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Buck: A Memoir (2013)

by M.K. Asante(Favorite Author)

4.13 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0812993411 (ISBN13: 9780812993417)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Spiegel & Grau

review 1: Great memoir---one of the best I've read. Reminds me somewhat of The Color of Water by James McBride. The writing is detailed and descriptive but also energetic. His metaphors were so real. Before reading the book, I had the good fortune of hosting MK at Vassar and talked extensively with him. I admitted that I hadn't read the book and it was on my list "now that the busy academic year" is done. I shared that I have an unpublished memoir and he volunteered advice on the important feature of structure in memoir writing and that, as a film/screen writer, he was acutely aware of this in writing BUCK. I was intrigued, especially having just heard him give a superb lecture that captured the imagination of students and parents alike. I ordered the book immediately and r... moreead almost straight through. I noticed how he set up certain scenes and withheld key information for later chapters. His mother's diary also told much of the story----amazing that he had access to those letters. There was this one descriptive line about where his "boys" hung out and he repeated it at least three times in the story. I saw and felt that scene. The hip-hop lyrics, interspersed throughout, also told a narrative about young black men. Needless to say, there are many elements of structure that carried the story and prevented it from being just another young black man's story. Granted, Buck has his own star-like academic and artistic career and that helped too. Still, Buck's structure kept me engaged.
review 2: "Buck" is a coming of age story about a young black man growing up in Philadelphia in the mid to late 90s. Asante deals with everything from a broken home, a mother and sister in the throws of mental illness, drugs, sex, death, you name it. It's a raw and open look into one man's journey from the darkness into the light with music, poetry and literature as a guide. I am very proud of Asante and felt myself disappointed, shocked, saddened but yet always rooting for him. I also was extremely proud of Asante and the path he ultimately chose. Great book, great read. less

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