The Corner: a Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood PDF Book
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THE CORNER: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF AN INNER-CITY NEIGHBOURHOOD PDF, EPUB, EBOOK David Simon | 543 pages | 01 Feb 2002 | Broadway Books (A Division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc) | 9780767900317 | English | New York, United States The Corner: a Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood PDF Book It's strange to think that I was walking up and down Hollins St. The easy labels we use to categorize good guys and bad guys melt away and we find ourselves confronted with stories that share similarities with our own. Wire fans also know that he still talked to people whom he put away in prison for twenty years. Our parents would still be our parents, our teachers still our teachers, our broker still our broker. See all books by David Simon , Edward Burns. There is also a need for a method of eradication focused on treatment and prevention rather than punishment. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. More filters. In The Corner , everyone shares a bit of the blame: broken families and fatherless kids; unfair laws; overbearing cops; failing schools. My review might be biased because I don't have the luxury of distancing myself from the characters or saying "such and such was probably embellished for dramatic flair. It is a coordinated effort as the seller hawks his product, one or two of the crew stand lookout for the police or the occasional robber, and another goes to the stash--the hidden place where the dope is kept--and gets the buyer his drug of choice. As you can see, it is quite timely. Focusing on a core of approximately 10 individuals, including several family units, this book provides an honest and often painful insight into life in the inner-city ghetto. They don't patronize or infantilize their subjects. May 27, Stephen rated it it was amazing. David Simon is an angry man. Gary McCullough, DeAndre's father, pulls capers to get his daily fix, but on many nights he pours over favorite passages in the Bible and peruses such writers as Karen Armstrong. To the contrary, Simon and Burns work hard to disappear; at no point in the text do they draw attention to themselves, or remove the focus from their journalistic subjects. Apr 11, J. The authors picked the moments in a year in the lives of these people that would construct a real narrative and character arc like those of fictional characters. But some people get out and join the military or find jobs that give them more opportunities at ordinary, unfulfilled lives. Well, it's always hard, I can make myself sick thinking about something like prison and trying to think of anything that could possibly help I'm not that smart. DeAndre never really had a chance and that pisses me off. I so wish it would get spontaneous and end differently for him. Error rating book. Jun 07, Matt Simpson rated it really liked it. The soul, the heart we're all going to die anyway so the ending can't be the point But they have already had children who are destined to take their place. Paperback , pages. In spite of this, its a fascinating glimpse of a world where most of Simon's readers will never go. Namespaces Article Talk. Let the dealers and the junkies hold a parade down the National Mall. Helen Prejean. There is some truly beautiful writing here: poetic but unflinching, with real true heart. The Corner: a Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood Writer Periodically Simon will interrupt the narrative to go into extended rants on how exactly we've gotten ourselves trapped in this endless drug war and cycle of poverty. Drug infested communities are often approached as a problem but The Corner depicts them as a systemic self-reinforcing culture. A simple goal, achievable on a daily basis. Almost everyone, except Tyreeka and Fran, is dead. This isn't. Retrieved I'm impressed how Ed Burns keeps in contact. We'd lie about our age to cut taters and spill grease and sling fries at the sub shop for five-and-change-an-hour Each is to be used, abused, and ultimately devoured with unfailing precision. The scenes about Fat Curt waiting to access healthcare, or Miss Ella doing her best to scrape money from the city are Kafkaesque. The background history of Baltimore and how the situation got to be that fucked up That's what they make me think of, when they continue to choose this amputated life and that goes for anything better they could be missing. However, this never comes off as forced or patronizing. Feb 28, Matt rated it it was amazing Shelves: journalism , year-in-the-life. For fans of The Wire you get to see in this book a lot of the inspiration for the addicts' side and to some extent the drug dealers side of the story. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. I know what they are missing. Thanks for telling us about the problem. When you buy a book, we donate a book. Kids raising kids and the kid breadwinners are dealers. It is a scarred and pockmarked place of rundown drug houses, gang-infested corners, broken families, and a wilting community center; it is a community populated by slingers and fiends and petty criminals and teenage mothers and unwatched kids, and a few stolid citizens trying to keep the whole thing bursting at the seams. Other characters round out the neighborhood. The challenge that our society faces is how to admit defeat and begin the long, painful process of making sure that the kind of life pictured here becomes just fiction again. Yet, the people who live there are more than mindless junkies. To remember that not everyone chooses this life, that they kids being born into it didn't ask for this. Then the subjects would offer a glimpse into the disappointment they felt in themselves. Maureen Orth. Reading this book, I felt lost. It's an endless series of scams and being scammed to get money for the dope. This book follows the lives of individuals who lived on the corner of Fayette Street and Monroe Street in West Baltimore over one year. The real photographs of real people. The Corner: a Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighbourhood Reviews Everyone deserves to have their stories told. You had to seek them out, they didn't seek you out. Usually a crew sells the drugs, which in Baltimore are often supplied through contacts in New York City. But when they themselves stumble and then succumb to the corner's temptations, DeAndre's future hangs in the balance. Algebra amid the stench of burning rock; American history between police raids. American Sherlock. Sort order. She is almost an archetype in rough neighborhoods around America--the saintly woman who shepherds the children with love and forgiveness, while at the same time harboring no illusions about the grim realities of neighborhood life. Many people are quick to say that it's possible to "get out. The premise is simple--Baltimore Sun reporter Simon who's lately been earning acclaim as the driving force behind HBO's "The Wire" which takes place in the same area and Ed Burns spent a year living on or around one of the busiest drug markets in Baltimore and reports what he learned. Ella channels her immense grief over the murder into helping kids of all ages at the Rec center and recruiting locals to coach a basketball team for the older boys and to teach art lessons to the younger children. Now 20 years later in Baltimore has flared into violence as racial bias and overly aggressive policing led to civil unrest. The result of over a year of living among and gaining the trust of individuals within the culture is an amazingly engrossing story of the year-in-the-life of the residents around an open-air drug market on Baltimore's west side. The corner has a place for them, every last soul. DeAndre never really had a chance and that pisses me off. When money moved out of the neighborhood I'm out of shitty metaphors [for now] , the strings keeping it together went out. I had to wait a few days after finishing this book to write anything about it, because it didn't seem like any part of my reaction really did it justice, or would be worthy enough to record without cheapening the book. Hushour rated it it was amazing. Entertainment Weekly. Also available from:. Preview — The Corner by David Simon. Brittany K. Your Name. Other characters round out the neighborhood. The background history of Baltimore and how the situation got to be that fucked up The book was adapted into the Emmy award winning HBO miniseries, The Corner , for which Simon served as a writer and executive producer. Please try again later. This is because the real issue is the drug culture not the drug transaction. How can I describe The Corner? Despite the verisimilitude of The Wire which Simon created , there is a certain glorification to the drug-running and violence and cat-and-mouse games of the inner city. Simon and Burns did a great job of honestly assessing the events and people throughout this book, as well as offering their thoughts on the complexity of drug use, poverty, and government involvement. This book follows the lives of individuals who lived on the corner of Fayette Street and Monroe Street in West Baltimore over one year.