Scan barcode
A review by yetanotherbookstagram
Who They Was by Gabriel Krauze
challenging
dark
slow-paced
1.75
Truthfully, I hated most of this book. I was going to give it one star but I want to acknowledge that there were some good bits of writing throughout and I may have been turned off by all of the London street slang which just made this difficult reading for me as I really never got into the rhythm.
The protagonist writes of his experiences in violent, London gang culture that he actively participates in while simultaneously attending English classes at university. It is very violent, very graphic, and fairly repetitive. I felt like there were passages that I could just skim through without missing anything of this endless stream of consciousness. He really doesn't show any type of remorse or inner conflict over the actions he takes until the very end of the book. Since the book is mostly autobiographical I found myself really frustrated that with the publication of this book the author is now capitalizing on the years he spent dealing drugs, committing robberies and assaults, etc.
Some reviews have said this is an important inside look at what life is really like in that neighborhood so I'll have to take their word for it. If it wasn't a part of a reading challenge I was completing it would have been a DNF.
The protagonist writes of his experiences in violent, London gang culture that he actively participates in while simultaneously attending English classes at university. It is very violent, very graphic, and fairly repetitive. I felt like there were passages that I could just skim through without missing anything of this endless stream of consciousness. He really doesn't show any type of remorse or inner conflict over the actions he takes until the very end of the book. Since the book is mostly autobiographical I found myself really frustrated that with the publication of this book the author is now capitalizing on the years he spent dealing drugs, committing robberies and assaults, etc.
Some reviews have said this is an important inside look at what life is really like in that neighborhood so I'll have to take their word for it. If it wasn't a part of a reading challenge I was completing it would have been a DNF.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Violence