book data
127 ratings, 4.06 average rating, 10 reviews
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published
August 3rd 1998
by Little, Brown and Company
binding
Hardcover, 304 pages
isbn
0316691097
(isbn13: 9780316691093)
description
George P. Pelecanos's latest book is not only a tremendously detailed and emotionally powerful crime novel but also a virtual compendium and update of...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 142)
Read in April, 2008
With characters that make you outraged and disgusted and also sad, George Pelecanos’ “The Sweet Forever” is a notable book, not least of the reasons being that it is as addictive as the crack that is just starting to pour into the novel’s Washington, D.C. setting as it comes to a close. Of course, as Keith Haring so succinctly put it when he named a Harlem mural, “Crack Is Whack,” this can be a good and a bad thing: You find yourself reading Pelecanos' novel probably when you should...more
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Read in September, 2008
I read this book a couple of days, which is fast for me. It really drew me along, though i did skim the last, winding-down chapter. So why only two stars? There were a couple of stylistic things that started to bother me: mainly, the constant musical references. Hardly a page passed without the title of a song, and the name of the artist, being cited. Sometimes there'd be comments about the musicians, too. They felt arbitrary after a while, and like something extraneous intruding on the na...more
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George Pelecanos writes for The Wire and David Simon raves about him so he's been a 'to-read' for a while. I've finally read a few of his novels and this is my favorite. He writes about DC, the part that feels a lot like Baltimore, and this book, unlike his later ones, isn't strictly a crime novel. The backdrop of the book is the 1986 NCAA tournament - the year of Len Bias - and there are great thematic connections between the frenetic pace and unpredictability of the tournament, the 1980's co...more
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5 comments
George Pelecanos has written a number of thrillers, and I am looking forward to reading more. I like his style. The dialog is crisp, the characters interesting, and the detail is engaging. IN this story, a black record story owner and his Greek American buddy face up to a Washington DC drug lord and his muscle boys. Pelicanos is a writer for the fabulous HBO series "The Wire" and it shows here. He has the same kind of gritty characters and episodic narrative as the TV show.
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You weep for Len Bias all over again. And he's not even in it except as something of a McGuffin, a glowing suitcase representing the moment that crack began to seriously have its way with Washington.
So you really weep for the city and where it all went horribly wrong.
The year before, middle and upper-middle class white kids in the Dischord scene were talking about having a Revolution Summer. I don't think this is what they meant.
So you really weep for the city and where it all went horribly wrong.
The year before, middle and upper-middle class white kids in the Dischord scene were talking about having a Revolution Summer. I don't think this is what they meant.
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Drugs, Minor Threat, Trouble Funk, crooked cops, racial tension, power pop, car crashes, bags of money that don't belong to the people holding it AND IT ALL REVOLVES AROUND LEN BIAS. Warning: contains an inexplicable amount of useless D.C. geography. But at least you'll know how to get from Rock Creek Park to some fictional lesbian bar. Knowledge is power.
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Absolutely masterful depiction of mid-80's Washington, DC. Pelecanos juggles about two dozen characters and three separate story lines without once dropping the ball. Drug dealers, crooked cops, small businessmen, appliance salesmen and one lonely kid all caught up in the middle of a search for missing drug money. Compulsive reading.
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recommends it for:
Fans of noir
This is a great place to start reading George Pelecanos. It has all of his trademark elements: Washington DC (the parts the tourists don't see), music, drugs, and sports (Len Bias haunts this book). And if you've already read some of his books all the great characters pop up again here.
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What I learned from this book: How Wheaton became a joke, U St. triumphed, and Virginia lost its chance. The best hardboiled detective fiction around just happens to be set in DC, and what's not to like?
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Read in February, 2008
recommended to RLM by:
Geoff
DC-area author writes crime novel that takes place in DC in the mid-1980s. Well-written, gritty, and compelling. Well-drawn characters, which I always like.
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