Rating: 
Summary: A great author's best book
Review: Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries are terrific, and RL's Dream is worthwhile reading, but this book surpasses all his others. Socrates Fortlow is real, multidimensional, unpredictable but deeply moral, and his life in a very tough environment is gripping and believable. This is such a great book, you'll be glad you picked it up.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: No one writes as well about the plights and angsts of the black man like Walter Mosley. His proses are wonderful with just the right amount of slang thrown in to give the reader a sense of the black community. He is a true artist to the art of great writing. Most of all Mosley's character development draws you in and makes the reader empathize with the character. You find yourself cheering them on to the very end of redemption and/or self-realization.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVED IT!
Review: SEEN THE MOVIE FIRST, MY 10 YR. OLD SON AND I WERE IMPRESSED BY HOW HE WAS A "THINKING MAN". I HAVE BEEN TELLING MY SON TO BE A "THINKING MAN" LIKE HIM, INSTEAD OF GETTING ANGRY AND LASHING OUT. ITS THE FIRST FICTION BOOK I HAVE READ IN ALONG TIME, LOOKING FORWARD TO READING MORE OF WALTER MOSLEY.
Rating: 
Summary: Soft Socco touches my heart
Review: Socco really touches my heart with his hard-soft-split ways of being. I enjoyed very much reading Mosleys previous books about Easy Rawlins. But Easy never became my friend - he was always very distant, untouchable, hard to get to know and not very sympathetic. Socrates is a sad lovely personality that I want to know more about. I like the use of dialogue and expressions and the simple appreciation of life from the viewpoint of the ex-con. Please Mosley, write some more...
Rating:
Summary: Strong Short Stories
Review: Socrates Fortlow is 8 years out of an Indiana prison where he served a 27 year sentence for the rape and murder of a woman and murder of a man. He is now 58 years old and living in Los Angeles in a shack in a poor part of town and is still in a constant battle with himself as he struggles to control the thoughts of violence that surge through him. Although Socrates is a violent man he is also a deep thinker using his own brand of insightful wisdom to combat daily problems and injustices.
ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED ALWAYS OUTGUNNED is a book of 14 short stories featuring Socrates as he deals with the hardships facing an ex-convict who is trying to fit back into society. They cover a vast range of societal issues that can be considered mundane at first glance, but which make up the important detail of life. Socrates' approach to his problems range from borderline illegal to genius in their simplicity and common sense.
Socrates' displays hi philosophical age of wisdom in the opening story when he catches Darryl, a local boy who has stolen and killed a rooster. He proceeds to teach Darryl the difference between right and wrong in a caring but unorthodox way. Immediately following this is a story where Socrates engages in an act of vigilantism, using his violent nature to warn off an undesirable character living in the neighbourhood. These opening two stories paint a vivid picture of the two opposite sides of Socrates Fortlow, the reasoning thinker and the man of violent action.
Philosophical debates dominate many of these stories as Socrates meets men who: are thieves; are cheating on their wives; have walked out on their wives; have fought and killed in wars and who are now trying to cope with it; are cruel to animals. In each of these stories Socrates imparts his own brand of wisdom on others while inside he is in a struggle to contain the rage he feels towards these people.
While not really mystery stories, they do involve crimes and criminals and the moral and social issues associated with them. For example, in one story Socrates has very strong suspicions that he knows the identity of a serial arsonist, but struggles with his rebellion against authority before deciding whether he should turn the man in or not. A later story brings back Darryl and his run in with one of the local gangs. Socrates does his best to protect Darryl from the perils of the gang culture that threatens to swallow him.
I found these stories to be particularly engaging, addressing issues that one could dismiss as everyday events, but which are also very important. Mosley has created in Socrates Fortlow a very sympathetic character who is merely trying to survive as a black ex-convict in a hostile environment. His solutions to the problems that confront him don't always fall within the bounds of legality, instead aiming for the solution that will result in the `right' outcome rather than the just outcome.
Rating:
Summary: DEEPLY MOVING, THANKS WALTER MOSLEY
Review: Socrates Fortlow is a character that embodies some part of the everyday experiences of African American people, hope, despair, insight, trust, wisdom. As a member of the criminal defense bar, I come in contact with people like Socrates on a daily basis. The novel had particular meaning for me. No matter hard difficult my job becomes, or how oppressive the law has become, or how inherently racist the system continues to be, or how frustated I get with my clients, this novel reminded me of hope, persistance and the goodness of mankind. This book reinforced why I will comtinue to represent men like Socrates Fortlow.
Rating:
Summary: The better to hold you with
Review: That's what Socrates' big hands are good for - the better to hold you with, as is this riveting story. I loved this story. I'm a Walter Mosley/ Easy fan. I was prepared for this book to not be a mystery but I was expecting something more like a Gone Fishin, so I was caught flat with this story of pain and redemption and the high cost of self-control. Socrates walks a thin line between prisons, the one from which he was released and the one represented by the limited life forced on those who live in the Watts of the world. The wider prison of the outside world threatens to claim Socrates daily and daily he struggles against its claim on him, his dignity, and sanity. The reader is right there - a witness to the large pains and small triumphs of Socrates' life. Walter Mosley doesn't spare the reader but rather nakes you face the problems as Socrates would - head on. There is a quiet, desparate, dignity in Socrates that cannot be denied. It's amazing how much life is represented in these few pages. Walter Mosley proves he can write anything and write it well.
Rating:
Summary: College Prep Review for Fellow High School Students
Review: The novel ~Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned~ by Water Mosley is a dramatic story that follows the adulthood of Socrates Fortlow; a convicted rapist and murderer who lives in Watts, Los Angeles. After being in prison for 27 years, Socrates tries to redeem himself by helping others with their own troubles and problems. Throughout the book, he comes across many people who change his life while he helps them. Socrates' journey shows him that life goes on even after it has stopped for him. He especially tries to help Darryl, a teenager who is on the same path of self-destruction that Socrates took, with his uneasy life in the ghetto. And as Socrates comes in contact with more and more people, he realizes that there is some humanity left within him and maybe even this world. This book has many adult themes in it from the dialogue to the main character being a convicted rapist and murderer. We believe this book should be read by more advanced readers. The format of the book is very complex. It does not go in chronological order. A chapter might begin with something that happened three weeks before the initial reading, and the whole chapter might be on that sole event. If you have read ~House on Mango Street~ by Sandra Cisneros, which follows the same format, this novel is not so hard. However, if you have not experienced this kind of reading before, you might find yourself lost frequently. Anyone below high school will have a hard time with this book. ~Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned~ has many dramatic and depressing themes and chapters. We do not suggest this if you are looking for an uplifting book. Many controversial subjects are covered in this book like racism, discrimination, the life in a ghetto, murder, rape, and many other things that some people find uneasy to talk to about. However, the book is fascinating, suspenseful, and makes you think. The novel is made to keep you on your toes with every twist of the story. Socrates becomes the unlikely hero that by the end of the book will leave you wanting more. We recommend this to anyone that is looking for an intense and wonderful novel that shows that there could be a little good still left in anyone no matter what. Greg, Christian, Carrie & Ni - Culver Academy
Rating:
Summary: College Prep Review for Fellow High School Students
Review: The novel ~Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned~ by Water Mosley is a dramatic story that follows the adulthood of Socrates Fortlow; a convicted rapist and murderer who lives in Watts, Los Angeles. After being in prison for 27 years, Socrates tries to redeem himself by helping others with their own troubles and problems. Throughout the book, he comes across many people who change his life while he helps them. Socrates' journey shows him that life goes on even after it has stopped for him. He especially tries to help Darryl, a teenager who is on the same path of self-destruction that Socrates took, with his uneasy life in the ghetto. And as Socrates comes in contact with more and more people, he realizes that there is some humanity left within him and maybe even this world. This book has many adult themes in it from the dialogue to the main character being a convicted rapist and murderer. We believe this book should be read by more advanced readers. The format of the book is very complex. It does not go in chronological order. A chapter might begin with something that happened three weeks before the initial reading, and the whole chapter might be on that sole event. If you have read ~House on Mango Street~ by Sandra Cisneros, which follows the same format, this novel is not so hard. However, if you have not experienced this kind of reading before, you might find yourself lost frequently. Anyone below high school will have a hard time with this book. ~Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned~ has many dramatic and depressing themes and chapters. We do not suggest this if you are looking for an uplifting book. Many controversial subjects are covered in this book like racism, discrimination, the life in a ghetto, murder, rape, and many other things that some people find uneasy to talk to about. However, the book is fascinating, suspenseful, and makes you think. The novel is made to keep you on your toes with every twist of the story. Socrates becomes the unlikely hero that by the end of the book will leave you wanting more. We recommend this to anyone that is looking for an intense and wonderful novel that shows that there could be a little good still left in anyone no matter what. Greg, Christian, Carrie & Ni - Culver Academy
Rating:
Summary: Self-prescribed tough love in Watts
Review: The stories together almost add up to an episodic novel. A minimum editorial labor could have pruned the explanations that are unnecessary when the stories are compiled. The reader across the bay from me was too harsh with ALWAYS PREDICTABLE, ALWAYS MANIPULATIVE-- it's OFTEN PREDICTABLE, OFTEN MANIPULATIVE. Mosley (seemingly effortlessly) creates believable characters and believable, interesting plots, and shows something of how difficult it is for ghetto dwellers to get and hold jobs and survive amidst racism and both black and white male violence.
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