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Summary: best book i've ever read
Review: shocking look into the lives of inner city children. this should be required reading for everyone in America. unbelievably good!
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Summary: A Good Eye-Opener, But...
Review: Okay, I'll just start by saying I appreciate what this book was trying to do--give the public a view into the inner-city, something most Americans will never see and don't have a particular desire to. However, I found that Kotlowitz couldn't decide if he was writing for the Wall Street Journal or the Bestseller Fiction List; his journalistic writing is far superior to his creative writing. It would have sufficed for him to give us the facts, but once he starts elaborating upon them with his own thoughts, feelings, and (especially) his biases, I found it very hard to trust him and then I began to question the entire book--is this how it is or is this how he wants us to see it? Kotlowitz would have been better off presenting the facts and letting the reader draw their own conclusions. As it stands, I love the characters and I think it's an important story that needed to be told, but I don't trust Kotlowitz and a lot of things he basically told me I had to believe. He should have given his readers more credit.
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Summary: A stunning portrayl of growing up in the ghetto
Review: As a teenager growing up in an upper class family in an upper class town, I found this book not only to be eye opening, but also fascinating. It really let you see how tough life is for people growing up in South Side Chicago. The author gives you what you want and then some. This is truly a fascinating novel and I think that everyone should read this to get exposure to the "Ghetto" way of living.
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Summary: There Are No Children Here
Review: THE ARE NO CHILDREN HERE A Division of Random House, Inc., 1991
Alex Kotlowitz 14.95, pgs.298, ISBN: 0-385-226556-5 Have you ever heard gunshots or witnessed a murder? If so, you can envision what life is like for Lafeyette and Pharaoh growing up in the tough side of Chicago. Life is hard growing up at Henry Hernor Homes, where fights break out, drugs are sold daily, gunshot reverberates through the building, murder, and more. Family troubles are extremely hard. Terence, one of the oldest sons, whose going thought heaps of trouble with the law was sent to jail for eight years for robbery and theft. Lajoe, the mother, believes that her two younger sons, Lafeyette and Pharaoh would be pulled away by drugs and gangs or maybe end up in a casket. Its hard for children to spend time being a child around these neighborhoods because they witness so much that they have to let childhood go and protect themselves. " I'm tired, Mama..." said Lafeyette who fell to his knees one day, he was tired of the streets.
The author, Alex Kotlowitz, shows what most people doesn't know about-------poverty. He points out violence and racism in our country. This book There Are No Children Here give some happy times and some sad times that brings tears to your eyes. I as a reader would recommend this book to those who would want to read about how life is a struggle for a family living in the projects. - Sabrana R. Boyd
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Summary: There Are No Children Here
Review: Imagine having to dodge bullets everyday after school to get home. This is something that Pharaoh and Lafayette, two young children of Chicago must do everyday. They live with their mother, LaJoe, and their other siblings in the Henry Horner Homes. The Henry Horner Homes are housing projects in the city of Chicago. The book is a look at what life is like for many people, even now days. Alex Kotlowitz gives a perfect example of hardships that people of all ages must face. This book has a good content, especially in the historical aspect. The book gives important dates, which make a clear timeline in the imagination of the reader. In conclusion, I think that the book should be read by people of all ages. The book is an eye-opener, because it lets us appreciate our life styles even more than we do day by day.
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Summary: Excellent Book Review
Review: Can you imagine living in the projects in Chicago? Well for Pharaoh and Lafayette it isn't a dream. They wake up every morning knowing that there might be shooting or a gang fights. They live in what used to be one of the nicest areas in Chicago, but not anymore. Now it is one of the worst areas in Chicago. Families are afraid to go outside during the night because a bullet might accidentally hit them.
Alex Kolwitz is an excellent writer. He goes into great detail explaining how difficult it is living in the projects. That if you live in these areas you grow up extremely fast because of all the violence that goes on everyday. If you have never experienced living or even gone there then the book would be very interesting to you...
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Summary: Startling Revelation into Inter-City Poverty and Hope
Review: I have read and re-read this book about 10 time in about 15 years. The trials these boys and their families face is so increcibly real -- so heartbreaking. Reading this book makes me want to find these children, bring them into my home, and nurture them into the realization that life actually has beautiful, wonderful things to bring to children. I have recommended this book to so many people, I've lost track. I have six (6) new copies in my personal library, and whenever I hear of anyone who is going through a rough time, I send them this book. Thank you, Alex Kotlowitz, from the bottom of my heart. Nothing that I've ever read has meant so much to me.
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Summary: The way things were
Review: The reason that I give this book four stars instead of five is that, while it is a fantastic presentation of life in the "other America," it is somewhat dated. As you may be aware, Chicago's projects are on the endangered species list. The projects that served as the setting for this book, the Henry Horner homes, have now been replaced with town homes that you'd swear had been designed for a middle class suburb, but where some lucky former residents of Horner live and only pay a portion of their subsidized rent. Most of the other residents of Chicago's projects are now receiving Section 8 vouchers to enable them to go find housing on the private market. It's still too early to tell exactly what the long-term effect of these new efforts in the still-running war on poverty will be. But whatever problems do arise will almost certainly be different, if not as severe, as the ones that Mr. Kotlowitz describes. Because of these substantial policy changes, this book is now more of a historical piece than it is something of current interest. Still, it is a wonderful book. The story is, of course, heartbreaking, yet Mr. Kotlowitz does an amazing job of presenting the Horner homes as they were and allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusions about what the problems were and what should have been done about them. You never get the feeling that Mr. Kotlowitz is trying to make his reader feel sorry for the Horner residents, or that he has some political agenda that he hopes his reader will adopt. I don't remember him ever passing judgment on any of the people that he discusses in this book, whether they be residents of Horner or the people responsible for maintaining it, despite the massive amount of blame to go around. Rather, his purpose is to tell you what the problems were and to identify as many of the potential causes as he can. You take it from there. Liberals will read this book and see it as evidence that we need to do more to help our underprivileged populations. Conservatives will read it it and see it as evidence of what happens when when we rely on government to solve people's problems. There is an element of truth in both perspectives. While I have my doubts about the new efforts to push residents into the private residential market, this book reminds me that it probably couldn't get much worse.
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Summary: The BEST Book I Ever Read for a Class
Review: I don't know where to start, I was assigned to read this book for my sociology class and since I had a week before the class started I decided to crack open the cover...just to take a peek. I quickly became memorized by the lives of Pharoah, Lafeyette, and their community. As I continued to read I felt like I was Kotlolwitz, I felt like I was the one who observed these horrendous acts through the eyes of children. For a week, I closely read the pages of this book as it traveled with me everywhere I went...to babysit, to get my tires changed, to get a bite to eat. I could not put it down, there were many nights I found myself reading until my eyes finally shut at 3am. I would reccommend that everyone reads this book. We here about 3rd world countries that are so greatly impoverished, but what many fail to realize is that we have places like that in America.
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Summary: A Good Read for Social Awareness
Review: I read this book back in 1994 and then again in 2002; the story of Pharoh and Lafeyette is still poyiant today. This book brings into sharp focus the complex issues that impacting the urban poor and the families. Alex Kotlowitz did an excellent job reporting the historical and polical context of Henry Horner and how the area came into control of gangs and drugs. More importantly Alex Kotlowitz was able to tell the story of daily life through the eyes of two young little boys who at the verge of becoming men, who "if" they could grow up would be something, would see and know more than a typical child should. A definite must read if you are thinking of doing any type of soci/poli/economical outreach to the urban poor.
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