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Summary: Heironymous Bosch on Dope
Review: A brilliantly written and pitiless look into the mind and behavior of the dopefiend. Not a social commentary and neither is it trolling for sympathy. This is as bad as the human condition can get without the characters being afflicted with a cruel and/or psychotic predisposition to begin with. Find your way past the first chapter and you will feel yourself plunging ahead, sucked along by the inevitability of a powerful monster force. It is a great narrative.
Rating:
Summary: This book'll stay glued to your hands from beginning to end.
Review: A friend told me to read this book one day. At first I was like "I ain't gonna read no book about dopefiends." He was like "I promise you'll read it in no more than 2 days." About 3 days later I picked it up and finished it that same day. The book was so realistic that I encourage others to read it too. Everyone loved the detail Mr. Goines put in the book, some parts were so graphic that I wouldn't recommend reading after eating, like the part where one character, who is about 9 months pregnant, is made to have sex with a dog just for some free dope. She ends up dropping the dope and ,feeling that her life is over decides to hang herself. When her friend comes by she discovers the dead body hanging with the head of the baby hanging from inside the dead mother's body. I have read 12 of Mr. Goines' books and have been impressed by each one, my goal is to read and own each and every one of them. There is a biography about his life also that I! plan to purchase. Hey everyone should read all of his books they are very intriguing, especially the Kenyatta series (Crime Partners, Death List, Kenyatta's Escape, and Kenyatta's Last Hit).
Rating:
Summary: WOW!! ARE YOU READY???
Review: After reading Black Girl Lost, I was in a hurry to read more from Goines , who in my opinion wrote more openly than Robert BEck aka Iceberg Slim. His books are so simple in the fact that they tell the story representative of many others but this one is so complex. I read this whole book during a long treacherous day of jury duty and I could do nothing other than think of why people choose to go down this route. halfway through the book its almost explaining how some people lose the will to fight the battle against heroine because its effects are so strong. it made me imagine being under the influence of a drug that made me fear nothing in the whole world except for the empty feeling of not having that drug. its crazy, i had to keep flipping to the cover to look at the picture of that man against the gate because I imagined so many people that I know or have known in his shoes. its so very saddening. the outcome of such acts, even moreso...This book describes a world that made me feel dirty just for being interested in. I found myself trying to cover the title as I read in public places. There are some scenes that can be absolutley horrid to those that are queasy for instance the way each hit of heroine is described, down to every scab, needle "jerk off", drop of pus and blood shed asscociated with this lifestyle. Please read this book, it will help you understand what you may have seen your family, friends, neighbors or loved ones experience. It is not a after school special by no means but it can be a great call for some tough love.
Rating:
Summary: WOW!! ARE YOU READY???
Review: After reading Black Girl Lost, I was in a hurry to read more from Goines , who in my opinion wrote more openly than Robert BEck aka Iceberg Slim. His books are so simple in the fact that they tell the story representative of many others but this one is so complex. I read this whole book during a long treacherous day of jury duty and I could do nothing other than think of why people choose to go down this route. halfway through the book its almost explaining how some people lose the will to fight the battle against heroine because its effects are so strong. it made me imagine being under the influence of a drug that made me fear nothing in the whole world except for the empty feeling of not having that drug. its crazy, i had to keep flipping to the cover to look at the picture of that man against the gate because I imagined so many people that I know or have known in his shoes. its so very saddening. the outcome of such acts, even moreso... This book describes a world that made me feel dirty just for being interested in. I found myself trying to cover the title as I read in public places. There are some scenes that can be absolutley horrid to those that are queasy for instance the way each hit of heroine is described, down to every scab, needle "jerk off", drop of pus and blood shed asscociated with this lifestyle. Please read this book, it will help you understand what you may have seen your family, friends, neighbors or loved ones experience. It is not a after school special by no means but it can be a great call for some tough love.
Rating: 
Summary: very deep
Review: all i've got to say is donald has made an impact in bookreading personally, very talented writer.
Rating:
Summary: Raw, Gritty almost sickening and Donald Goines best book.
Review: And I've read a few. I believe dopefiend was his first published book and it feels like it. It's about two middle class kids a couple actually that get involved in drugs (heroin). Donald goines striaghforward style and gritty narrativew fits this story perfectly. And the characters... let me say this I hope i never run even remotely like into Piggy in my lifetime. Goines description of him was enough to make my stomach queasy, let along some of the things he does. Donald goines really had an ear for the street life. He mad it real. So real at times when I read this book I almost felt sick reading it. Goines pulls no punches, in fact some of em doubled me over. (the dogs) Not for the faint of heart. if you are easily offended by drug use, violence and a story that doesn't end happily this isn't the book for you. But if your like me and you enjoy a good story that is not only told well but one that look a things in a in a different and exciting way. You'll like this book. This book isn't uplifting but it does teach a lesson, of sorts street style about what really happens to those who become involved in the street life. Dopefiend is about as raw and gritty as it gets. The story isn't a happy but it definetely is a satisfying read.
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Summary: COMPELLING & VERY DRAMATIC
Review: DONALD GOINES HAPPENS TO BE ONE OF THE GRAETEST URBAN WRITERS OF ALL TIME...NOT ONLY DOES HE BRING THE REALNESS OUT OF EVERY SITUATION HE DOESN'T SUGARCOAT THE TRUTH...NOT EVERY STORY IS GOING TO HAVE A HAPPY TO WHAT HE IS WRITING ABOUT NO MATTER WHERE YOU COME FROM...I GO TO CLARK-ATLANTA UNIVERSITY AND THIS BOOK WAS REFERRED TO ME BY ONE MY PROFESSORS...I WILL ALWAYS THANK HIM FOR TURNING ME TO SUCH A GREAT WRITER OF ALL URBAN TIMES....
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Summary: dopefiend
Review: Donald Goines' is the preferred author for readers who can appreciate a sincere depiction of gritty urban life. His characters suffer with addiction phsychosis and embrace violence with an undaunted willingness. Goines, amongst others relays tales of the gangsta drug subculture, which apparently he became engrossed. Goines significance is enhanced when considering all the individuals who only read this material since it applies so easily.
Rating:
Summary: An Addiction Primer
Review: Dopefiend is Donald Goines's graphic account of a young Black couple's descent into heroin addiction. Having been an addict himself, Goines knew the junkie's life all too well, and his experience is apparent in the colorful dialogue of his characters and the detail of the ghetto that is their world. The characters are so well developed that even those in supporting roles offer insight into their histories and predicaments. An intriguing element of Dopefiend is how Goines breaks the story down into a series of sequences toward the middle of the novel without interrupting its flow. Rather than glorifying addiction, Goines presents his junkies as slaves to smack, leaving the reader caught between writing them off as hopeless dregs and feeling sympathy for their situation. Dopefiend should be required reading in drug education programs.
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Summary: You Gotta Read this!
Review: Dopefiend is one of the best books ever written about life in the streets. It is vey realistic. I know because I come from a life of hustlers, crackheads, dopefiends, pimps, and prostitutes. I left that life alone now but I could relate to all this because the streetz is where I come from. If you work on Wall Street or live in Trump Towers or somewhere like that and you wanna know what the hood is like without risking your life to find out, then read this book.
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