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Summary: Written to Inform. Serving to Inspire. Well Done.
Review: Perhaps one of the great things about this book is that Suskind tells the story of Cedric Jennings in a way that attempts first and foremost, to inform the reader of what Cedric (and those around him) are thinking and feeling, rather than writing in a way that attempts to inspire the reader with Cedric's story. In this way, Suskind concentrates on providing essential and informed detail rather than pitching a particular angle on the story. In this way, we readers are allowed to see the inspiration with our own eyes.As a Brown alumni volunteer, I read the book with particular interest. Since the book's release in May, the university and our alumni community have spoken at great length about the book. Last night, I was very surprised to find out from one of Cedric's classmates that she and many of her classmates (there are 5,500 undergrads at Brown) had *no idea* who Cedric was, or that there was a book being written about him by an author who essentially shadowed ! ! him on campus for a year! An impressive feat for Suskind and Jennings to have been so discreet for so long on a fairly small campus. I'll close with a quote from Cedric Jennings in an interview with Linda Mahdesian of the Brown News Bureau. "A lot of people in D.C. resented me. They wanted me to go to a black college. I've experienced a lot of rejection back home -- people just don't understand. I hope the book helps them to understand, that it takes us getting lost in the world to help us find out who we are."
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Summary: Hoop Dreams Without The Hoops
Review: Everyone loves an underdog, and Cedric Jennings, the subject of Ron Suskind's book, earned my love just by getting up and going to school in the morning. Despite the harassment of inner-city DC bullies, thugs and slime, Cedric found a way to tap his potential and thrive---just as he knew he could. Just as he knew he HAD TO in order to survive. With good insight and emotion, Suskind tells the story of a young man who has all of the tools---and all of the obstacles. Great reading. Great insight into the plight and poverty of the inner-city, the courage of a remarkable young man and the unquantifiable nature of determination. Go, Cedric, Go! You da man!
Rating: 
Summary: An incredible story of perserverence and dedication.
Review: I never really realized what kids in the ghetto must face, day in and day out, and how different-down to the core-their life is from others who are more lucky. The tale of Cedric climbing out of the hole that is his school and neighborhood is incredible. Seeing "white" and "college" culture through another's eyes who has never been around those types of people who talk and act so differently from him was amazing. He really started behind the eight ball at Brown, not only with an inferior eduction, but not understanding either the white or black middle to upper class culture. I have so much respect for Cedric and really really wish him the best. The parts about his mother's struggles made me want to cry. She is so strong and gives so much and has so much faith in God, yet nothing goes her way (except her son's success.) I hope that she finds peace and maybe just a little money to help her along. (I hope the author shares the money he makes off this book with the Jenning's family!!!) This was a truly powerful story, which I have already passed along to friends. A MUST READ!
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Summary: Modern Coming of Age in America
Review: This book is the modern "coming of age" novel in American literature. The novel centers around the experience and thoughts of its hero, Cedric Jennings. Unlike most coming of age tales that focus on the growth of one character, Suskind chooses to explore the coming of age of his peers, Phillip, Rob and LaTisha, and his mother, Barbara (who may have already come of age(?)). Through the life path of Cedric, these otherwise superfluous stories meet and weave an extraordinary picture of growing up in modern America.
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Summary: A riveting story about an extraordinary journey
Review: It is impossible not to be moved by this book, a compelling expansion of Ron Suskind's 1994 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Cedric" stories. Written with amazing detail and sensitivity, "A Hope In the Unseen" manages to avoid making trite observations about race or poverty, which is uncommon. I devoured this book in 2 and a half days and have convinced several of my friends to buy it.
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Summary: A Great Book and A great author
Review: Ron Suskind is a neighbor and good friend of mine. His story about Cedric Jennings, and the poverty he had to put up with is beautifully told. I have not yet finished the book, but I know that Ron will finish it in an extraordinary way.
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Summary: Like a pitcher, the writer should "trust his stuff"
Review: Ron Suskind has done a masterful job of researching the life of a bright, poor student who is trying to advance from southeast Washington to the Ivy League. The story is compellingly addictive -- slowed down only by Suskind's propensity to over-write. Suskind seems to need to jump into the heads of his characters every few pages and tell us what they're thinking and feeling. (His afterword aside, how does he know exactly what they're thinking?) Suskind's research is too good for him to have to rely on such a feeble crutch. Otherwise, the book is simply wonderful. It is a mix of inspiring, eye-opening, shocking and funny.
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Summary: required reading: hope and despair in American education
Review: Every American with any responsibility for educa- tion of any kind should read this book, and every employer. Most of all, white people who think racism is over, that blacks get all the breaks, should read this book. It is a powerful story of one young man, backed by a mother and other family with strong wills and belief in education, over- came the profound disadvantages that apply to most inner-city minority children and made it to a selective, Ivy League School. The young man has the qualities needed to succeed at Brown, but he must work incredibly hard, harder than most people are willing to do, to overcome the damage done to him by his poor schooling and his surrounding anti-intellectual, anti-educational achievement subculture. I see this as a searing indictment of the neglect of public schools that serve, or rather disserve, black children, as well as the decades-long neglect that has led to the anti-achievement values of so many of those children. Cedric Jennings is an example of hope, but overall, the story is depressing, and tells the reader that without true and massive commitment to schools, and to children, setting aside petty power squabbles, more generations of children will be lost to America. The chapters describing Cedric's experiences in high school, the days filled with sheer physical fear of other students who viewed him with contempt because he was smart and made good grades, who tried to drag him down to their level, are enough to cause this reader, a graduate of a middle-class, academically-oriented high school 30 yrs ago, where violence in the school day was just unheard of, to read in deep despair. This book is an all too-clear exposition of the depth of the division between middle-class white and poor black that has developed in the last few decades. I hope that state legislative and congressional leadership will read this and ponder its meaning.
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Summary: An awesome story, awesomely told
Review: A truly magic job of getting inside the heads of his subjects, young and old. It's easy for "people like us" to think that we can level the playing field by spending a little more money and making a little more effort; the story of Cedric Jennings shows us how far America has to go. The author stays out of the story, describing intimate, sometimes harrowing scenes between mother and son, student and roommate, in an effortless way that never betrays the feelings of the subjects, and never betrays the enormous, painstaking care that went in to this sort of up-close reporting. A must read.
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Summary: This book is a wonderful coming of age story.
Review: A must read for any teenager that would like to get a glimpse into life in the ghetto, and at Brown University. An interesting study in characters and contrasts, the main character is someone you cannot help to care about. You find yourself cheering for him at the end. Get out your hanky, this one will make you cry and laugh.
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