Customer Reviews

Getting Ghost: Two Young Lives and the Struggle for the Soul of an American City

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I read this touching book for a class, and then was able to meet and talk with the author, Dr. Luke Bergmann. His book reads the same way he speaks, in a thoughtful, somewhat tangential manner, with everything coming together in the end.

The stories are complex, painful, hopeful, and continuing. (He is still an integral part of the lives of the characters he writes about.) The stark reality of what he writes is the strength of this book, which I recommend to anyone who wants a closer look at the city of Detroit or the condition of its residents. Not an easy read in parts, Bergmann creates a world for his reader that is irrestible. You fall in love with his characters, you feel their pain, and you feel torn and confused along with them. Knowing that Bergmann felt that first hand, and still feels that conflict today, makes the book a testimony to writing a heartfelt book, if nothing else, to raise awareness of the state of the city, and the people of, Detroit.

I just finished the book after hearing the author being interviewed on our local NPR station a few weeks ago. I highly recommend it.

You can read the 'professional' reviews to find out what this is about, but I want to mention that the author mixes a lot of interesting facts in the form of footnotes into this book. These appear to be well researched and often provide social, cultural, and historical background to the two stories being told.

While I live in the Metro Detroit area, I do not believe that the stories told here are unique to Detroit. Something similar to this could happen in any big city throughout this country, and therefore the stories told here should be of interest not just to those of us that are familiar with this area.

Again, I highly recommend this book, I thought it was a fascinating piece of non-fiction. Immediately after finishing the book, I looked to see if there was any follow-up on the stories told in the book on the web, but was not able to find any (yet?). So Luke Bergman, if you read this, please let me know if you have stayed in touch with some of the people in the stories, and what may have happened to them (trying to word this to not give anything away).

Getting Ghost is Luke Bergmann's account of the lives of some of Detroit's poorest citizens. There have been many books on the urban poor; but Bergmann's research is different in that he moved into Detroit's ghetto, then befriended two juvenile delinquent drug dealers - Dude Freeman and Rodney Phelps. Bergmann's access to the these young men allows him to paint an intimate picture of life on Detroit's meanest streets.

Each young man's family helplessly watches as it loses him to drug dealing. Dude, Rodney, and their friends do not regard dealing drugs as shameful - instead, it's just a way to make money. For all of the risks they take in dealing, the dealers have no idea what to do with the money that they make, so they blow it on big TVs, fast food, strip clubs, and prostitutes.

The day-to-day lives of the drug dealers will disturb most readers. In a striking scene, Rodney and his friends take over a restaurant on Detroit's west side. During the restaurant's business hours, the boys sell drugs from inside the business; the restaurant's owners watch them from behind bulletproof glass and try to ignore what is happening.

The book has some flaws. At times Bergmann is biased and uses the book as a soapbox for his political views. For instance, in one scene he describes a prosecutor - whom he obviously dislikes: "...she collected her papers and threw her briefcase over her shoulder with the impatience of a child needing to use a bathroom" (p. 193). Another problem is that Bergmann frequently kills the book's momentum by quoting scholars (such as Michel Foucault) whose work is likely to bore a general audience. Finally, Bergmann quotes many of the dealers' banal conversations. Reading expressions such as "know what I'm saying" and "you feel me" over and over gets tiresome in a hurry.

In short, while Getting Ghost is not perfect, it does teach readers about a violent, fascinating world. I recommend it.