22251267], about the Whitey Bulger Winter Hill gang and their presence in Southie. I’ve also read Patrick Nee’s, [b:A Criminal and an Irishman: The Inside Story of the Boston Mob - IRA Connection|536257|A Criminal and an Irishman The Inside Story of the Boston Mob - IRA Connection|Patrick Nee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545893080l/536257._SX50_.jpg|523713] about his life in Southie and Southie’s support of the IRA. It was all fascinating to me because it was all so familiar, yet it’s also repulsive.
The ever presence of drug abuse, alcoholism, vandalism, crime, mobsters, corruption, and just plain toughness in the projects makes it extremely hard to escape. Taking the straight path out is near impossible. When you're a child or a teenager in this environment, and this all you've known, you consider it "normal", simply because you don't know anything else. It was quite interesting to learn about somebody else's perspective, albeit much, much, harder and painful than mine.
When I became a young man I left Boston and moved to Minnesota without looking back. I talk little about my youth to my friends and family because the few times I tried, its obvious they just don’t understand. My wife dismisses it all as “toxic masculinity”. So I just keep it to myself, after all it was 40+ years ago.
A couple of years ago I met a guy, near my age, at the local dog park who was from Southie. I couldn’t believe it. We became friends and we have shared our stories. He confided that if he hadn’t joined the Air Force right out of High School, that he was sure he would have ended up dead at an early age. He told me he was glad to have met me, because I understood… and that sense of being understood, as well as the author's intense writing style, is what struck me most about these two books.
While the projects I lived in were not as violent and tribal as the Southie projects and neighborhood, there are many familiar parallels. As a child, you accept what you are presented because you simply don’t know otherwise.
The Forced Busing Crisis began the year after I graduated high school. I remember the stunning pictures in the Boston Globe and the news videos on TV of all the absolute craziness. I’ve read Kevin Week’s book [b:Brutal: The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob|434918|Brutal The Untold Story of My Life Inside Whitey Bulger's Irish Mob|Kevin Weeks|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348786035l/434918._SY75_.jpg|1504822] and Kevin Cullens’ book [b:Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice|16241144|Whitey Bulger America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice|Kevin Cullen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358133097l/16241144._SY75_.jpg|22251267], about the Whitey Bulger Winter Hill gang and their presence in Southie. I’ve also read Patrick Nee’s, [b:A Criminal and an Irishman: The Inside Story of the Boston Mob - IRA Connection|536257|A Criminal and an Irishman The Inside Story of the Boston Mob - IRA Connection|Patrick Nee|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545893080l/536257._SX50_.jpg|523713] about his life in Southie and Southie’s support of the IRA. It was all fascinating to me because it was all so familiar, yet it’s also repulsive.
The ever presence of drug abuse, alcoholism, vandalism, crime, mobsters, corruption, and just plain toughness in the projects makes it extremely hard to escape. Taking the straight path out is near impossible. When you're a child or a teenager in this environment, and this all you've known, you consider it "normal", simply because you don't know anything else. It was quite interesting to learn about somebody else's perspective, albeit much, much, harder and painful than mine.
When I became a young man I left Boston and moved to Minnesota without looking back. I talk little about my youth to my friends and family because the few times I tried, its obvious they just don’t understand. My wife dismisses it all as “toxic masculinity”. So I just keep it to myself, after all it was 40+ years ago.
A couple of years ago I met a guy, near my age, at the local dog park who was from Southie. I couldn’t believe it. We became friends and we have shared our stories. He confided that if he hadn’t joined the Air Force right out of High School, that he was sure he would have ended up dead at an early age. He told me he was glad to have met me, because I understood… and that sense of being understood, as well as the author's intense writing style, is what struck me most about these two books.