Pipe Dreams.Pipe Dreams by Solomon Jones Striver's Row, July 2001, $13.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-375-75660-4 Recently, Philadelphia has been the setting for great dramatic fiction. Authors like Diane McKinney Whetstone whetstone, natural or manufactured stone used as an abrasive solid to sharpen tools. It is used dry, with water, or with oil. Such a stone of the finer grade used with oil is usually called an oilstone. , BeBe Moore Campbell Bebe Moore Campbell (b. February 18 1950, Philadelphia - d. November 27 2006, Los Angeles) was the author of three New York Times bestsellers, Brothers and Sisters, Singing in the Comeback Choir, and What You Owe Me, which was also a , and Lorraine Carey have captured the familiar sights and subtle nuances of the City of Brotherly Love with panache and style. Missing in this genre until now, has been representation by an African American male writer. First-time novelist Solomon Jones has taken up that challenge with a gritty Philadelphia story, Pipe Dreams. Told mainly through the eyes of its crackhead crack·head n. Slang A heavy user of crack cocaine. anti-hero anti-hero, principal character of a modern literary or dramatic work who lacks the attributes of the traditional protagonist or hero. The anti-hero's lack of courage, honesty, or grace, his weaknesses and confusion, often reflect modern man's ambivalence toward , named Black, the story centers on the murder of a Latino city councilman in a condemned drug house. From there, it spirals into a prism of double-crosses, dirty politics, and police corruption. Jones pulls no punches as he takes you through the desperate lives of Black and his three other dope-fiend friends, who are caught in a web of murder, mayhem and deceit. Jones takes readers into the minds of his addicts--not at all one-dimensional characters--and reveals the convoluted logic that causes them to make so many bad decisions. The story opens with Black, who has spent some time in jail, finally telling his lawyer the whole story. He spins the tale flashback style and takes you on a journey through much of North Philly's underbelly. There are in-your-face scenes of scams, set-ups, burglaries, shootings and blackmail. Jones heaps these ingredients in with some eerie scenes of crack smoking and detailed descriptions of the entire drugged out lifestyle. This book is like a train wreck: It's a ghoulish ghoul n. 1. One who delights in the revolting, morbid, or loathsome. 2. A grave robber. 3. An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses. scene, but hard to look away from. Anthony C. Davis is the co-author of Yo Little Brother-Basic Rules of Survival for Young Black Males. |
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