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Search - All Souls : A Family Story from Southie
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All Souls : A Family Story from Southie Author: |
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Book Information
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Other Versions of this Book: Hardcover, Audio Cassette (Unabridged), Hardcover
Book Description:
Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in "the best place in the world"--the Old Colony projects of South Boston--where 85% of the residents collect welfare in an area with the highest concentration of impoverished whites in the U.S. In All Souls, MacDonald takes us deep into the secret heart of Southie. With radiant insight, he opens up a contradictory world, where residents are besieged by gangs and crime but refuse to admit any problems, remaining fiercely loyal to their community. MacDonald also introduces us to the unforgettable people who inhabit this proud neighborhood. We meet his mother, Ma MacDonald, an accordion-playing, spiked-heel-wearing, indomitable mother to all; Whitey Bulger, the lord of Southie, gangster and father figure, protector and punisher; and Michael's beloved siblings, nearly half of whom were lost forever to drugs, murder, or suicide. By turns explosive and touching, All Souls ultimately shares a powerful message of hope, renewal, and redemption.
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Top Member Book Reviews
Damaris D. (
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Incredible. It was less like he was recounting his family's history and more like he was looking under the rocks of his past. The family history is somehow both tragic and triumphant. Despite all of the perils in place, they manage to love each other desperately. They still can laugh and hug and hope. Well worth the read. I highly recommend it.
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
A story of growing up in the Irish ghetto of South Boston. A fascinating but disturbing picture of mostly fatherless families in a culture of crime and drugs where everybody thinks they live in the best place in the world.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
A wonderful memior about the dark side of a neighborhood many Boston Irish love.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
This is was a pretty inspiring story, but kind if typical. Young kid that grows up in a rough neighborhood and still manages to make good as an adult. Not that I am taking away from what he has accomplished, it is nothing short of amazing after what he has been through in life.
My parents in law both grew up in Southie at the same time as the author, I asked them about some of the things in the book and although they remember some of the things (busing riots and Whitey's presence) they felt as though some of the stories were a bit exaggerated, although they admit they did not grow up in the projects as the author did.
All in all a pretty good read, I have always grown up knowing there is a lot of history right in my own backyard, but didn't realize so much of it was this recent.
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
one of the greatest books I have ever read...so honest and so heartbreaking...
story of childrens lives in the projects of South Boston...
(
2 member(s) found this review helpful.
Absolutely devastating account of growing up in one of the worst projects in America.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Shocking, depressing, educational story of growing up in Boston's Old Colony Projects in the Southie neighborhood in the 60's - 90's.
1 member(s) found this review helpful.
This book is incredible. I read it twice; I have never been able to do that with a book. It is a book that I can honestly say that I will never for get reading.
Please Rate these Book Reviews
I love memoirs, but I found this one to be just fair. It's an excellent story and insight into his life, and the amount of tragedy his family has to endure is unbelievable. However, I didn't particularly care for his writing style; there were too many repeated details, then jumping around, then lack of explanation for huge changes in his life. I see that he has another memoir that focuses on one of these times of big chnage, and I'm putting that on my wish list. I believe in second chnaces. :)
I thought this book was excellently written, and it really gave a new dimension to my life in Boston.
PAM L. (Memoir about a poor Irish family growing up in South boston.
Community and gang loyalty in South Boston - a Book-of-the-Month Club selection
Excellent book about Southie in Boston, particularly if you are Irish or want to learn about the Irish in America's most Irish city
A natural story teller. I couldn't put it down. It also is a revival of the spirit to see how people who have so much against them can go on and make the world a better place.
Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in the"the best place in the world"-- the Old Colony projects of South Boston- where 85% of the residents collect welfare in an area with the highest concentration of impoverished whites in the U.S. In All Souls MacDonald takes us deep into the secret heart of Southie.. . . . . .
Written in an excellent fashion. The author uses the language of the times and expresses his opinions as they were at that time and age. He often points out some interesting contrasts between reality and South Boston's residents' perception. This was a very enjoyable and informative book.
This is such an excellent first-hand history of "the projects" of South Boston!! Required reading for seniors in my local high school!
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