About this title: The result of over ten years of immersion reporting, "Random Family" charts a tumultuous decade in which girls become mothers, mothers become grandmothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation.
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Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. 2003-Hardcover----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Edition: 1st thus printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Scribner, New York, NY
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780965617475ISBN:0965617475
Description: Fair. No Jacket as Issued. Black and white photo illustrated cover with moderate edge wear, creasing. Text clean, binding solid, with slight spine roll. Corner bends to first few pages. 408 pages. Glued binding, 21 cm. 16 oz. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Scribner Book Company
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780743254434ISBN:0743254430
Description: Fair. No dust jacket as issued. book still good condition clean pages cover show some wear out. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. 0743254430 Book could have shelf wear, or a bump, or sunfade to edges. These are new unread books from the publisher with one of these conditions. See are feedback as customers are satisfied in how we grade our books. Has remainder mark. Fast shipping and customer service is our number 1 priority! read more
Description: Good. 2004-Paperback----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Acceptable. 2004-Paperback----Used-Acceptable-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780965617475ISBN:0965617475
Description: Very Good. Inside looks GREAT! Text is clean and bright. No names, no remainder marks, no stickers. Binding is tight and square. Cover has a small rip. Careful packaging and fast shipping. We recommend EXPEDITED MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2003-01-28
ISBN-13:9780684863870ISBN:0684863871
Description: Very Good. This is a very nice hardcover copy. No names, no marks, no stickers. Binding is tight and square. Text is clean and bright. DJ is VG. We recommend PRIORITY MAIL for even faster delivery! read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780743254434ISBN:0743254430
Description: Fine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Very-good+ condition. Previous owner's initials in book front. NO other writing, marks or tears inside book. Tight spine, clean pages. 414 pages. Remainder mark on bottom-no clippings. In her extraordinary bestseller, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses readers in the intricacies of the ghetto, revealing the true sagas lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. Focusing on two romances--Jessica's dizzying ... read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Scribner
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780965617475ISBN:0965617475
Description: Very Good. 0965617475. Smooth spine.; 0.9 x 8.2 x 5.2 Inches; 408 pages; "Random Family tells the American outlaw saga lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. With an immediacy made possible only after ten years of reporting, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses the reader in the mind-boggling intricacies of the little-known ghetto world. She charts the tumultuous cycle of the generations, as girls become mothers, mothers become ... read more
''Since there were few real options for mobility, people in Coco's world measured improvement in microscopic increments of better-than-whatever-was-worse. These tangible gradations mattered more than the clichéd language of success that floated blandly out of everyone's mouth, like fugitive sentiments from a Hallmark card. . . . Thick and fed was better than thin and hungry. Family fights indoors -- even if everyone could hear them -- were better than taking private business to the street. Heroin was bad, but crack was worse. A girl who had four kids by two boys was better than a girl who had four by three. A boy who dealt drugs and helped his mom and kids was better than a boy who was greedy and spent the income on himself; the same went for girls and their welfare checks. Mothers who went clubbing and didn't yell at their kids the next tired day were better than mothers who did.''
It is written by a journalist who spends ten years following the struggles of one family. She portrays the complexities of poverty in a very compelling way."
"I have to admit I did not read this book straight through. I jumped through the chapters, reading parts that seemed interesting. I find it appropriate that I read the book the week that Sotomayor became a Supreme Court Justice. I feel that I have a better understanding of the environment (Bronx) that she came from. I did not find anything unbelievable within the book. I hear many of the same stories at work. Downtown Kalamazoo is not the Bronx, but poverty is poverty. The drug culture found in this book can be found in most towns to some degree. The lack of sex education, cycle of abuse, and run-ins with the law happen everywhere in this country. Because I work with teens that have similar issues, I was sad to see most of the "professionals" treated harshly in this book. If the point of this books was to make me more accepting and open minded, than ALL of the characters should have been treated with respect. I think this book was an amazing project by LeBlanc, and I believe that many people could learn something by reading it."
"An eye-opening true life account of life in the inner city. if i were to rename it, i'd title it "Survivor: Bronx". I was a camp counselor in North Philadelphia and was very surprised to see how similar living conditions in the bronx are to philly. All the families are on welfare, most of the kids have different fathers, it is commonplace for teenage single mothers, everyone had a family member or knew someone in jail, and the kids also lived in a drug infested neighborhood. I found reading this book so invaluable to understanding the families that i met during the summer.
Before reading this book, i often judged the young, teenage mothers thinking, "Why would you get pregnant so soon? Why would you throw your life, your education and your future away?" But now i understand that it is a norm and that poverty also contributes to a lack of birth control methods.
At many points in the book, i also felt very angry at the whole system of supporting inner city families. it seems that there is no way for upward mobility unless you're a rapper, drug dealer, or star athlete. Schools are crummy with underpaid teachers, welfare barely covers living costs, and crime is everywhere.
i found myself wondering what the solution is for the millions living in these conditions and felt hopeless at the vicious cycle of stunted mobility and poverty."
"I think that "random family" has at least two meanings: first, this is an unremarkable (random) cast of characters in their environment (yje author says as much in the author's note at the close of the book), reflecting an everyman's story. Second, I think that many family ties are fickle and that much of the story in the book is about people re-forming and constantly aligning themselves to different constellations of "family," so that at any given time who's a part of someone's family is a random and opportunistic outcome. I also have a hard time deciding how I feel about the causes behind many of the bad outcomes chronicled in the story. On one hand there are the "structural" issues like lack of promising employment and living wages, overwhelmed schools, and criminal justice policies that disprorportionately target young men of color. On the other hand, however, there is also some evidence of a "culture of poverty" or a kind of social learning and intergenerational values transmission that seems to be at work. From within the 400 plus pages that comprise this story, one could find sufficient justification for both points of view. So I was not led to any one source as the diagnosis of the problems on display here. The value of the book is that it leads one to ask very complex questions without providing ready answers."
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