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Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

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Aug 04, 2007 Recynd rated it it was amazing

Shelves: loved-it, all-time-favorites, nonfiction, political-social-historical

I read "Random Family" several years ago, but while I was scrolling through my book list it caught my eye and got me thinking about it once again. I can't recall why I didn't write a comprehensive review at the time (maybe I read it before I joined GoodReads?), but I didn't. Experience has taught me that my notably poor memory only gets worse with time, so I won't embarrass myself or unintentionally mislead potential readers with erroneous details, but I think I CAN manage to write a reasonably I read "Random Family" several years ago, but while I was scrolling through my book list it caught my eye and got me thinking about it once again. I can't recall why I didn't write a comprehensive review at the time (maybe I read it before I joined GoodReads?), but I didn't. Experience has taught me that my notably poor memory only gets worse with time, so I won't embarrass myself or unintentionally mislead potential readers with erroneous details, but I think I CAN manage to write a reasonably helpful opinion.

By turns sociological ethnography, current affairs journalism, and anthropological study, "Random Family" successfully bridges the gap between pop social issue expose and academic social science dissertation. With its intrinsically interesting subject matter, "Random Family" manages to appeal to the broadest audience possible without succumbing to the most common of the pitfalls that plague this corner of the non-fiction world: the over-simplification of content (aka: “dumbing down”) to the point of insult (think of such sub-genres as Celebrity Expose, True Crime, or Bleak Memoir), or overly academic, dry-as-a-bone writing ("Gulag").

Without resorting to sensationalism or fear mongering (all too common ploys I’ve come to expect from investigative pieces), author Adrian LeBlanc instead offers this uncompromising look at multi-generational poverty without exaggeration, finger pointing or excuse making. Though the subjects of “Random Family” mostly belong to a loosely-related group of Puerto Rican females living in and around the Bronx in the early 1990s, the larger issue of self-, group-, and government-perpetuated poverty, compounded by factors including illiteracy, drug abuse, babies born without benefit of wedlock, and government “assistance”, is as big of a problem today as in any time in recent memory.

By choosing to follow a select few individuals to represent an entire population, LeBlanc succeeds in putting a human face upon the statistics. She treats her subjects respectfully, but she doesn’t patronize or pity them. While I doubt if “Random Family” goes very far towards solving the larger issue of poverty, it does contribute towards an increased public awareness...and provides an interesting and insightful look at a generally invisible population. ...more

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May 25, 2007 Bethany rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

LeBlanc spent years interviewing a group of young women from the Bronx, experiencing their tragedies and (few) triumphs. Ridiculously well-written, feels like fiction, but sadly, it's all real. ...more

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Jan 05, 2014 Cheryl rated it really liked it

This was a book that I was continually reluctant to pick up, because the stories were so very sad - - but once I would pick it up, it was impossible to put down. A fascinating view of life in the Bronx, highly recommended.

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Apr 22, 2007 Jacquelyn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reallygoodbooks

As far as journalism goes, this book is fantastic. The writer spent years with a poor Puerto Rican family in the Bronx, so you know you aren't getting just a stereotyping snapshot of their lives. It's infuriating sometimes when the people make bad decisions, but that's only b/c LeBlanc makes them as so real and multi-dimensional that you empathize. It shows that poverty is such a hard cycle to break and that whatever the gvt. is doing now is not really working. ...more

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