This book is readable and engaging, dramatic and suspenseful. Those qualities I could get from other books. But what I haven't seen before in other books is the insider's view of the world of drug dealers. The book is set in 1989 in Oakland, California, during midterms week at UC Berkeley, and the main character is a 23-year-old Black man whose family has money. Maceo is taking a semester off from Berkeley, where he played baseball, but lost his scholarship after an injury left him unable to pitch. Although his grandfather was willing to pay his tuition, Maceo spent the money instead on a sweet ride and started working as a bartender.He resumed hanging out with his childhood friend Holly, a skilled, super-expensive drug cutter with a clean police record. One day Holly shows up at the neighborhood barber shop with the news that their other childhood buddy, Billy, has been killed by a rival drug dealer. Maceo and Holly set out with some of Holly's drug world contacts to find and punish the murderer. What's bothering Maceo just as much as Billy's death is that Billy's girlfriend and Maceo's ex, Felicia, has been missing since the fatal night, and some of the Oakland drug dealers suspect her in Billy's death. In his quest to solve and avenge his friend's murder, and to find and protect Felicia, Maceo finds himself at a crossroads that his famous pitching arm and his wealthy and loving family can't save him from: Should he go back to school, or join the thrilling and deadly game Holly has been playing: the same game that killed Billy?I read this book because the English 11 students at school are reading it. What fascinated me was the colorful, detailed portrayal of what it was like to be young and Black in Oakland at the height of the crack epidemic. (view spoiler)[ Maceo's decision to "break bad" is as understandable as Walter White's. Billy's killer is Smokey, a rival drug dealer who says he hated Billy because Billy was so "clean." Smokey says that Billy considered himself "above" other dealers because he wouldn't sell crack to pregnant women, or anyone with kids in their car. Smokey thinks that Billy is a hypocrite. After all, Billy was in the business of selling crack cocaine; he made his money by selling a substance so addictive it ruined people's lives. So what if he didn't sell to pregnant women or parents of young kids. Of course, being a so-called hypocrite isn't what killed Billy; it was greed. Billy had set up a deal with some southern California drug suppliers. Smokey didn't want these outsiders getting involved in Oakland; besides, with Billy gone, Smokey might be able to take over Billy's territory. Holly and Maceo visit Billy's SoCal supplier, Jorge, in the hopes of learning more about Billy's death. They find their high school acquaintance Sera is now Jorge's girlfriend and the mother of his son...and she's now a crack addict, with a wasted body, her charm and curves sucked away by the drug. Holly confronts Jorge: "Why you let your girl smoke that shit?" I'm probably revealing my own ignorance and innocence here, but I realized at that point that the business of selling drugs is all about power and money, not getting high. Holly, Maceo, Felicia, and the others involved in the drug trade don't smoke crack, nor do they even drink much. Their drug is the danger and excitement of the Oakland streets. I found myself with the lyrics of Moby's "South Side" sticking in my head, although the song wasn't written about Oakland: "Here we are now going to the west side/Weapons in hand as we go for a ride....I pick up my friends and we hope we won't die."I think of my own students. I could see very easily how a young adult would prefer to make lots of money selling drugs or girls' bodies, when the alternative was living with their mom and working at Walmart for $8 an hour, even if the high pay was really combat pay, and even if they were likely to get killed. What is death to a 20-year-old? Even when a friend dies, an adolescent's brain doesn't register "That could have been me" or "I could be next." Maceo's grandfather, Daddy Al, is a man of famously few words, but he does have something to say as Maceo cries after Billy's funeral. When Maceo says, "It wasn't supposed to be like this," Daddy Al gets angry. "Did you think the game you all was playing could cheat death?" Daddy Al hisses. The minister preaches, to a church full of Billy's friends, family, and fellow drug dealers, that he is sick of burying young men. He also comments privately to Daddy Al that, by the looks of the bling-laden young people on the front steps of the church, he knows he's not done burying them. Billy's mother, stoic throughout the service, finally loses her cool and starts screaming, "Oh Lord, they killed my baby!" at the graveside. I felt my own age as I sympathized with the parents and grandparents and the minister. I ask myself, What can I do or say so that my students won't choose Maceo's path? I don't have any satisfactory answers. The old "work hard, do well in school, go to college, get a good job" sounds lame, worn-out and outdated. (hide spoiler)]
Do You like book The Dying Ground (2006)?
Nichelle Tramble did a remarkable job writing from the perspective of a young man growing up on the streets of Oakland. Her characters were very alive and real. This type of novel was a first for me and I learned a lot. I particularly enjoyed the familiar settings: streets of Oakland, BART,The Oakland Zoo, the Oakland hills, San Francisco, streets in Berkeley,Lake Merritt, Grand Avenue, Grand Lake Theatre, Broadway, etc.... This book is at turns sad, funny, poignant and eye opening. I especially liked the character of Maceo's grandfather, Daddy Al, who loved unconditionally. The strong bonds that are forged amid the violence remain with you long after you stop reading.From the book,"I was born in death when my father decided to celebrate my arrival with a lethal drug treat for my mother. A suicidal combination of cocaine and heroin. He survived and she didn't, and I've continued to relive her death ever since. In most of my dreams I follow her, not as the infant I was when she died but as a grown man. She doesn't recognize me when we meet, and that is what frightens me the most. I've been visited by death every four years since my first days on earth. I've grown so accustomed to mourning that funerals are rituals to me much like Christmas and Easter."Quote from book:"It was the easiest never to leave home. Ghettos were created to hold their inhabitants inside, but their boundaries were a defense perimeter as well, a secured border within which people felt as if they belonged."-Sylvester Monroe (Brothers)
—Robin
