One of the codes of the streets is "no snitching." So when bus driver Andre Bolden sees a man get shot while he's driving his route, he knows that his best bet is to keep his mouth shut. The problem is, the killer, Clops, saw him and now, whether he snitches or not, he's become a moving target.
A former college football stand out, a run in with the law left Andre expelled from school. Lying about his criminal conviction on a job application gets him fired. And his displaced anger and an unwillingness to show emotion have left him without the love of his life and his son.
Snitch is really about a man who is slowly descending to rock bottom. I wouldn't call it urban lit or Christian lit, though it seemed to have a tinge of both. I'm not a big fan of either genre, but Mattison keeps it light enough that it doesn't interfere with the overall story telling.
One problem that I did have with the book was the nice and neat way that people were connected and the frequent near misses. Andre and Clops traveled in different circles, but somebody's grandmother went to church with somebody's girlfriend who was friends with someone's brother, yada yada yada. Coincidences are fine, but it was just a little too unrealistic.
I was also confused by the ending. Even now, I'm not quite sure what happened at the end. I went back and re-read it several times and it's still unclear. Maybe the author's goal was to create a cliffhanger, leaving the door open to a potential sequel. Um...no. I was confused enough this go round. I won't be jumping back on that ride any time soon.
I hate street lit. I can't fault anyone for liking what they like. Lord knows I have a love of a few things that no one else understands, but I absolutely cannot stand street lit. I love literary fiction, historical fiction, a splash of chick lit, thrillers/mysteries, etc. I'll read just about anything that causes me to think or broadens my horizons in a positive way. If you're a regular reader of the blog, you already know that. Why am I bringing it up again? There are two reasons.
First, I've been inundated in recent weeks with requests from authors of street and/or erotic lit. I'm no fan of either. I'm not from the streets, I'm not entertained by the streets and I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to read about them. I read as an escape from real world problems, so it's difficult to imagine anyone wanting to escape to the world of street lit. If I want to see what's happening in the streets, I can turn on the five or six o'clock news on any given day of the week and play catch up. To each their own, but for the authors that keep reaching out asking me to not only review their self-published work, but also purchase it to do so, please save yourself some keystrokes. There are plenty of bloggers that would love to read your work, I'm just not one of them.
The second reason I bring this up is I watched an author on Twitter lament about the classification of her work. By her own admission it's neither literary fiction, nor is it street lit. However, it is generally about people in hip hop and, sometimes, that touches on the streets. A few months ago she posed the same question about one of her past works and I noted that while some parts could be classified as chick lit, depending on who was giving the narrative at the time, other parts certainly had a touch of street to them. But I agreed that her work was not literary fiction.
She was also concerned that because of the cover her publisher has given her forthcoming book, her book will be overlooked by book snobs such as myself in the bookstore. Why? Because without knowing what the book is about, the cover makes it look like another typical piece of street lit.
So what's the middle ground when your work doesn't fit neatly into the already defined genres? Do authors or publishers create new genres? Authors don't necessarily have control of the cover art for their books. Do the marketing departments know something readers don't know? And can the wrong cover spell disaster for a book? And lastly, am I way off base on street lit?
In what has become all too familiar in the street lit genre, Entrepreneur is just more of the same. At first glance it would appear that this is the story of a young man from a decent family who has recently graduated from high school and is on the path to college. He meets with some bumps along the way and turns to the streets. So now that I've got the synopsis out of the way, let's talk about how this book failed and why it could have been better than it was.
I'm a stickler for consistency with characters, time lines, story lines, etc. By page 15, a blatant discrepancy was staring me in the face. One of the characters, Swift, has just completed high school at a private school that he attended for six years. Going into the school, he was considered to be of above average intelligence. At some point in his six years he becomes a problem student and doubts his ability to get into college. Keep in mind that this is a private school. Someone is paying for him to be there and someone is being paid to teach him. I've had plenty of experience with private schools and it's a rare one that will allow a problem student, especially one who is not from a wealthy family, to stay on campus for six years. It is also unfathomable that that same school would not provide guidance in the form of an adviser to assist with the search for a college willing to accept them.
That scenario threw me off, but I continued and was confronted with yet another inconsistency a page later. Swift scrambled to find a college to accept him after he waited until the last minute to apply. His parents drove him to look at the one college he was accepted to and then announced that they had no intention on paying for it. That begs the question, why did they bother to take him. He eventually ends up at community college and I'm assuming that he financed that education with loans. So then why didn't he apply for financial aid and/or loans to pay for the four year school he really wanted to attend?
Armed with his associates in business, Swift begins for applying for jobs...at the mall. By this point, I'm giving this book the serious side eye. High school students work at the mall without a high school diploma. Why bother to get a degree, even an associates, if your only plan is to work a minimum wage job? Swift was supposed to have dreams of being an entrepreneur from a young age, but somehow I don't think his definition is the same as Merriam-Webster.
All of that aside, Swift finds work at Foot Locker and all is going well until his drug addicted brother, who he managed to get hired, leaves the boss hanging. This results in Swift getting fired as well. Fed up with his family, Swift decides it's time to move out. He decides to purchase a house by putting up "every nickel I had, plus some payday loans, as a down payment." Yes, you read that right. The unemployed young man wants to purchase a house with the money he's saved from his minimum wage job AND payday loans. What's even more ridiculous is that someone sells him a house!
Swift's best friend, Block, who is a major drug dealer (who just happened to have attended the same private school), goes to jail and Swift steps in to take over his empire. Ok, so there's more to the story, but I'm so over it.
What did you like about this book?
It was a quick read.
What didn't you like about this book?
It was inconsistent.
What could the author do to improve this book?
Better fact checking would serve him well.
163pp
Published February 2010
Disclaimer: Provided by The Urban Book Source in exchange for review.
Fans of the HBO series Oz will appreciate the latest from Caleb Alexander, Belly of the Beast. Set in a Texas prison it is the story of Christian Alexander. Raised by his strict grandmother and a high performing student in his Catholic high school, Christian seems destined for greatness. With his own father in prison, Christian looks to his uncle for guidance. When that uncle is gunned down while walking a friend home, Christian descends into his own personal hell. With little regard for life, he goes on a killing spree that lands him in a maximum security prison.
Coming from the streets of San Antonio, Christian has always had Hispanic friends. He learns quickly that there’s no such thing as friends of another race in prison. Separated from Enrique, his lifelong friend, Christian quickly aligns himself with others of his race. At first content to go along to get along, Christian doesn’t get involved in prison politics or race wars. When his best friend is attacked, his views change and he begins to organize the biggest and most well trained prisoners that the system has witnessed.
A student of several world religions, Christian creates Umkhonto, whose sole purpose is to protect black prisoners from those that would do them harm. Backed by his counterparts in other parts of the yard, Umkhonto becomes a force with which to be reckoned. As the native Mexicans and U.S. Mexicans do battle on the yard for dominance, the Umkhonto quietly build up their numbers in preparation for the battle that is surely coming.
Though not an extremely lengthy read, I found myself struggling to make it through this book, simply because of the subject matter. There’s a point when Christian rejoices over the number of black men arriving at the prison because to him it means more soldiers for his war. To me it simply meant more black men displaced from their families and more black women left behind to raise their kids alone.
Is it hypocritical of me to enjoy shows such as Oz or the works of Iceberg Slim, yet question this storyline? Perhaps. Christian does have redeeming qualities and expands his mind enough to think beyond the prison walls. The fact that such an avowed separatist can find it in his heart to save a man of another race is enough to make me step back and question whether or not I’ve misjudged him.
What did you like about this book?
The author obviously took time to research prison life to create such a realistic account.
What did you dislike about his book?
There were a lot of characters and at times it was difficult to keep up with them.
What could the author do to improve this book?
It would have been interesting to see what happened with the main character beyond the prison walls. I don’t know that a sequel is necessary, but an epilogue would have been sufficient.
Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing and beware of book synopsis’ that say one thing, but give you another. From reading the synopsis on the back of the book, I was under the assumption that Sankofa would be the story of four friends returning to their roots in Ghana to rediscover themselves.
“…four friends whose families won the Diversity Lotto Program in the late 1980’s and traveled from the tropical climate of Ghana, West Africa to New York City. No one said life in a new world was going to be easy, but no one also said it was going to be tricky either. How do you adapt to a new way of life while remaining true to the old?
Take the journey with the main character, Kimberly Akosua Mensah, as she makes the trip back home and attempts to reclaim her past to move forward to adulthood.”
Based on that, I was ready to read the story of perhaps these young girls making the initial adjustments as children and then skipping ahead to perhaps their teen or adult years. I was looking for conversations and interaction with family members more firmly rooted in the culture and the conflict that can come from becoming Americanized while your family remains Ghanian. What I got was fooled into reading a book with pretty cover and an African title believing it would be enlightening when, in reality, it turned out to be street lit.
The four friends (and this term is used far too loosely in this book) are Kimberly, the narrator; Trish, the hustler who will use anyone or anything to get ahead; Staci, a new mother; and Courtney, the good girl that keeps picking bad boys. When Trish sleeps with Courtney’s boyfriend, the friends take sides and Kimberly is left out in the cold. Eventually the friends reconnect and Kimberly goes back to Ghana to visit her grandmother. That’s it, end of story.
This book bothered me on so many levels. At one point in the story the friends head for the annual Ghanian picnic, with Staci’s baby in tow, and proceed to drink the entire time. The author justified it by saying the baby was too young to know what was happening. Never mind that it’s illegal to drink and drive and you’re putting people in harm’s way. Promoted as a reclamation of her past, the main character does not even return to Ghana until the last two chapters of the book. The first 137 pages of the 158 page book are spent talking about complete and utter foolishness.
Beyond the ridiculousness of the story line, the editing was absolutely awful. At times I found myself re-reading sentences several times trying to make sense of them, only to realize that there were actually three sentences combined into one, with absolutely no punctuation. The author also struggled to stay consistent with the voice of the narrator. In several instances the paragraph would start with Kimberly narrating in third person and by the second or third sentence, it would become one of the other women speaking in first person and then switch back to Kimberly’s narration.
The story line, the improper editing and the annoying narration all made this very short read a difficult and tedious one.
What did you like about this book?
The cover is colorful.
What did you dislike about this book?
The story line, the improper editing and the annoying narration.
What could the author do to improve this book?
Not everyone is meant to be a writer and this book is clearly an indication of that. If writing is her passion, then she would be well served to find a real editor. There were far too many grammatical and structural mistakes made. A good proofreader and/or editor would have never allowed this book to be published in its current state.
The author titled this book Karma, but it just as easily could have been called Frenemy of the State. Justine Greer is an attractive woman with a good head on her shoulders and a great career as a news reporter. A night out with her best friends Holly and Simone leads to a chance introduction to the suave and debonair narcotics detective, Lucas Cain.
Lucas and Noah have been partners on the force and best friends for years. When Noah sees the trio of ladies enter the club, he immediately senses that Justine is just the kind of woman to turn his friend’s head. When Lucas sends drinks to the ladies’ table, the romance begins for them, while jealousy and envy begin for others.
Simone has been friends with Holly and Justine since college. While she’s always been able to relate to Holly, since they both came from humble backgrounds, inwardly she has hated Justine since college. In her mind, Justine’s middle class upbringing and the fact that she is an only child has lead her to have a charmed life. Everything has always come so easily to Justine, but Simone knows that there’s one department that Justine cannot compete in with her.
Holly’s husband, Robert, has warned Lucas about Simone and her evil ways, but Lucas isn’t prepared for the extremes that Simone will go to. Though he’s managed to dodge a few bullets she sends flying his way, nothing will prepare him for what happens when he and Noah go undercover as bodyguards for her rapper/drug dealer boyfriend, Nine.
Justine knows that Simone is a little flirty and over the top, but she’s always been that way. Even when Simone openly flirts with Lucas in her presence, Justine sits by idly without saying a word. Everyone wonders how long she will allow Simone to carry on with her wild antics, until the day Justine loses it and turns the tables.
Bodhidharma once said, “Still others commit all sorts of evil deeds, claiming karma doesn’t exist. They erroneously maintain that since everything is empty, committing evil isn’t wrong. Such persons fall into a hell of endless darkness with no hope of release. Those who are wise hold no such conception.” I can’t say that Simone would have changed her ways had she known what fate awaited her for her evil actions, but she just might have.
What did you like about this book?
It was very well written. The author created such an unlikeable character in Simone that even when she was in harm’s way; I felt absolutely no remorse for her. What did you dislike about this book? Not a thing, I’ve already added the sequel to my “to be read” list.
How can the author improve this book?
No improvement needed.
There was nothing about this cover that screamed, "Pick me up, read me, read me!" Even after reading the book, I still can't figure out how the publishing house determined that that picture most accurately portrayed the story or main character. Let me assure that in spite of the cover, this book was a pretty good read.
Trickery is the story of Taj Jenson, a young woman used to getting her hustle on with little regard to whomever may be affected. For years she’s made money entertaining men at private parties with the assistance of her sidekick. It’s a lonely existence, but Taj has built up a wall around her and prefers solitude to the company of others. That changes the day she meets San.
The quiet and brooding San is different from any woman Taj has met. Where Taj can be loud and boisterous when needed, San brings a calming presence to her world and it doesn’t take long before the two are inseparable. First as friends, and eventually as lovers, the two build a world together based on the desire of each to get their children back.
A tragic incident threatens their once close relationship and leaves the women devastated. While one woman quietly seethes and seeks revenge, the other finds that she must try to rebuild the semblance of a life she once had. Unable to reconcile their feelings for one another, they go their separate ways.
When Taj begins dating a handsome doctor named James, she begins to live a life she’s never imagined. From the spur of the moment shopping sprees to the luxurious Mercedes Benz and a good looking man bending to her every whim, Taj has everything she could ask for. Life is looking up for her until she meets her live-in boyfriend’s best friend, Melinda, and senses underlying sexual tension between the two.
Melinda has always been there for James. She stood by patiently when he married and divorced his first wife and has no doubt that Taj’s time with James is limited. As she bides her time waiting for Taj to slip up, she learns that Taj is a walking time bomb of her own and given enough time, she’ll implode with no help from anyone. And just when it couldn’t get worse for Taj, Sen comes back into her life.
What did you like about the book?
It was well written. Unlike most urban lit, it doesn’t have such a grungy, street feel to it that the average person can’t relate to it.
What did you dislike about the book?
I would have liked a better ending, but I suspect the author set it up this way for sequel purposes.
How can the author improve this book?
The book was interesting from Taj’s perspective, but readers would get a fuller appreciation for other characters if they were given a voice.
Let me just start off by saying as an author Omar Tyree has come a long way from his days of "Flyy Girl", but still not far enough. The story follows Ivan David, an average accountant turnedevent planner/concert promoter. The book has so much potential, but instead of reaching that potential the reader is treated to a long, drawn out story that fizzles at the end. I'm not sure if the author was on deadline, had a page cap that he didn't use well, or what the logic was. It seems that the most interesting part of the story was given 2 pages while the other 513 pages were just filler. If you're looking for mindless reading and have time on your hands, this is the book for you.
One of the codes of the streets is "no snitching." So when bus driver Andre Bolden sees a man get shot while he's driving his route, he knows that his best bet is to keep his mouth shut. The problem is, the killer, Clops, saw him and now, whether he snitches or not, he's become a moving target.
