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additionaddiction's review
4.0
"Meet Orlando Donovan. He's just your typical book-reading, music-appreciating, gangsta-fightin', family-loving, deep-thinking, crime-solving, dope junkie."
Alright, now that I've got my cynical tagline out of the way, this really wasn't a bad book. The beginning was pretty confusing which I blame on the jumping around from one character to another, some of which are pretty irrelevant to the story. But as I got further along I got more invested and curious as to how the plot was going to play out.
Living in the Philadelphia area, I probably spent more time analyzing the locations than a non-Pennsylvania reader. For instance, how long it took a character to drive from one location to another, or which neighborhood was having a shootout, or why someone would choose to eat at a particular location, when no Philadelphia resident without a car would make the same decision without a clear motive. I don't think the author was making a statement about Philadelphia, I think he was just using Philadelphia as the backdrop for his story. I don't think he was trying to say that certain neighborhoods are dangerous or that Philadelphia is a drug haven. Then again, I really have no idea.
There were a few parts that were pretty moving. Also, the dog in the last chapter seemed to be a metaphor on drug use (although again, maybe I'm way off). I did feel that I could have done with more background on the boys and less focus on some of the other minor characters. I'd really like to give this a 3.5 but I'm rounding up since it's a "hometown story."
Alright, now that I've got my cynical tagline out of the way, this really wasn't a bad book. The beginning was pretty confusing which I blame on the jumping around from one character to another, some of which are pretty irrelevant to the story. But as I got further along I got more invested and curious as to how the plot was going to play out.
Living in the Philadelphia area, I probably spent more time analyzing the locations than a non-Pennsylvania reader. For instance, how long it took a character to drive from one location to another, or which neighborhood was having a shootout, or why someone would choose to eat at a particular location, when no Philadelphia resident without a car would make the same decision without a clear motive. I don't think the author was making a statement about Philadelphia, I think he was just using Philadelphia as the backdrop for his story. I don't think he was trying to say that certain neighborhoods are dangerous or that Philadelphia is a drug haven. Then again, I really have no idea.
There were a few parts that were pretty moving. Also, the dog in the last chapter seemed to be a metaphor on drug use (although again, maybe I'm way off). I did feel that I could have done with more background on the boys and less focus on some of the other minor characters. I'd really like to give this a 3.5 but I'm rounding up since it's a "hometown story."
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