This book pulled me out of a fiction funk. I thought I needed to take a break from fiction so I picked up a couple other books, neither of which worked out. Then my friend Zack lent this to me, and I loved it.

I picked up this book mainly because it was based in my neighborhood, Boerum Hill. It's fun to read a book and say, "hey, that's where I get my milk and cereal." This is probably the reason why the first hundred pages were slow; I picked up the book for a cursory reason. Soon thereafter, I was hooked. More than anything, I was able to see how growing up in a neighborhood that is of a different racial makeup than your own can be totally debilitating. There is a great deal more packed into these pages, but that was what stuck out for me.

This one's definitely a keeper. I even bought another book of his, Motherless Brooklyn.