Rating: 
Summary: Desperate and touching
Review: Great book in the same line as "Fortress of Solitude" and especially "My Fractured Life." Don't agree with comparisons to "A Million Little Pieces" which I liked but don't see the similarity with. Similarity is there with "Fortress of Solitude" and "My Fractured Life" though. Excellent look at the ravages of addiction and intricacies of being lost in a world of criminal dispair.
Rating: 
Summary: Typical family
Review: This is an amazingly well-researched project. The author gives an unbiased, uncynical account of growing up in the Bronx and devotes years of her life in telling the story of people trying to turn their lives around. There are countless of characters (that's my one gripe- it's hard to follow at points because there are so many and all the kids have different fathers so I couldn't keep track) but it mostly follows two women- Jessica and Coco. Jessica's story is that of a rags to riches and back to rags as she falls for a wealthy drug dealer and has a brief experiece with the "good life" and then is inprisoned for her role in the scene. Even in prison, she gets in trouble by getting pregnant with her second set of twins by a security guard. Coco, on the other hand, falls and love with Jessica's yournget brother Ceaser and soon becomes pregnant at the age of 14. Ceaser is a small time thug and is imprisoned after accidenly killing a friend in a gang shoot-out, leaving Coco to care for the children (his and others) herself. With all the dependable child care around, it's the norm for children to be sexually abused and neglected and exposed to drugs from the start. Both Jessica and Coco try to break the cycle with themselves and their children, but the odds are stacked against them. The book is well-written and engrossing, but also very sad- it reads like fiction at parts (at least it would be nice to believe that it's fiction) and it's not.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely riveting...
Review: Although it is such a cliche, I really could not put this book down. I had to once or twice, if only to sleep. This is a fascinating, compelling look at a world and culture most Americans know nothing about and are likely never to come into contact with. This book tells the story of a Puerto Rican family in the Bronx starting in the 1980's and continuing over several years. We meet Lourdes, the family mariarch, her daughter Jessica, son Cesar and a host of other family members and acquaintances. You get to know these people so well you almost feel like you're eavesdropping on private family moments. RandomFamily is exceedingly well-written,gritty and insightful. Highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: Unexpectedly good!!!
Review: I picked this book up with the thought that it would be much like "My Bloody Life" which everyone has read except for me. I thought it would be another "gangbanging" book with tons of teenagers who seemed to think their thug lifestyle is the only way to go. Man was I wrong! This is one of the best books I have ever read. I found myself stopping and taking note of the idea that this wasn't a work of fiction, this was someone's life. Every single one of these people was so real, fresh, and honest. I have read a couple of reviews that say they can't follow the "characters". This book is a classic example of generation after generation repeating itself without fail. Yet there's a constant sense of hope continued no matter what. That's what kept me turning the pages for hours on end. These are not characters to be followed. I urge anyone who put this one down the first couple of time to take a moment to go back to it and really give it a chance.
Rating:
Summary: gripping material
Review: This is not an easy read, but it is an important one. It took me almost a week to get through it, but LeBlanc's investigative work and dedication over a 10 year period is inspiring. Yes, it's depressing to see that these kids don't use birth control and don't seem to learn from past poor examples, but the question we need to focus on is WHY? Why have other poor immigrant groups succeeded while these Latina/black inhabitants of the Bronx have not? I disagree with the reviewer who said these characters are not sympathetic -- they make big mistakes, but their humanity shines through and LeBlanc does an incredible job of making us all see how frustrating welfare, waiting in line, lack of doctor's appointments etc... can be to those who live in poverty. A powerful book.
Rating:
Summary: A powerful case for Welfare Reform...
Review: "Random Family" is an involving, harrowing study of 2 families in the Bronx. It is also, despite Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's intent, a powerful indictment of welfare in America. As a liberal who had always defended welfare recipients and voted against cuts to the program, I must admit "Random Family" sickened me in many instances. Reading about generation following generation of 14 and 15 year olds having babies on the welfare rolls, and blithely expecting the government to subsidize their continued ignorance made me want to forcibly sterilise each and every creature in this book. I use the word "creature" advisedly. My initial reaction was "they're all animals" but that's wrong. Animals are genetically programmed to act in the most advantageous fashion for their survival. The slobs in "Random Family" have no imperatives except satisfying lusts and massaging their egos. Their is absolutely no sign of positive parenting through each generation. Children are dumped on whoever is willing to provide a roof (and collect their welfare benefits), fathers refuse to acknowledge the results of their frantic couplings and families sharing a household are barely related to each other. Random, indeed! Adrian Nicole LeBlanc's writing is excellent, and well suited to this material. She never embellishes, simply reporting what she sees in a very readable, journalistic style. Because she never draws conclusions or moralises, the reader can draw their own. I know I did!
Rating: 
Summary: Irritating Subject-Matter
Review: I'll admit I didn't finish the book right up front- it was too frustrating and annoying. The people portrayed were not sympathetic or likeable. What is wrong with these people? I don't understand why none of them had ever seemed to have heard of birth control or why they were all so irresponsible and childish. Really painful to follow their inevitable foibles and complacent attitudes.
Rating:
Summary: Random Family... a must-read
Review: What a well-written, interesting and informative book this is. The author manages to present the intertwining stories of Coco, Jessica, and others raised in the Bronx ghettos in a way that is both journalistic and fiction-esque. She conveys the information concisely and factually, but this book is a real page-turner! I am amazed at the amount of time and research that the author must have put into writing this book. Through the detailed descriptions and precise dialogue of the characters in various situations, one realizes that the author was present in even the most personal of times; however, the author's presence is never felt. She seemingly maintains her observer status in the lives of these characters, lending even more credibility to her story. (I can only imagine how difficult it must have been not to occasionally involve herself in some of the more disturbing aspects of their lives.) Other reviewers have said the characters were difficult to keep straight; I did not find this to be the case. This is a compelling, thought-provoking novel, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Didn't Know
Review: I didn't know that this book was a book of nonfiction until I got to the end. When I realized that it scared me even more. Thirteen and fourteen year olds having babies just to keep and boy..not a man a boy. Oh my god it just make me so happy that I have twin boys instead of girls. It sad to see as you read this book how a vicious cycle repeats itself for 3 generations, very disappointing that nobody has the brains or the drive to stop it and do something with themselves besides spreading their legs or selling drugs. The sad part about it is this family came into money that they could of did something positive with and left the game alone, but being so use to proverty they chose not too. With myself being from New York, even though I lived in Soutside Jamaica Queens and not the Bronx I still understood the mentality of the ghetto. I was raised in the projects but you have to want more for yourself and this family didn't want anything. I think their situation is their own fault. Baby after baby, after baby, after baby for boys and men that do nothing for them. The story was very good. I loved the book. Finished it in 3 days, but it was basically about these girls having one baby after another without trying to provide for the ones they already had outside of dressing them nice and doing their hair, because they mostly had girls. I still recommend that this story be read. I would recommend it to parents that have young girls.
Rating:
Summary: The Naked and Painful Reality of the Cycle of Poverty
Review: This book is not representative of every Puerto Rican family living in the ghetto. Even the characters of the book allude to other people and other families who are "living right," and live the "straight life." For those working class families, poverty wears a different face. This book introduces you to the underclass. This is the world of those unfortunates who are caught up in the endless cycle of poverty. When you are born into this cycle, it takes not only ambition and hard work, but also an extraordinary amount of luck to break out of it. I say this because I was one of the lucky few, and I realize that my luck could have been different. My 3rd grade teacher could have chosen to encourage a different student to try to go to college on that fateful day, when I was a child trapped in that madness. If I had some sort of learning disability, I would have never gotten out of the Bronx in the way that I did- through a program for academically gifted children. Ambition and hard work are often not enough when all the odds are stacked against you. This author has managed to capture what life in a dysfunctional, drug-ridden, welfare family, in the Bronx ghetto is like. She has managed to describe it in intimate detail. If the characters do not seem likeable or sympathetic enough to some readers, that is because that is how they see themselves and each other for the most part. There is no hope in the book, because there is no hope when you are stuck in that life. These characters have never been outside a six-block radius in most cases, and just do not know any better. It is sad, and it is hard to believe, but I know its true because I lived it. I am not sure if the characters in the book are the actual characters she dealt with, or if they are just composite sketches based on what the author witnessed and learned. In any case, the author did manage to painstakingly re-create what that hell like. Even the language she uses is absolutely accurate, and takes me straight back to the streets of my youth. She has tremendous insight into the warped values of these characters, which is all they have left to hang onto. It really is a different world than that which most people know. She did an excellent job, of telling a story that many people feel is better left untold. A book like this will open many eyes to an ugly reality, and hopefully those eyes will then begin to look for a solution.
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