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Aug 09, 2007

Tasha rated it:

So many people told me I was going to love this book. Most of them were amazed that I had never read it, having taught at Boston Collegiate Charter School, which was founded in the late 90's as a response to the alarming death rate among Southie teens. Most of my Collegiate students were from Southie, and they had Southie pride, through and through. I think that, in many ways, we misunderstood each other -- and I did most of the misunderstanding. I had only an inkling of an idea why my stude More...

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May 11, 2008

Teagan rated it:

It actually took me quite awhile to finish this book. Not because it was bad, but because the stark reality of it was something that I found so emotional that I found myself feeling a bit lost. He wrote so emotionally about his family, giving the reader a glimpse into a world that most of us have could never imagine. But I found that I was relating my own life to those events that Mr. MacDonald experienced. I remember the busing problems in South Boston and the evolution of our generation. The f More...

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May 14, 2007

Joy rated it:

a sad, yet engrossing, memoir of a guy who grew up in southie (the poor irish neighborhood in south boston) during the busing riots of the 1970's. i've lived in the boston area for most of the past 6 1/2 years, but i really didn't know much about southie other than that it was poor, white, and not the best place to be after dark. one of the things i loved about this book was that it showed the community that exists behind and beyond that stereotype.

what this book really showed me was More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Yaovi added it

If you are a person that lives in an area like Jamaica plain, Southie, Dorchester or hyde park, this is a good book for you to read. This book is about how life was around those places a while ago. At first when you look at the books cover, you will think you will not like it because it as pictures of little kids and you might think its about the life of some little kids. But once you read it, you will like it because its about how life was in those places before b More...

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Jan 21, 2008

Megan rated it:

From the busing riots, to the exploits of Whitey Bulger, to the every day scene of poverty and drugs, my eyes were opened to what life was really like in South Boston in the 60's,70's and 80's. The powerful influence of the Catholic Church and the Irish mob is chronicled along with the damaging effects of the "no snitch" culture of Southie. Although this story is filled with unbelievable tragedy, the author highlights joyful moments and in the end is hopeful for change. This is a gr More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2008

Emily rated it:

In the memoir All Souls A Family Story from Southie by Michael Patrick MacDonald is a story about a family that has seen and been through it all. The author inspires a message of hope and faith.

Michael and his family grew up in what they called “The best place in the world”, the Old Colony projects in South Boston. The author lets us in on all the things that not only happened to him, but also his family. Causing him and the family pain and suffer. Southie was an area More...

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Jan 25, 2012

Captainhoward73 rated it:

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Dec 29, 2011

Haley rated it:

This book was a strange roller coaster. The first chapter had me riveted, then I slogged through subsequent chapters like a kid taking bitter medicine. I knew it was good for me but my soul felt like it had cramps. I learned a ton from this book about the complexities of the Southie identity, and the history of the busing movement in Boston, and the book's ending was fascinating (and redeeming). I cannot imagine having such a story to tell, and I appreciate that it has been told.

How More...

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Nov 08, 2011

Bianca rated it:

All Souls written by, Michael Patrick MacDonald, is an autobiography about his life and the many experiences he had living in South Boston. It begins with MacDonald giving a tour to a reporter. He brought him to all of the famous corner stores, bars, and hangouts. He described specific events that occurred there, like suicides, robberies, and murders. Everything that was described to the reporter seemed normal to MacDonald because they were part of his life style, but the reporter was astonished More...

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Jan 03, 2010

Christine rated it:

This is a gripping portrayal of a family living in the public housing projects of Boston, in the Irish neighborhood called Southie in the 1960s-1980s. Full of insight into the impact that poverty and violence has on the people in his life, Michael MacDonald paints a loving portrait of both his immediate family and his extended family, the community. Repeatedly describing his neighborhood as the best place on earth, he shines light into the corners of adversity and suffering. Drugs, gangs, and More...

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Aug 05, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

This book made me realize that one of the reasons I like memoirs so much is that I enjoy reading about other people's lives and then being judgmental about all the things they are doing wrong. On the plus side, I liked the personal view on what was going on in urban Boston in the 1970s, especially the personal accounts of the busing riots. (I vaguely remember when that was in the news, and I was too young to quite get what it was all about.) The author is passionate about the neighborhood where More...

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Nov 06, 2010

Karyl rated it:

An amazing, heart-wrenching memoir about growing up in the projects of South Boston. I picked this book up mainly because the cover made reference to Angela's Ashes, a book I had enjoyed reading. I can't really say I enjoyed reading All Souls because the subject matter is just so depressing. Michael Patrick MacDonald was born and raised in the projects of "Southie," an area rife with drugs, violence, and suicide, but ignored by advocacy groups for many years because of the code of s More...

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Jul 22, 2011

Marisa rated it:

This book completely blew me away. I rarely give anything 5 stars but there was no question in this case. This is the true story of a poor white Irish-American family living in the projects in Southie. The writer was the 9th of 11 children and came of age during the seventies, right in the middle of busing and forced integration of housing projects. His story is unquestionably the most frightening story of urban poverty I've ever read, only in part because it's a true story. The fear this family More...

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Jul 22, 2009

Abraham rated it:

A beautiful, nuanced story about the complexity of the busing crisis in Boston in the 70s. I don't trust any book about a social crisis that tries to paint different sides as "right" and "wrong," and MacDonald does a great job in this respect. As an Irish American who grew up in Southie during the crisis, he shows the reader the complexity of the situation that you might not get other places. I finished this book without blame, but with a sense of respect for the struggle on More...

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Aug 25, 2011

Kate rated it:

I've read other memoirs about growing up in slums, destitute, fatherless (e.g. Angela's Ashes) and didn't expect All Souls to measure up. Although the literary quality of the writing is somewhat lacking, the story Michael Patrick MacDonald relays is riveting and powerful. I especially enjoyed how honest he was about the racism people naturally inherited when growing up in Boston - Southie, Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown - it didn't matter where you were from, racism was just the way of life an More...

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May 23, 2010

Cathy rated it:

This was one of those books that you ought to read if you are from South Boston ("Southie") and that you should read if you are not from Southie. A touching memoir, at times sad, horrific, and even traumatizing but ultimately leaving the reader with hope for the future.
I had to read this book for school so it was the first non-Chick Lit book I've read in a long while. As you mihgt imagine, what a change! It actually took me a little bit to get into this book; I think mostly beca More...

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Jul 02, 2011

Robin rated it:

All Souls was a real eye-opener for me. I decided to read it because of Whitey Bulger's recent arrest, but I took much more from it than I expected to. I'm a somewhat new resident of Boston; I've been here for about six years. This book reminds me that you can live in a city for a long time- forever, maybe- and not genuinely know it. I'm not super familiar with Southie; I've been there a handful of times. I'm not even sure if the Southie described in this book still exists. Even the parts of All More...

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Apr 14, 2010

Deshawn rated it:

This book is a must read once you pick it up there is no way you can put it down. This book is action packed and i definitely recommend it to all of bostons population. I look at this book as a piece of bostons history. I learned so much of what was happening in boston before my days. I also learned alot about whitey bulgar the infamous southie king. This book was very good but at the same time very sad. I dont know what i wouldve done if my brothers and sister was dropping like flies due to d More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jul 15, 2008

Suzanne rated it:

McDonald captures life in the South Boston projects with a heartbreakingly honest voice. His depiction of the people, the system, the Church, forced busing, racism, alcohol, drugs, organized crime, violence and fear are woven together creating a suprisingly strong quilt...one that, in the end, warms the reader with redemption and the possibility of hope. A tough,tragic and gritty read.

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Jul 27, 2011

Nancy rated it:

Having gone to school in Boston, this story provides insight into those aspects of this particular city no one really ever talks about too much: drugs, violence, suicide, and crime amongst a predominantly poor, white society. The book presents Southie in a light that I, as a self-proclaimed "outsider", never fully encountered, because by the time I had moved up there, massive changes were already taking place across the waterfront, and condos in some of the more central areas had alre More...

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Mar 13, 2009

Wai rated it:

Even thought I read this novel as a class and not on my own, I still love and enjoy this book very much. mainly, because its about gangs and violence just like the boy Homeboyz. Just like I said for that book I beleive that peopel should read this to understand how bad and serious gang violence truly is. I like hearing the story about how Michael Patrick grewth up in Southie and how loyal he was to Southie. I know loyality is something important, but nothing is important as family. Defending and More...

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Apr 28, 2011

Tommy rated it:

Finally finished this book that I should have finished earlier this week for the office book club. I thought it was excellent.

Not only was it well written and interesting but, from my perspective, it's the type of story you don't hear too often. Sure, you see movies like "The Departed" and "The Boondocks Saints" but those are dramatizations and aren't really telling real stories. A story about an urban white poor community is just very rare. In all fairness I think More...

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Dec 30, 2009

Maggie rated it:

I also come from a big Irish American family and immediately identified with the big eyes and wide smiles on the jacket cover. It reminded me of pics of my parents when they were kids....but the coincidence stopped there. I knew Southie was a tough predominetly Irish neighborhood but I had no idea of the degree of poverty and crime that went on there...I was disgusted to have considered myself as one of them.... My heart ached for these children and I cursed their complacent and lazy party lov More...

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Mar 05, 2011

Karim rated it:

An awesome read. If you have read "Manchild in the Promised Land" by Claude Brown, then you should have a good idea of what "All Souls" is like. It is basically the same thing but instead of a black kid from Harlem, "All Souls" is about an Irish kid from South Boston. MacDonald, like Brown, seems to know that he has a story worth telling and doesn't need to include anything but the truth in order to maintain our interest. He writes this book with a blatant and upfro More...

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Jul 29, 2009

Karen rated it:

Just started it today (7/6). Kinda like the McCourt books, Irish immigrants in Boston, no father, welfare, etc. It is written in a very funny narrative considering the subject matter. Supposed to get to the whole busing of city kids in Boston in the 70's, but so far I'm still on the family history. Best line so far, when he finds out he has a different father from the other kids in the family and brags to the neighborhood, the kids call him illegitimate and a bastard. "the bastard part I di More...

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Dec 09, 2010

Diamantino rated it:

This book is about the Michael Patrick MacDonald expressions in South Boston "Southie". After moving from Columbia Point, the MacDonald family moves to the community of "Old Colony". The people in "Southie" fail to admit the many problems in their community. The neighborhood is facing caramel actives such as; drug dealings, murders, gangs, and abuse/violence. This book portray the city of Boston as a hard society to live in, there are many hardships and struggles fo More...

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May 28, 2007

Jessica rated it:

A very gripping and powerful memoir about MacDonald's experiences growing up in the Southie neighborhood of Boston in the 1970's. The neighborhood was one of the poorest in the nation and was the home of the Irish Mob and the school-bussing riots. Definitely an eye-opener!

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May 03, 2011

Birdbath rated it:

I read All Souls while living in Boston a few miles from Southie. I ate it up but didn't fully believe the author's seemingly hyperbolized interpretation of his experience growing up in the hood where mob leader Whitey Bulger reigned with quiet tyranny. Then, a year or so later, while working at the public defender's, I saw photos of Bulger's victims and this book transformed itself from tall-tale to super-reality. Then, about a year after that, Martin Scorsese directed The Departed, a film b More...

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Jul 18, 2011

Betsy rated it:

As a friend put it in regards to this book, "truth is stranger than fiction." As a Midwest girl, at first I was in disbelief that some of MacDonald childhood stories were true at all. After doing some research about South Boston in the '70-80s and reading more, I was shocked by what this family endured.

By the end, I loved MacDonald's matter-of-fact approach to this memoir. No wasted time on introspection and emotion, he just tells his story and that of his family. He presents More...

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Oct 24, 2008

Karen rated it:

Fascinating memoir by a guy who grew up in South Boston. He came from a large family in which some found success and others found heartbreak. The subculture of mafia involvement and police corruption was also very interesting.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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