The Last Block in Harlem [Paperback]

Christopher Herz (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 13, 2010

All fire escapes lead back to the same block in Sugar Hill, Harlem- where kids run through hydrants and music blares from stereos plugged into lampposts. When a new resident (the story's unnamed narrator) notices the trash polluting the picturesque streets and tainting the block's beauty, he is spurred to action. However, his best intentions go awry when the clean-up brings media coverage that in turn, sets off a rash of evictions and ushers in an influx of new and affluent tenants. In an attempt to preserve his neighborhood, the tenant mobilizes a grassroots effort to improve the neighborhood from the inside out.

Realizing he has yet again polluted his reality with unintended consequences, his fight to clean up the block evolves into a quest to cleanse his soul. The choices he makes cannot change the past and the secrets that haunt him, but will alter the future for himself, his family...and the last block in Harlem.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Book Description: All fire escapes lead back to the same block in Sugar Hill, Harlem- where kids run through hydrants and music blares from stereos plugged into lampposts. When a new resident (the story's unnamed narrator) notices the trash polluting the picturesque streets and tainting the block's beauty, he is spurred to action. However, his best intentions go awry when the clean-up brings media coverage that in turn, sets off a rash of evictions and ushers in an influx of new and affluent tenants. In an attempt to preserve his neighborhood, the tenant mobilizes a grassroots effort to improve the neighborhood from the inside out.

Realizing he has yet again polluted his reality with unintended consequences, his fight to clean up the block evolves into a quest to cleanse his soul. The choices he makes cannot change the past and the secrets that haunt him, but will alter the future for himself, his family...and the last block in Harlem.

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Reviews
New Yorkers are raving about The Last Block in Harlem. Here’s what they have to say:

"Christopher Herz's amazing perspective and voice enthralls you and sucks you in ... The book is a fascinating read that contains depth and soul on every page." - Naibe R., Journalist

“I felt like I was living on the block myself. I could not put the book down.” - Terri M., Teacher

“A modern fairy tale about love, redemption, hope and the darker things that inhabit the flip side of those coins.” - Dave D., Record Producer

“I didn't put it down until my body reminded me of my basic human need to eat and sleep.” - Mustafa E., Emcee

“The way that I define myself has forever changed.“ - Mellissa G., Recruiter

“Plot twists that leave you questioning why no one else has ever thought of this before.” - Jason H., Project Manager

“Herz has a knack for keeping the reader interested in a way that not many writers can.” - Sarah E., High School Student

"A beautifully written book that captures Harlem and its people." - Janet R., Entrepreneur

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A Visit to St. Nicholas Place
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From Booklist

The unnamed narrator is a fairly new Harlem resident. He is also an advertisement copywriter and so fed up with the business of convincing people they want things, whether they want them or not, that he impulsively quits his job. Now he has the time to devote to his block, a slice of Harlem life with old-timers full of memories. His neighbors include both the young and the old, who play chess on the streets; the irascible Bodega Man; the vigilant crossing guard; the generous owner of the chicken and rice restaurant; and the neighborhood throngs brought out by the open fire hydrants and radios plugged into lampposts in the summer. The narrator is mesmerized as well by the ghosts of Harlem, lamenting the changes wrought by gentrification. As his ambitious wife, Namuna, strides ahead in her career, the narrator takes to sweeping the streets of their block. He cleans during the day and each night empties his mind of the stories he has heard by writing—via typewriter on the fire escape—making new space in his head to think and receive, until his good intentions take an unexpected turn. Beautifully evocative of city neighborhoods and the complications of urban gentrification. --Vanessa Bush

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 216 pages
• Publisher: AmazonEncore (July 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935597043
• ISBN-13: 978-1935597049
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (107 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061,690 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After working in the New York advertising world and seeing the possibilities that social media and the digital revolution held for writers, Christopher Herz fully went after his dream of writing novels and took to selling copies of his first book, The Last Block in Harlem, on the streets of New York. His unorthodox efforts and fresh contemporary prose garnered the attention of media outlets everywhere, earning him an early spot on the AmazonEncore roster. AmazonEncore then republished the book to critical acclaim, and his novel Pharmacology was released a year later.

Herz is a graduate of the San Francisco State University creative writing program and a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, where he writes extensively on art and culture. Born in New York City, Herz grew up in California, the setting for his searing portrait of American life, Hollywood Forever.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Favorite Book of the Summer October 5, 2009

By J. Villasenor

Format:Kindle Edition

The Last Block in Harlem was one of my favorite books of the summer. One of those reads that you pick up and 3 hours later you can't beleive so much time has passed by. There are so many stories interwoven and the book is so well written it makes you think you're sitting on the block watching the story unfold.

The narrator is faces a time in his life where he can no longer stand the life he's created. It is far from the ideals of where he thought he would be, and living one more day in his unfullfilling life is just too painful. His response to his self-imposed dillema is surprising and keeps you turning the pages. The story unfolds as he faces life and all of the issues that keep people from executing the life they envisioned: betrayal, obsession, additiction, revenge.

The book is also a social commentary on gentrification. No solutions offered just an example of the difficulty in finding common ground on the issues of economic revitalization and racial integration.

If you are looking for an intelligent read where the characters in the book take you on an emotional journey where the love inspires, the injustice angers, the stupidity infuriates, and the misunderstandings make you wish you could jump in the pages and set some people straight, give it a read...I guarantee you'll be at pg 100 before you know it.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written tale of Harlem July 28, 2010

By L. Blanchette

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I didn't quite know what to expect from a book written about the Harlem where I grew up. There have been so many books that show the gritty realities of life in Harlem without paying much attention to the ordinary, everyday people with all their foibles, heroics, and wisdom. This book by Christopher Herz is beautifully written. The narrator has an almost child-like appreciation of the different characters he gets to know and seems surprised to find that life on the block can be so ordinary, so sad, so joyful, and so taken for granted in the face of encroaching gentrification. The narrator wants to a part of the neighborhood; wants to show he cares about the neighborhood, and for him, this means improving the neighborhood. He struggles to change what has always been before he fully understands the how and why of the neighborhood. The tale is sensitively told, painting a broad view of the lives of the people on this one block in Harlem.

62 of 73 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Started Oh So Great June 9, 2010

By Richard A. Mitchell VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

This novel started out terrifically. I was amazed at the quality of the writing. Unfortunately, after the first 70 pages or so it seemed the writer lost all sense of direction.

The plot is that an advertising executive loses interest in his job and takes on cleaning his block in Harlem as a mission. He then gets caught up in the publicity and the effort becomes politicized so the yuppies can move in. He then spearheads a compaign to "take the block back" for its poor and zany characters.

If only the plot were that straight-forward. Instead it rambles. For a while the author (as narrator) begins to tell the stories of the people he encounters. We are constantly reminded that people like to tell him things. That is only one of the many redundancies throughout. The people are interesting and their stories compelling, but he soon drops that aspect. He then gets into the politics of cities and then "mission" or purpose in life. His efectiveness spirals up and down in the narrator's effectiveness and then his sanity. The author also throws in some of his personal philosophy such as junk food is bad for your health. Perhaps the most glaring "miss" of the book is like the equation that a conservationist is the person who already ahs his house i the woods, the narrator never sees that he is the first yuuppie in the neighborhood as he tries to keep all others out. This makes the whole proposition disingenuous.

Perhaps the worst aspect of the book is the dialogue. It is okay to suspend belief in novels, after all, they are fiction. However, to get through this book, the reader has to suspend all reality in the way people speak. Every single character has deep insight into life and what the narrator needs in his life,. This includes everyone from nut jobs in the park to eight year old girls playing in the fountain from a hydrant. Most of these insightful characters never met the man before they offered their advice. I can not recall more absurd dialogue.

A quick sidenote that irritated. This is the narrator's "last block" - the one he loves in Harlem, which he also loves. At least twice, the narrator/author waited for the sun to rise over the Hudson River. It does not matter where you are in Harlem, the sun will never rise over the Hudson. It flows to the west of Harlem. If the author loves it so much, how can he not know that the sun can only set over his beloved block and neighborhood?

The writer clearly has talent as a wordsmith. Perhaps short stories should be his melieu.