The Corner by David Simon and Ed Burns - 5 Stars

[Jess]

Wow. What a powerful story of people stuck in a cycle of poverty, drugs, and crime. The fact that these were the stories of real people made them all the more affecting and I was rooting for them all even when they did some terrible things and even knowing that this is not fiction, these people's lives are not at the whim of the author, they are the whim of the many forces of life.

I don't read a lot of non-fiction but this book was engaging in the way that fiction is. The authors picked the moments in a year in the lives of these people that would construct a real narrative and character arc like those of fictional characters. It was truly masterful to the extent that I had to read the author note about 25% in to ensure that all these events really occurred.

I won't be forgetting this book in a hurry.