Little Chicago

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile Read, Difficult Substance
Review: Adam Rapp's Little Chicago presents a portrait of an eleven-year-old who lives largely in a world that misuses and neglects him. Blacky Brown, the book's protagonist, is introduced to readers first while running through the woods in the middle of the night, escaping from the house in which he's just been sexually abused. The book's darkness hardly subsides from this point. Blacky experiences neglect from his depressive mother, peer ridicule at school, a substandard living situation at home, and virtually no help from any of the clinicians put in charge of his case. He is passed around, treated poorly, and only able to confide in one person-Mary Jane Paddington, a girl at school who is equally outcast by classmates. Though the relationship that develops between the two of them is one of the only points of hope in the book, it is scarcely developed.

Rapp's style is coarse and bristling, full of short sentences and poignant remarks. But this style is so regimented that it becomes predictable, and often it becomes impossible to ignore the author behind the characters. Many moments of beautiful writing and collage-like images emerge throughout this text, largely because of the sparseness of language. However, the vulgarity of language used by characters, at times, furthers the darkness and rawness of Blacky's experience, but may well pose a problem for younger readers.

Though the book targets readers twelve and up, the substance and language of the text is certainly mature and may be unsuitable for many young readers. This text might be most useful for readers who want a hard-hitting book about the traumas young people sometimes face and are able to sort through the painful and sometimes graphic aspects of the book in order to find its virtues.

Rating:
Summary: Little Chicago. Big Book.
Review: I loved this book. It's very interesting. I originally picked it out for my brother, but he didn't want to read it. So, being the book worm i am,

I read "Little Chicago".

The language was a little to old for me, just to warn you.

Have fun.
Alley.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing writing, wrong audience
Review: The writing in this book is amazing. The narrative action is the car wreck you see as it occurs, time slowing, your eyes frozen on action you'd rather not witness. The subject matter is, however, far too intense and layered for a middle school student. I know few high school students who could cope with this book. Like another reviewer, I long to see this work used in a university setting.