Rating: 
Summary: The touching account of two of America's children
Review: I can't begin to describe the feelings I had in reading this tremendous account of Lafayette and Pharoah Rivers. Their accomplishments, shortcomings, and daily submerge into the inconceivable violence of Chicago's Henry Horner Homes was masterfully told by Alex Kotlowitz. It rivals other books in its graphic description of the dismal state of Chicago's public housing units and violent-ridden streets. But it far surpasseses every other book I've read in it's humanization of two boys growing up in "The Other America". I've always felt a sadness for those who live in poverty and are faced by insurmountable challenges every day. But until I read this book, I'd never cried over the human toll. This book made me realize that it's not just anonymous statistical figures that make up the poor, it's kids like Pharoah and Lafeyette. Good kids who grow up with the same ambitions and dreams that I did, but without the means or resources.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: This book describes a social atmosphere that few people actually experience or fully understand. It only provides a glimpse into the lives of two boys growing up in one of Chicago's public housing areas, but it will leave an everlasting impression in the minds of its readers. Alex Kotlowitz follows the lives of these two young boys as they attempt to navigate through the gang wars, police and government deficiencies, and the poverty stricken Chicago slums. The boys are under 15 years of age, yet they are forced to make decisions that people much older than them struggle with every day. They are forced to struggle through their childhood in poverty and without a father to guide them in those struggles. Kotlowitz looks at the two boys as they watch their friends and family members perish in gang and drug wars, police brutality, or hauled off to prison for other crimes. They also watch as their mother struggles to provide for her family and the governments inefficient handling of Chicago's public housing. The author is able to show the young boys struggle to get an education and succeed in an area filled with failures. They have few role models to guide their decisions and few opportunities for success. Alex Kotlowitz is able to point out the constant struggle these young boys have faced and the opportunities that they are deprived of. He shows how the environment both physically and mentally hampers the two boys opportunity for success and a normal childhood. The book provides an excellent look into the mental struggles they faced as their friends got caught up in gangs, were killed, and started committing petty crimes. Overall this book provides an excellent depiction of life in the Chicago public housing, and the struggle of those two boys as they attempt to survive and succeed in the ghettos.
Rating:
Summary: A Case Study in Compassion
Review: I might not have gotten to the second half of this book if it hadn't been assigned for a class. But I'm so glad I did--while the book started out a little slow (a lot of great writing and key information, but not a whole lot to pull the reader onward in the first 100 pages), by the end I was incapable of thinking about poverty in the same way.While the information in the book is now dated (by journalism standards), Kotlowitz's portrait of the Chicago housing projects is incredibly moving--even readers on the extreme right will be hard-pressed to keep your emotional distance from the characters (surely no one deserves to live in an apartment with raw sewage bubbling up into the kitchen sink). But though the author could easily have let his narrative degenerate into a depressing, disgusting account of violence, crime, and drugs, he does not: Kotlowitz is determined to present the human side of Pharoah, Lafeyette, LaJoe and their family. Like any other family, they also have their joyous moments--birthday parties and Christmas excursions. Like any other little kid, Pharoah wants to win the spelling bee. Like any adolescent, Lafeyette struggles with peer pressure. And like all mothers, LaJoe worries about her children. But the odds they're trying to overcome are enormous--the neighborhood gangs are omnipresent, and graduating from high school is usually an "if" not a "when." The reader can't help but root for them, all the way to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Empathy for the children, because they are the victims.
Review: I think the readers who express dismay at LaJoe and Mr. Kotlowitz for the lack of personal responsibility potrayed in the book are not completely off track; rather, they might be missing the point. The children, like Lafayette and Pharoah, are the victims and the ones for whom our hearts should ache. I live near public housing in Chicago, and I'm not sure what's worse, thinking that the children have to live there, or thinking that they've no place else to go. It's a third world nation in our own back yard and the children are there through no fault of their own. Yes, Mr. Kotlowitz had an agenda, but I truly believe it was an agenda of a better quality of life for America's children. When children in the ghetto see and deal with violence everyday and receive no understanding or services or tools to deal with that violence, how do we expect an escape from the violence to be so easy? Lafayette is the same age as I am and I can't help but wonder where and how he is today.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read!
Review: In this book, Alex Kotlowitz's portrayal of two inner city youth's was phenomenal. His writing ability brought to life the hopelessness, pain, and resilience of two young boys who are faced daily with drugs, violence, and poverty that middle class American cannot fathom...even in their darkest nightmares. One cannot possibly read this book and not see the inequities to America's poor. While reading about the lives of these two boys whose odds are stacked against them, one wants to reach out to them and protect them from the lack of privilege that we, ourselves, receive automatically. Scary to think that this is just a minute representation of the inner-city black youth that is faced with situations that I, as an adult, could not conceivably endure short-term much less throughout my entire upbringing. These two boys, Lafayette and Pharoah (and so many others) have demonstrated more courage and resilience that most contend with during a lifetime. May God Bless Them
Rating: 
Summary: There Are No Taxpayers Here
Review: What a horrid book! LaJoe, the mother in this tale, has 8 children starting from the age of fourteen with a heroin-addicted father to whom she is not yet married. She has not held a job for seven years. She lives on $931 a month of stolen taxpayer money in an apartment subsidized by stolen taxpayer money and sends her kids to public schools she does not support. Why are we to support her when she can't even keep track of her children, at least two of whom have their own children, one had a history with drug dealing gangs and got sent to prison for armed robbery and one who's a prostitute? If you truly feel sorry for such irresponsibility, then be my guest and send them your hard-earned money. Do not expect me to do the same! This kind of altruism fosters such wasteful behavior as shown by LaJoe Rivers. In a much better book, Visions of the Anointed by Thomas Sowell, we learn that for 30 years until Lyndon Johnson's "war on poverty" that both poverty and government dependence is going down- then, when we begin to fight the "war", it sharply rises and hasn't fallen since. How can you say it is virtuous to steal money from the taxpayers to support people who contribute nothing? This book calls for more Chicago Housing Authority money (among other reasons, so it can paint LaJoe's home), more public defender money (from the taxpayers who don't use public defendents) and better police- money which must come from the taxpaying part of the population. The fact of the matter is that you cannot both demand better police protection and bless a woman who lives on government handouts- she is a detriment to tax funded police. This book merely shows that the Left does not care about your private property rights or your free will and is more concerned about stealing your money- their intentions are irrelevant. The only way to solve the problem of poverty is to let the free market handle it by phasing out welfare, ending the minimum wage, ending affirmative action, ending protectionism, and legalizing the drugs who's black market status give the violent gangs such terrible power.
Rating:
Summary: THERE ARE CHILDREN HERE!
Review: stupid Kotlowitz... adults don't grow from trees! There has to be children! THis book was pointless and depressing... Our whole university has a once-a-month burning of this book! Page by page by page. It's the highlight of our year! Guess who started this tradition! ME! HAHAHAHAHA! Kotlowitz even got the family in trouble! NIce job bimbobrain!
Rating:
Summary: A Writing Masterpiece
Review: Written with excellence. Kotlowitz is one of the best writers I've read. The story is real & heartfelt without being depressing. Everybody should read this book for both it's content and it's superior writing. Kotlowitz's work show true humanity and writing genius.
Rating:
Summary: The Book That Changed My Life
Review: It's been a few years since I've read this book in its entirety. I first did so as a requirement for my college minor - Youth Agency Administration. This book, quite simply, changed everything for me. Growing up in a small farming community far away from the violence of the inner city, the only view I ever had of the life led by Lafayette & Pharoah came from snippets of the news from larger cities or from movies. It's easy to question the accuracy of both. However, with every page of "There Are No Children Here," I was drawn into the struggle these boys and their family & friends faced every day. I, as many others who have read their story, do wonder what has happened to all of these people since the ending of the book. Bottom line: Yes, the author's elaborations can seem a bit contrived at times, but the facts of the story alone speak for themselves. And, honestly, given the power of this account, what author would not be a bit emotional & contrived? That's the point. I recommend this book to people all the time...even to my boyfriend who grew up in a Chicago neighborhood similar to the one haunted by Lafayette & Pharoah. Regardless of your reason for reading it, your own background, or what you think your views are now, you will bring something away from the experience.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Greatest Books
Review: This is an excellent book that everyone should read. Not a lot of people know what it is like to grow up in the west side of Chicago in the Henry Horner Homes housing projects. After reading this book, watch the movie on oxygen.
I never knew anything about life in the projects until I read this book,it brought me back to life and made me realize that there are places like Horner in America. This is definitely a must read. It is important for people to understand what kids like Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers go through everyday.
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