Rating: 
Summary: Still a very real and present struggle
Review: Suskind's non-fiction narrative of Cedric Jennings is to say the least compeling. He retells the struggle of an inner-city black young man who against all odds wants to make it out. Cedric's struggle, however, does not end with graduating with honors from High School. That event is just the tip of the iceberg. Suskind allows us to picture Cedric at Brown in the middle of yet more struggles to function and understand the complexities of a new mostly white- high middle class- always priviledged- clueless about his reality and that of others- culture. And at the same time we understand that Cedric becomes a rarity at Brown and also at home, and struggles with feelings of displacement.
Yet, far beyond being a well-written and "entertaining" account (as some choose to devaluate it); it is the story of public school education in America's inner cities.
Cedric Jennings is just one of many who chose the hard way out, because of, and inspite of, the surrounding sometimes unsurmountable negatives. Yet, we now that the great majority still exist who feel forced to take the easy way out and succumb to the pressures and in the end they never make it out or beyond. The most devastating truth is that there also exists an educational system incapable of providing enough hope for enough of these children to find a way out in the unseen.Thus, "A Hope in the Unseen" should not only be required reading in High School but it shoud be required in all teacher training courses. This, in the hope that future teachers might be able to turn the tide around, and provide some hope to more of our children in what is clearly unseen now.
Rating: 
Summary: a hope in the unseen
Review: I found this book, while not without it's flaws, quite enjoyable to read. In fact once i started to read it I found it hard to put down. Although I have taken into consideration the fact that Suskind probably wrote a considerable amount of it through his own biased "rose colored glasses" and not completely the way a journalist should. But i must comend him on his riveting story telling. He does a very good job of keeping his readers envolved and emotional connected with Cedric at all times, no matter how different his life may be from our own. Overall this is ceratinly a book worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: An Extraordinary Experience
Review: A remarkable work of non-fiction by a journalist who followed an inner city kid in DC for his last 18 months of high school and his first year at Brown (the first graduate of his school to attend an Ivy League college). At a basic level, it is an illuminating and entertaining account of life in a part of our society that is largely inaccessible and incomprehensible to those who are not in it. But there is much more to it than that. The book provides compelling descriptions of the thoughts and feelings of a cast of real characters including: (1) Cedric, the protagonist: a sincere and diligent - if sometimes a bit prickly - young black kid who wrestles with conflicts between desire to achieve vs. desire to fit in; his childhood faith vs. inner city culture of sex and drugs; his childhood faith vs. the more sophisticated culture of experimental skepticism at the University; loyalty and affection for his family vs. the aloof individualism characterizing most young Americans.
(2) Cedric's mother: flawed but heroic; a fierce advocate for her son; an unbending force for faith and morality in his life.
(3) Cedric's absentee father: a dynamic personality, but caught in the trap of drug use as he goes in and out of prison and relationships; alternatingly wracked by guilt and soothing himself with rationalization; struggling to hold on to his tenuous relationship with his son.
(4) the minister: a complex character who gives stirring sermons imploring his impoverished flock to shun the moral evils around them and show their devotion by contributing their last farthings - which he uses in part to purchase his Cadillac; his true commitment to his flock is put to the test at the end of the book when Cedric's mother is faced with the prospect of losing everything in a forced eviction, which the minister alone has the wherewithal to prevent.
(5) the advantaged black kids he meets at Brown: their prep school backgrounds and easy familiarity with white culture set them apart from Cedric, but he shares with them other cultural inclinations and references.
(6) his upper-middle class white roommate from Marblehead: a congenial kid who thinks he has life pretty well figured out and prides himself on being able to get along with anyone, but who becomes increasingly confused and hostile after a series of conflicts and miscommunications with Cedric. For me, Suskind's use of an omniscient narrator to tell the story succeeds - enabling him to weave insights gleaned from multiple sources into a fully informed story. No memoir of an individual participant could achieve that breadth of perspective. It works because his research is so thorough, and the point of view of each character portrayed with sympathy and respect. All in all, extremely compelling stuff. Nothing short of amazing for something this insightful and rich to come from the pen of a white Jewish guy from out of town. In the afterword, the author comments quite movingly on how meaningful his personal relationships with Cedric and his mother had become to him. They clearly opened their souls. The result is a remarkable portrait of a family that is at once flawed and heroic, endowed with modest resources (and even capabilities) but who nevertheless reach for uncommon achievement; a family uplifted by faith in the face of great and continuing hardship. Very inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: A Hope
Review: I loved this book. I feel that is should be required reading for not only college freshman but also high school seniors. The book is a wonderful story of overcoming adversity and discovering identity. Even if someone does not come from the ghetto or similar situations they can still relate the problems that Cedric faced to their own life. They can learn from his achievements and downfalls. This book was entertaining and heart wrenching.
Rating:
Summary: Cedric gets a 5, Suskind a 2
Review: Amid all the debates over affirmative action and inequity in funding for public schools, A Hope in the Unseen is the story of what these issues mean to a determined young man named Cedric Jennings as it follows him through his inadequate preparation at Ballou High School, to a summer program at MIT, to his freshman year at Brown University, with Cedric not quite fitting in anywhere. At home he's derided for his success, even for wanting to succeed, by his fellow students. At MIT, and later Brown, he finds himself inadequately prepared, academically and socially, to easily succeed. I found the story of his determination to make something of himself and his search for identity to be very powerful. I was put off, though, by the methods Suskind used to tell Cedric's story. This book reads like a novel, including the use of an omniscient narrator. I wanted to hear more from Cedric himself, in his own words, and not Cedric filtered through the lens of Suskind. I wish more of an effort to include Cedric's own perspective were included. If you liked this book, read the works of Jonathan Kozol, particularly Savage Inequalities, which further explains the inequities that exist in public schools.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful..
Review: I bought this book because the author had visited my school and he impressed me so much that I needed to see how he expressed himself in writing. And the answer? Very well. The story is fascinating and the detail in which he follows cedric's life is amazing. The book really helped me understand better urban life, as well as remove some prejudices and stereotypes I previously had concerning urban DC and African-Americans in America.
Rating:
Summary: Eye-opening!
Review: I'll only repeat quickly what everyone else has said already--this is a well-written (though not always masterfully) book. I couldn't put it down--but not just because of the writing. I am a high school student living just minutes from Cedric's neighborhood, and I never had a clue as to the intense difficulty of life there and of the limited possibility of escape. Suskind's book is an eye-opener, giving at least one perspective of life outside of the middle-class box. Read it and think deeply.
Rating:
Summary: A Rare Find
Review: Rarely does one find a writer that tells a story so simply and compelling. From the start the reader is drawn into Cedric's world. This is not a black boy's world but a child's/adolescent's world. Suskind tells Cedric's story with detachment yet interest. From the start I needed to know how Cedric faired. I recounted my freshman college days with glee.
Rating:
Summary: Hope for our nation's inner city kids
Review: Growing up in a suburban environment, I never heard much of how inner city kids were deprived of a safe, learning environment. In college, I paid more attention to issues like this and learned more of what they went through. Not only were they in fear of their lives, passing gang members and drug dealers on the way to the bus stop, their teachers provided substandard materials in comparison to the more fortunate area schools. As I read this novel, it became even more clear as to the need for more attention to inner city school systems. But in addition to that, I met a real kid, a real person who wanted the same things that I wanted and had to work three thousand times harder than I did. I learned about a mother who had a decent job, yet still couldn't afford to keep food on the table and the bills paid. I learned about kids who, through their parents, never aimed high, only for what was attainable. And I saw that it's possible for someone to surpass their surroundings and be successful. Overall, I thought this was a great book that should be included in the curriculum for high school literature classes and urban studies. Also a great book club selection.
Rating:
Summary: A supplemental resource...
Review: I enjoyed the book and learned a lot from Cedric's experience. In my online surfing, I came across previously broadcast PRI editions of This American Life (from WBEZ in Chicago). One program, originally broadcast June 12, 1998, includes an interview with Cedric Jennings and the author, Ron Suskind. In the interview, Cedric expands on the feeling of moving between two worlds and not quite feeling at home in either. You can listen online with RealPlayer.
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