The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood in Around the World in 80 Books

Jun 25, 2011 Jen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: african-american, lives-of-people, name-yer-poison, non-fiction, mental-health, true-crime, z-2011-read, sociology, baltimore

A very heavy book--figuratively and literally. At over 500 pages, I did have a little trouble with the length--I wasn't always compelled to pick it up and read more, given I was going to read about more hardship, disappointment, and misery. However, I understand why the authors wanted to give a year-in-the-life of the people they wrote about--it gives a fuller spectrum of their day-to-day lives. For those of us outside "the corner" life, this book gives a lot of intimate and personal details abo ...more

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Feb 12, 2011 Telly rated it liked it

This is a book that I wanted to hate because it, when I was living in Baltimore, permeated so much of how the city was defined, especially by outsiders. Of course, it wasn't the book per se, but the reinterpretation that aired on HBO and, subsequently, "Homocide."

Truthfully, though, I did enjoy this book in as much as you can enjoy reading about the intimacy of real people's inner city struggles. Knowing it's true, makes it a harder read. Out of the seven or ten heroine addicts who are covered i ...more

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Aug 29, 2007 Ashley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-reading-challenge

After two weeks I have finally finished this book. 10 chapters plus an epilogue spread out over 535 pages. It was tough to get through this book . It was intense and lagged on my emotions.

A true story about a year in West Baltimore , more specifically "the corner" which involved streets named Fayette, Gilmor, McHenry, etc . The corner is infested with drugs, violence, gang violence, and so much more. Dealing with all this is a family known as the McCulloughs who at one time were a hardworking f After two weeks I have finally finished this book. 10 chapters plus an epilogue spread out over 535 pages. It was tough to get through this book . It was intense and lagged on my emotions.

A true story about a year in West Baltimore , more specifically "the corner" which involved streets named Fayette, Gilmor, McHenry, etc . The corner is infested with drugs, violence, gang violence, and so much more. Dealing with all this is a family known as the McCulloughs who at one time were a hardworking family but eventually slid into the drug addicts lifestyle . Along with this family the author also follows the lives of a few other people like Fat Curt whose been doing drugs for so many years it has affected his body drastically. The author also follows a woman named Ella Thompson who even though has suffered tragedy herself , still tries to stay positive and brings hope for the future to the corner.

Along with the stories, the author also explains how the whole drug operation works on the corner, how the drugs have affected these people , how police work on the corner, how drug addicts play the welfare programs, and finally explains how even though these people are drug addicts, there is a soul there wanting to get out but it's just so difficult to do so when they got chains keeping them in.

Reading this books makes you rethink about when you judge people who are on drugs . We say they are scum, deserve to be in prison, etc. but we can't really judge them until we know their full story . The best example being the McCulloughs. They had a house , they had money , Gary McCullough had a business , the family at one time lived comfortably and we're proud . However some wrong choices and turns destroyed that . Another great example of this is I remember seeing something on Facebook , a video of a homeless man who sits at an outside piano and starts sting beautifully . One would think a homeless man couldn't have that ability but people forget, including myself , that people started somewhere, had a good life , paid their taxes etc . It's just unfortunately they took a wrong turn in their lives .

Monkey See, Monkey Do plays strongly in this book . It is hard to avoid the drugs , the violence and the gangs when it's all around you and you are raised in that environment . It's so normal in this neighborhood that even the kids know the slang and terms . In fact most of the adults believe that the kids are just gonna do the same as their dad, mom , sister , brother etc . One just hopes and pray that they don't go down that road .

Overall a very long but really good read . It definitely open my eyes to the drug world, how it operates , and how it affects the people and communities . I definitely recommend this book to read . ...more

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