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CMS
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 - 01:33 pm: | 
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Saw an article on yahoo about Street Life fiction or Ghetto Lit.Something we have discussed a few times on this list. I am going to try to post the link.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=529&ncid=529&e=2&u=/ap/20030519/ ap_en_ot/street_life_books
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yasmin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 03:35 pm: |
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Hey CMS...we're discussing Street Life fiction/Ghetto Lit in another group that I belong to and surprisingly it hasn't gotten ugly...yet. Many of us believe its a double-edged sword and most of said that as with any genre we just ask that the storyline be well-written and compelling. Because 'bad writing' is bad writing no matter what genre an individual pursues. I haven't read many Street Life books but of the five I've read, I recommend:
Coldest Winter Ever and Triple Take by Yanier Moore.
Triple Take is heavy on plot but it was a compelling and engaging read...pacing was tight and solid.
I will probably get around to reading b-more careful only because I want to see what they hype is about and what was it about the storyline that allowed Shannon Holmes to self-publish and sell 160M copies. I don't think Street Life books will ever become one of my favorite genres (but neither will erotica) but I do feel compelled to read well-written storylines every now and then for diversity. |
K
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 04:57 pm: |
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My 13 year old son told me that the his school confiscated a copy of Coldest Winter Ever that had been circulating. There was a big deal about the content of page 80. I too have mixed feelings about it. The Coldest Winter Ever made an honest attempt not to glorfy the criminal lifestyle. It contained its fair share of harsh language. One could also argue thatare children are being bum-rushed by the same subject matter via TV and video games and so just be thankful that they are reading. We as mature adults can grasp the underlying message and themes in street life novels. I wonder if out young people are honestly taking away the same messages. |
Snake Girl
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 05:20 pm: |
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Coldest Winter Ever...with it's strong moral message...is about the strongest title in this genre called "Ghetto life" fiction..although I don't think that such a genre classification is either needed or necessary.
What I liked about Coldest Winter Ever was that it taught the HUMAN VALUE...of both a black man and a black woman. The message was that they should not destroy themselves or their community and that our "black beauty" should not be for sale. That ofcourse...was the message for those of us who know how to read and don't simply SCAN.
That other book...by Shannon Holmes, unfortunately, was sexist, non-nutritional and mainly just gritty realism in the tradition of Slim Pickens (is that his name?)
I disagree that these slices of life from black experience should have their own genre. All of these books are detailing the experiences of black people...whether the book about a suburban Buppies, street tough survivors or a woman having her scarification of the vagina on a riverbank in Africa. It's all parts of the collective experience of black folk. Place any one of those people in the other's shoes...and the story would go on.
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Sssss
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 05:21 pm: |
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Not Slim Pickens. I meant Iceburgh Slim.
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Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 05:26 pm: |
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SSSs--I just can't let that pass--Iceberg Slim and Slim Pickens be awful hard to mix up. |
Cynique
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 07:18 pm: |
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I still don't understand all of the accolades "The Coldest Winter Ever" has garnered. Not only did it violate all the rules of fiction writing, but the fact that the heroine was tough did not compensate for her being utterly shallow. But the kids all love it so who am I to complain? Reading is fundamental.
I'm with you, Chris, on the Slim Picken/Ice berg Slim mixup. Can you imagine Slim Pickens being a pimp Daddy! LOL |
CMS
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 08:57 pm: |
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I had a child (tenth grade) ask me for a book about real people. I'm thinking the young man wants a biography, nope he means something "real and true to life like The Coldest Winter Ever." So I gave him a copy of Triple Take. He was excited about the prospect of reading it over the holiday weekend. I keep in mind that when I was his age what I mostly read was Harlequin romances and some mysteries every now and then. ( For some reason I liked John Irving back then and had read The World According To Garp) It's the 40 and 50 year olds that don't want to read anything but Donald Goines and Sister Soulja that distress me. But I thank God everyday for my serious non-fiction folks, becase they make me get out of my fiction box and strech every now and then. So yes in the end different strokes for different folks. I'm just glad that in the community that I work in that I have lots of folks with all kinds of taste. |
Snake Girl
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2003 - 09:27 pm: |
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CMS--I'm basically with you.
Cynique--although the lead character of Coldest Winter Ever was "shallow, selfish and materialistic"...she was USED as a device to show how beautiful girls like herself are really ugly on the inside and also what happens to us when we SELL OUR SOULS. Midnight was a wonderful black male character--a hero of a man. She let him get away by failing to honor her authentic self. The message was loud and clear--look at what happened to her at the end of the book. Scarred face and prison.
Lost her whole family. Look how dearly her Mama paid...that broke my heart.
But that book was straightforward, truthful and very COMPELLING. A now classic book cover art...a good classic line--"I don't want to know about what you HAVE....I want to know...what you believe. What is it that you BELIEVE?" Social Workers all over America are now asking this quest. of young wayward girls and forcing them to evaluate their lifestyles and values.
The book also reveals the hip hop world for what it really is...it shows how people who sell themselves--will sell their friends for even LESS.
It shows how BLACK women in particular--degrade and enforce their notion of inferiority by putting all their trust in everyone but themselves.
Inside each of us...we have our own unique voice. This book encourages women to listen to that voice.
Damn shame she let Midnight get away. Now that was one smooth brotha.
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Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 12:30 am: |
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"Snake Girl": The Coldest Winter's lead character was, indeed, used as a story-telling tool and, as such, she became an emblematic stereoptype, - a "no-no" when crafting characters for fiction writing. She also spoke in 2 different voices when telling her story, which I found distracting. And Sista Soulja's self-indulgent, long, expository passages that injected herself into the story line was also kind of a turn-off for me. But, these are things that apparently didn't bother other people. And I could've overlooked them if the female protagonist had had any redeeming qualities. I know my opinion puts me in the minority, and I think a lot of people got into the book because it was like gettin the 411 on somebody they knew. |
Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 07:35 am: |
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Hello All,
I'm glad the "Street Life" books are finally getting some play. I like the Street Life books...when they're tight and well written. These stories are attractive to people who wouldn't ordinarily read books at all. But, then that's been said for a number of folks who read the U-go-girl books too. These books have always been around. Authors that have our respect and admiration today were not respected when they were living and publishing their books. Chester Himes comes to mind. There were other authors besides Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim that wrote these types of books. Years ago, Norton re-published a number of books in a series titled Old School Books, books that featured stories on the hard, sometime cruel, lives of black folks that wasn't trying to become the NAACP Poster Child of the year. The Old School Books titles were written by AA authors that I had never heard of before until I came across that series. I do know that Marc Gerard who oversaw the Old School Books series started publishing books that featured young AA authors that wrote Street Life books. The books were small, inexpensive and tight. I read the first one written by Ronin Ro, I can't recall the name, but that book was tight, violent, and well written.
I still haven't read The Coldest Winter. I did read Triple Take. I like Triple Take but it could have used some tightening up. I wish the authors and publishers of these books the best of luck and hope they keep churning them out, because we need more male readers to balance things out. |
Mammary Copperhead
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 11:32 am: |
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For another street life perspective read Percival Everett's Erasure and the book within the book, "My Pafology", retitled "F**k".
Everett seems to be making the comment that white literati devour and honor street life books as representing the authentic black voice.
Let's go back a long ways -- many moons ago and consider the ancestor of all street life books: Native Son. Also Ann Petry's The Street could also qualify.
Jus ma 2Cents dawg! |
Thumper
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 11:51 am: |
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We can farther than that dawg. What about Rudolf Fisher's The Conjure-Man Dies? |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 02:53 pm: |
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Can we count books by, or about prison inmates as "Street books?" There were some good ones out there. |
ABM
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 23, 2003 - 03:22 pm: |
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I imagine the books by/about prison inmates are VERY popular among certain types of "menzes" |
Tee C. Royal
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 09:51 am: |
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Cynique, I only know of two by prison inmates and I don't think they were about street life. One was by Reginald Lewis (poetry I think), and the other title escapes me right now. I haven't read either.
What are some of the titles you're referring to?
-Tee |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 03:38 pm: |
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Hi Tee,
In answer to your query, 2 books that come to mind are: "Makes Me Wanna Holler" by Nathan McCall,an inmate, and "All God's Children," a book written about the Bosket family, 3 generations of extraordinary black men who chose to live on the wrong side of the law and all ended up incarcerated. |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 26, 2003 - 03:42 pm: |
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Oh, yes, and "Monster" by I forget who. But it was about a notorious young black criminal who was telling his life story. |
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