Never Go Home Again

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding, one of the best books of 2004
Review: A strong, riveting and cautionary tale, Never Go Home Again teaches important lessons about the consequences of street life. With its cinematic feel, this novel easily persuades you to read page after eye-opening page until you race to the ending.

The story involves Corey, a New York teen who becomes influenced by the wrong crowd. He's caught up in the game, and the decisions he makes greatly impacts his life. A wide range of convincing characters make up this story and each one of them is memorable and spring from the pages like they are commanding your attention.

Shannon Holmes absolutely has his finger on the pulse of the realities of thug life; where disillusioned young men become trapped in a cycle of drug-infested darkness, and where ruthless killers and dealers know only one way of life. While reading I felt as if I was in prison, and I couldn't wait to get to the end, so I could escape, so I could breathe. The story is authentic, raw, and brutal, yet humorous in an odd kind of way. It's an important book that should be read by every young man and woman, and even their parents. The hardest thing to read is the dialogue; it's very street, lots of slang, and in one chapter, for some reason, Corey uses perfectly good English which kind of threw me off, but it wasn't a biggie. Nevertheless, I've read a lot of books this year, and Never Go Home Again ranks among the most impressive.


Rating:
Summary: Step It Up
Review: Holmes best read to date. A good read with good courtroom drama. Also read LUST OF THE FLESH by Beverly Roylat. An excellent page turning novel that will have you screaming for more. You'll enjoy this one.

Rating:
Summary: Should Be Required Reading In Middle and High School
Review: I became acquainted with Shannon Holmes' writing with his debut "B-More Careful". At first I thought Shannon was a woman because of the detail about how slick the women were in the book and also there was no picture on the back of the book to show otherwise. When I found out it was a man that wrote that book my respect level went a little bit higher for Mr. Holmes. Since then he has never disappointed me with any of his books. The same holds true with "Never Go Home Again". Shannon is not playing with this writing thing and his skills just keep getting better.

"Never Go Home Again" is not your typical drug story where the male is from a single-parent home with nothing but the streets to take care of him. This book is written from the perspective of what happens to a large majority of our young black men. The main character, Corey, comes from a loving two-parent household but still gets caught up in the drug game. His parents are so busy working trying to provide a good life for him that the lure of the streets and pressure from his friends draw him in. Corey's mom and dad are not on dope, they don't beat him, and yet he still sees the fast money that can be made in the streets. You know that Corey is smart and was raised right but he just makes the wrong choices in life which lead him to an unfortunate end. This is a perfect example of people trying to raise a young black male in the best way that they know how but society says that their child's worth is different because of the color of his skin.

All I have to say is I have much love for Shannon in writing this book and think everyone should read it. This book seems to be semi-autographical of Shannon's life from what I've read about him. The difference is that Shannon chose to make a change after being in the streets and in jail with something that he thought he would never do in a million years. He chose to pick up a pen and write about the circumstances of the inner city, what the characters do to survive, and give a message of how you'll end up if you choose to make the same choices. Keep up the good work Shannon. I'm ready for "B-More Careful 2".





Rating:
Summary: Okay, Not really his best work
Review: I like Shannon Holmes his books are usually very interesting. But this book i didn't too particularly care for. This book seems as thought it was written for young urban males. It was okay but i liked Bad Girlz and B-More Careful a lot better.

Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: I really liked this book. I love the fact that Mr.Holmes took it there with the issues facing our young black brothers. We find Corey who was raised in a two parent household and raised to live right but is influenced by the streets which ultimately results in an untimely death. I love the message that was given in this book and recommend it for young black males to read. Don't sleep on this one!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Never Go Home Again.....................
Review: This book was very good. It talked about a young man name Corey who was raised by a two parent family and how he notice is friends making money holding drugs for older guys. Corey being young and seeing his friend making money pulled him right into the game. I felt for Corey his family loved him but Corey went down the wrong path. Corey mom, oh how I felt for her at the end.