Little Boy Blue: A Novel [Paperback]

Edward Bunker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998

Raised within the confines of a system that has done nothing but provide him with pain, Alex Hamilton's frustration and anger are completely natural--and inherently dangerous.
Since his parents split up, Alex has been constantly running from foster homes and institutions, yearning to be with his father, a broken man who cannot give his son the home he desperately needs. The only constant in Alex's life is no-good, criminally-minded peers, who are all too ready to plant illegal ideas in an intelligent mind. Bunker writes, "His unique potential would develop into unique destructiveness."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Alex Hammond is a throwaway child of divorced parents. By age 11, he has been kicked out of a variety of institutions, and with each his rage grows more intense. From military academy to juvenile hall to a mental hospital to reform school, by age 15 he's run the gamut, his record filled with documented temper tantrums, escapes, fights with other inmates, attacks on attendants, and attempted murder. When he is released into the custody of an aunt, drug trafficking and armed robbery soon lead to a showdown with authority. Bunker (Dog Eat Dog, LJ 7/96) knows his topic firsthand. This story needed to be told, but it is so intense and the hero so at odds with himself and the world that the reader is left emotionally drained. Recommended for adult collections.?Thomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

St. Martin's brings back into print the hard-to-find third book (first published in 1980) by ex-con novelist, screenwriter, and actor Bunker (Dog Eat Dog, 1996; The Animal Factory, 1977), whose fictional accounts of life in the American justice system- -from juvie hall to San Quentin--bear none of the theoretical pretensions of Jack Henry Abbott. Bunker shoots straight--his direct and transparent prose captures the ``primacy of violence'' that defines life in the slammer. And his larger point is pretty simple: Once you find yourself on the wrong side of the law, it's hard to break the cycle of recidivism. Especially if you're like young Alex Hamilton--a problem child who's thrown out of numerous military schools and foster homes while his father struggles to find work in post-Depression California. At age 11, despite a high IQ and a love of reading, Alex can't control his anger. After he attacks the housemother at a Home for Boys, he hits the road, surviving on petty thievery, until one robbery escalates into his first assault with a deadly weapon. While in police custody, Alex learns that his father is dead. With no relatives, he's now completely at the mercy of a system that values subservience over fairness. His uncontrolled rage sends him to a mental hospital for observation, where some adult junkies school him in the ways of the street. Diagnosed a ``borderline psychopath,'' Alex's escapades eventually land him in reform school. In constant fear of being ``punked'' (i.e., buggered), he resorts to even more violent behavior. Finally paroled in his mid-teens, Alex tries living with his father's long-estranged sister, but that turns sour quickly. More violence, seemingly inevitable, follows. Throughout, Bunker clearly articulates the ``code'' of prison life and the pathology of the career criminal in raw, muscular prose. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312195044
• ISBN-13: 978-0312195045
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #675,804 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it could happen to you, December 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Little Boy Blue: A Novel (Paperback)

All I can say is that "Little Boy Blue" is a blueprint for how a troubled boy can be transformed into an adult sociopath. Ironically, the system that is supposed to reform him is the culprit in pushing him toward further hopelessness and delinquency. Alex Hammond is basically a good kid with good instincts who is battered by authority until he lashes out and becomes submerged in hatred. There are many instances when he can choose between obedience and rebellion, and even though he inevitably decides to rebel, he often seems to have little choice. Frustration with a dictatorship of adults who have little patience or tolerance for the special needs of this disturbed boy sends him hurtling on a collision course with tragedy. Especially troubling is the scene where Alex is placed with relatives who are inflexible in their method of discipline--he seems to be making slight progress when a fabricated lie shoves him back down the mudslide. Here Alex actually shows a hint of conscience--or has he simply gained dominance over the aggressor? The harrowing course of his life is told in uncompromising, brutally-honest terms. Every professional involved in rehabilitating children should own a copy of this book. It chronicles the downfall of innocence, introducing a doomed child whose life is always threatened by an undercurrent of depression.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The internal and external making of a juvenile delinquent, October 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Little Boy Blue (Hardcover)

Edward Bunker cuts through the fluff of American social pathology theory and the disingenuousness glorification of popular gangster culture to present this straightforward tale of how a bright, inquisitive boy becomes a juvenile delinquent and, eventually, a criminal. Bunker, while not ignoring the effect of the "system" of the 1940's and 50's on driving Alex Hammond down the wrong path, emphasizes his protagonist's temperament - specifically, his flaring hot temper - in his wayward development. "Little Boy Blue" poignantly captures the duality of Alex's desire to be normal and free with his interfering need to feel powerful and respected amidst the twisted mores of the juvenile criminal class. The reader can't help but cheer for Alex as he eludes the authorities, all the while knowing his "victories" are pushing him farther and farther away from the chance for a genuinely fulfilling life.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Taut, poignant and shocking, June 29, 2000

By 

D. Ross "http://directorblue.blogspot.com" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Little Boy Blue: A Novel (Paperback)

If you appreciate crime fiction that is firmly rooted in reality, the upbringing of Alex Hammond as told by Bunker is stark, sad and brilliantly told.

The product of a broken LA home in the forties, Hammond's world is one of petty crime, reform schools and not so petty crime; a sequential stream of vignettes that inevitably leads from 'gladiator school' to big-time crime and (of course) prison.

All of Bunker's books are outstanding... and I'm awaiting my Amazon shipment of 'Education of a Felon' with baited breath. It will be interesting to contrast 'Little Boy Blue' with the non-fictional account of his life.