Customer Reviews

8 Ball Chicks : A Year in the Violent World of Girl Gangsters

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A lot of people ask me about women in gangs. After reading Sikes book, I am able to fill in a lot of the blanks concerning women as "gang-bangers." It was tough to read about how some of these beautiful young girls were treated. You have to get back out there and write a sequel, please. Thank you Ms. Sikes, good job.

8 Ball Chicks is a book that i can't but down, I read Do or Die and it's nothing compared to that. I was chocked to learn about what gang girls go through and what's so disturbing, is that they feel like they don't have a way out, no education, money, they have kids at 15 years old from gang rape and they don't even report it. Reading this book just made me want to continue in that field and maybe be able to help because even if you don't know them, you read about there lives and at some parts, i was frustrated and at others, i just wanted to cry because it's so real and powerful. Gini did a good job and i give her great apprciation for writing a book so real about what people try so hard to hide. Read it...

This is the best book I've read in a long time. I couldn't put it down. It was both fascinating and frightening to look into the world of girls in gangs. It's very sad how most of the time neither male gang members nor police officers see any value in the girls, most of whom are depicted as being intensely intellignet and insightful. They're a group of people who slip through the cracks, so to speak; they're neglected by social workers, police think they're worthless, and male gang members think there's nothing wrong with beating a girl, even if she's pregnant. This book shocked me.

I agree with Amazon's review of 8 Ball Chicks. I don't think Gini Sikes had anything particularly insightful to say, but I give it the max rating because these women's stories are CRAZY (i.e. really entertaining to read, especially for people who love to read about how messed up the world is). Whoever you are, this book is worth reading.

An unbelievably eye opening book to the difficulty many of our youth face that details much of the circumstances in which many of them live. Haunting. Frigtening. It's chilling to realize that most of us never even see what goes on - but we do feel the repercussions, we live with the consequences, we deal with the societal costs every single day, but we are unaware of how these lives get lived out, how the cards are dealt to these young people and how everyone in society is somehow intertwined, even though living in ignorance. Crisp, well written, this work chronicles the lives of many teenage girs from cities in the US and just how and what gang life means to them. It endeavors to reveal the hard reality. For example revealing that many children come from gang parents - a culture being passed to the next generation. I'd always thought it was the other way around - kids the problem and the parents suffered. WOW did this book open my eyes! It records the bleak futures and the little glimmer of hope for getting out of gangs - unwanted pregnancy. Anything to leave the life! Compelling and eye opening. I really enjoyed the book and enjoyed getting an education as to what is happening with much of our youth. It helps answer why the difference in kids today. Helped me learn what is going on in my own city and since reading the book have I been involved in learning more and helping more. Even got to witness first hand some of the things recorded in '8 ball chicks'.

As someone who's read about gangs before, I found this book particuarly helpful because it detailed the various roles girls may play in gangs -- from Mama Sheik, a leader of an autonomous girl gang to Alicia, who is basically a sexual punching bag for the boys. People may not want to read an the ugly truth, but this book opens one's eyes to what happens to the more vulnerable girls, as well as telling the story of the stronger ones.

Gini Sikes' 8 Ball Chicks is a frightening yet fascinating investigation into the world of gang girls. The book looks at girls in the black gangs of LA, among the vatos of San Antonio, and even in the American heartland of Milwaukee.

Sikes makes clear that for many girls gang banging is either a stage of adolescent rebellion or the characteristic reaction to an life filled with adversity. Indeed, the unremitting catalogue of life's horrors that the girls in the book describe can become oppressive at times for the reader to endure. The stories of rape, molestation, beatings, and abandonment begin to run together, a more horrifying story just a page away. One problem for the reader is that as she reads these stories it is easy to become desensitized to the violence and human suffering in the book. Another difficulty is keeping each girl's story distinct.

Surprisingly, the most disturbing girls in the book are a pair of well to do white teenagers who slum with gang members in a quest for teenage thrills. An obvious criticism of Sikes work is that she is little different from these girls; that Sikes is a fashionably liberal writer who parachutes into urban misery for a few weeks for a quick dance on the edge before jetting back to Manhattan.

However, Sikes comes across as an honest journalist who is brave enough to enter a world where most of us do not dare to visit, or even think about unless it comes looking for us. Highly recommended.

I thought that this book was very informative, Gangster rap & clothing has always been glorified but to learn what these people experience at extreamly young ages & the things they do inorder to survive is so scary. Girls my age (20) have seen things that I will only see in movies, they will lose more friends then I will probably ever make & they still stand tall holding their ground. I admire these girls for their stregnth and courage but also pity them for their problems their childhood has truly been stolen away from them and nobody cares.

Actually, this book does not offer any advice about helping teen-age gangsters, but Like "Reviving Ophelia," it details the lives of adolescent girls. The author describes a world hard to imagine anyone lives in much less girls ages 11-19. I was enthralled and repulsed by the experinces of these young women. Drugs, gang-rape, and killings are the life style for these girls. Politicians should read this book to get a real grasp on what is going on with teenagers living in poverty and see why so many teen-age girls are pregnant and on welfare. I will never forget this book.

The 5 Stars are for the excellent research and writing. The subject was depressing and the activity discussed is an ugly rip on the fabric that is America. 8 BALL CHICKS is a disturbing glimpse into the lives and practices of female gangs and of females who choose to hang out with male gang members. This is a carefully documented study of what's really involved in gang banging. Nothing is overlooked and no subject is taboo. Domestic abuse, drug use, robbery, beatings, shooting, stabbing, and murder are thoroughly discussed. It's a wake up call to the reader that too many young women have gotten off track. It's also an invitation to help do something about it.