Rating: 
Summary: Skip this annoying book
Review: I found this book to be a very irritating read. My own Irish-Catholic family is originally from Dorchester, in fact, that's where I was born. We didn't stay there long and eventually moved to Wellesley (where the nemesis of Southie, Judge Garrity lived). While growing up among the upper-middle class Irish of that suburb we all had the idea that the Irish of Southie and Dorchester and Mattapan etc. were afraid to leave the safety net of their encapsulated worlds. To be perfectly honest we all believed that they were essentially the "dumb" Irish, the ones who shouldn't have left Ireland. This book confirmed that feeling for me. I found this to be an annoying, disjointed attempt to blame the problems of a community on "the system", when in reality their problems are of their own doing. While Michael attempts to portray his mother as a lovable eccentric, in reality whe was a terrible mother and role model who had no business having 11 children with 3 different men. From my viewpoint, all of her family's problems were her fault. To think that she chose to stay in that rotting environment by choice for so long is just unbelievable.
Rating: 
Summary: Having grown up in "Eastie"...
Review: just a few miles from South Boston, I found this book to be disturbingly authentic. Although I am a few years older than the author, I, too remember all too clearly forced bussing, only in my neighborhood bomb threats were made on the tunnels and bridges needed to get to any other part of Boston. I, too, marched and boycotted-not really understanding the issues. I "got out" as MacDonald did and also have been left with an unexplainable and illogical longing and nostalgic feel for the 'hood. His images of his childhood, with the kids belonging to all the mothers sitting on stoopes, in turn made me ache for the old days, when my friends and I were virtually carefree and then want to scream for how we were fooled into believing that there was nothing more important or interesting or certainly worth knowing outside of the few streets you knew by heart. This was a depressing read, one I can't seem to shake after nearly finishing it in one sitting. Like "Angela's Ashes", this family's destitution is almost to much to bear. MacDonald's reminiscenes brought me back to a place I don't neccessarily like to visit. However, all in all, I think this is an important book for anyone who grew up in Southie, Eastie, Dorchester etc (you know who you are), if for no other reason than to validate the insanity we lived with on a daily basis.
Rating: 
Summary: A story that has to be told
Review: Last year as soon as I read in a weekly magazine that there was a story of South Boston, I immediately had to buy it. Being that I have lived in Southie--a place where you see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil--that is place that you love and hate with a community that has lots of pride. Michael Patrick MacDonald survives the violence, crime, injustices, and coruption that no one will admit to, that comes along with living in the projects of Southie. The MacDonald family suffers so many losses too many times. the opening line to the book reads.....I WAS BACK IN SOUTHIE, "THE BEST PLACE IN THE WORLD," as Ma used to say before the kids died. ....after that you have to read on!
Rating:
Summary: Get this Book!
Review: I have found it hard to find a truely good book to read lately...until I saw this! What an amazing story and so well written. I can't say enough about this book or the author.
Rating:
Summary: A Family Story...
Review: Compelling, hard to read and also hard to put down. My own family has struggled with alcoholism, mental illness, drug addiction and crime. I empathize with mixed feelings of love, fear and anger about your family. I read this book in a day, and can't decide who to loan it to first.
Rating:
Summary: Not That Good
Review: Having read Angelas Ashes, I find All Souls boring. The author thinks he is Frank McCourt and just uses the theme from Angelas Ashes to make it sound as if he had similiar life. I had as tough a childhood as he did and I am sure many others also did. I would not think of telling the world about it just to make a few dollars. Waste of money.
Rating:
Summary: Redemptive
Review: I just finished reading All Souls, and It is now 5AM. I have never been so glued to a book in my entire life. I don't know how I will get up for work in a few hours, but it was worth it! At times, reading All Souls I thought I might not get through the tremendous amount of tragedies and obstacles facing a mother and children, but every time I thought I couldn't go on, MacDonald lifted me up once again through humour and inspiration. And having just gotten to the end of the book, I am finding myself better able to deal not only with my own personal tragedies, but to get active and involved in the world around me. So often we are exposed to the lives of poor people only through media soundbites....but All Souls took me right into the world of one particular family's struggles, and helped me to understand, not only their lives, but my own previous prejudices. I was one of these people who, at the metnion of the neighborhood "Southie" would most often label all of its inhabitants as good-for-nothing bigots. Reading this book taught me of my own bigotry. MacDonald's straightforward style deals with race and class in a way that I have never seen before, and has inspired me to work for social justice in my city.
Rating:
Summary: An Astonishing and Profound Work
Review: It took me only 2 days to complete this revelation written by Michael Patrick MacDonald. I don't quite know what to say. It was bold and profound, to say the least. Michael Patrick MacDonald is a man of courage (for writing this book while still residing in Southie)and substance (because he has become a gifted & reflective artist in spite of a childhood and youth filled with violence,deprivation, & loss). This African-American woman would like to thank Mr. MacDonald for revealing to the world his life. This book, Mr. MacDonald, will benefit countless African-American & Latino youth who continue to suffer in similarly brutal environments. Believe me -- it helps to realize that you're not alone. Your recent successes both with your book and your activist programs are fiery testimonials to your pride and strength of character. I admire you. Keep fighting the good fight!
Rating:
Summary: Must read
Review: Such a raw yet redemptive work - and so revealing of the powers that were. An important read.
Rating:
Summary: "tis what "'Tis" wasn't
Review: I've been away from Boston for thirty years and this book was a revelation of the pain that the Irish Americans have suffered while being ignored as "Third Worlders" We aren't all Kennedys and didn't all go to Harvard and MacDonald's book conveys a pain greater than Angela's Ashes. Recommended to me by an African-American friend in Boston, it's an eye-opener to everyone who doesn't understand the Southie hidden from the national media. Don't miss this one.
|
