- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Three Rivers Press; Reprint edition (Feb 3 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0609809938
- ISBN-13: 978-0609809938
- Product Dimensions: 20.5 x 13.3 x 2.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 272 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,293,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Two sisters grow up on their own in Oakland in the 1980s in this rich, idiosyncratic, impressionistic first novel. Smart, stubborn Paige and her silent little sister, Pinch, enjoy an idyllic if lopsided childhood as children of a single mother, with visits to the library, ballet lessons and Black Panther day care. But when Paige is 14 and Pinch is 12, their mother's boyfriend attacks Paige in public, and Paige persuades their mother to rent the girls their own apartment. Making house for each other, they begin to attract a circle of friends: Maynard, Donnell and LaNell, Teeara, Oscar. Through high school it is all (or mostly) innocent, just microwave dinners together and trips to Mexicali Rose for burritos. Then the boys begin to have more money-too much money. Paige's best friend, Maynard, marries an uptown girl named Jess and has a baby; Paige drops out of college and starts dating Oscar. Oscar and Maynard begin dealing drugs; then Jess is shot and killed, and Paige thinks she knows who's responsible. Fiercely independent and sharp as she has always seemed, she begins to lose her bearings and lean on Pinch, who is still quiet but surprisingly resilient. There is no stereotyping here-Smith's characters are decent human beings living in a world where selling crack can seem like a regular job, but where redemption is always possible. The novel's underlying optimism may strike readers as unrealistic at times, but the lovingly detailed evocation of Oakland ("southern negro mores and shiny liberal whiteness and slow-motion port and fifty-cent tacos") and Smith's lyrical if sometimes rocky prose make this a substantial and strikingly original debut.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Paige and Pinch are ninth- and seventh-graders who are left alone to raise themselves in a dilapidated Oakland mansion after a conflict with their mother's alcoholic boyfriend. Paige is forever frozen by a time when the abuse drove her to desperate measures. She is fearful and distrustful, always imagining disasters in order to brace herself for disappointment. Pinch is rendered essentially silent, having witnessed the abuse and the deterioration in her sister. The girls are befriended by an assortment of Oakland youths mostly left to their own devices, and they form a companionable group until the young men drift into drug use and trafficking. Violence and death follow, straining relationships and pushing Paige and Pinch to a self-discovery that will liberate them from the toxic atmosphere of Oakland. Smith's poetic writing captures the rhythm and cadence of urban life in Oakland, the fast life, the drug life, and the sometimes anchorless drift of time as these young people come of age. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
A struggle,
By A Customer
This review is from: More Like Wrestling: A Novel (Paperback)
As much as I hate to say it, I found this book to be a great disappointment. I hate to say it because I expected a great deal from Ms. Smith based on her work with Vibe magazine. After reading the jacket cover, I was all set to settle in for an enjoyable read. The problem is, the book never seemed to go anywhere, making the read a slow and laborious one. The story moved along at a snails pace and never seemed to take off. Despite the plot twists (and admittedly,there were a few), the story started off flat and remained that way. I will admit that I only got 3/4 of the way through and that it may have picked up at the end. But I doubt it. And in my opinion, it wasn't worth the struggle to find out.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Boo,
By nope (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: More Like Wrestling: A Novel (Hardcover)
I could not get into this book, and I honestly did try. I finally gave up on this book halfway through. It goes from past to present, from character to character...The characters other than Paige and Pinch (who are obviously the main ones) seem to be insignificant, but we keep hearing about them. Maybe if I had finished the book all the way through I would have seen why each character was important. But I am surprised i even made it halfway through...this book was boring.
2.0 out of 5 stars
Boring,
By A Customer
This review is from: More Like Wrestling: A Novel (Hardcover)
I kept wondering why I was still reading this book. I usually read a book in 2 days. It took me a week to finish it. There really was nothing to look forward to or wonder about in this book.
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