This is the first in a series of books about a young white working class teenager from an alcoholic, racist family in an Irish American neighborhood in Boston filled with parochialism and thuggery. Mick wants more. When he rejects racism, he also rejects his family as well as the parochial, lumpen neighborhood he has lived in his entire life; so his family and neighbors come after him physically and at one point, almost kill him. The racist reputation of his neighborhood follows him to school where he is always in danger of physical attack from groups of Asians and Latinos. He falls in love with a Latina named Evelyn, who hates his guts and he develops a new friendship, his first since kindergarten, with Toy, a mysterious loner who, while definitely not white, is race is unknown. This first book ends with Mick on the ground, bloody and beat up, denying he is “one of them” to the object of his affection, Evelyn. She slams the door and leaves him on the sidewalk; clearly a set up for the sequel.
Mick has lots of appeal for local youth, especially white working class youth. The voice and scenarios are totally authentic and come directly from white working class culture in Boston neighborhoods, especially from South Boston and Dorchester. “Why don’t you just go an have your own pissy little yellow faggot-ass parades and leave us alone” (p.30). and “—he’s always sayin’ something when he’s slapping me, y’know, so it takes forever; I hate that (p.130). I speak with authority because I’ve lived here my whole life. In addition, the story incorporates lots of real events, (names changed to protect the innocent??) such as the influx of Vietnamese families into the neighborhoods and the attempts by gay groups to march in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. It has real local flavor, so much so that I wonder how popular they are outside the area. I really liked it.
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