Customer Reviews

Little Chicago

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Adam Rapp's Little Chicago presents a portrait of an eleven-year-old who lives largely in a world that misuses and neglects him. Blacky Brown, the book's protagonist, is introduced to readers first while running through the woods in the middle of the night, escaping from the house in which he's just been sexually abused. The book's darkness hardly subsides from this point. Blacky experiences neglect from his depressive mother, peer ridicule at school, a substandard living situation at home, and virtually no help from any of the clinicians put in charge of his case. He is passed around, treated poorly, and only able to confide in one person-Mary Jane Paddington, a girl at school who is equally outcast by classmates. Though the relationship that develops between the two of them is one of the only points of hope in the book, it is scarcely developed.

Rapp's style is coarse and bristling, full of short sentences and poignant remarks. But this style is so regimented that it becomes predictable, and often it becomes impossible to ignore the author behind the characters. Many moments of beautiful writing and collage-like images emerge throughout this text, largely because of the sparseness of language. However, the vulgarity of language used by characters, at times, furthers the darkness and rawness of Blacky's experience, but may well pose a problem for younger readers.

Though the book targets readers twelve and up, the substance and language of the text is certainly mature and may be unsuitable for many young readers. This text might be most useful for readers who want a hard-hitting book about the traumas young people sometimes face and are able to sort through the painful and sometimes graphic aspects of the book in order to find its virtues.

On a literary level, this is Kerouac or Burroughs for the young reader. Written in a plain, suggestive, stream of consciousness style, time and events flow over Blacky Brown while he innocently takes note. Beautifully written, haunting, surprisingly hopeful.

On a practical level, the theme, language, and situations are quite mature. The main character is 10, the readership is 12 and up, but I would hesitate to recommend it for readers so young. I wouldn't be surprised to find it in a college freshman English course.

This book was the best book I have ever read. I must warn you though, for me, it was also the most heartbreaking. I do not think this book is really a good choice for someone with depression, like me, but I am still glad I read it. Rapp's voice as an author is amazing. He has an ability to be a child in his writing. Blacky Brown is an eleven year old boy who I absolutely fell in love with. I love children and so it was awful to read about him going through the abuse and the cruelty from his peers and loved ones, the confusion and hopelessness. Awful only because I felt sorry for him, but the writing is still excellent and seems very true even though it is fiction. The poor boy almost seems as if he is too young to even understand how miserable he is. I would want to save any boy from the fate of Blacky Brown. He is a good kid. This book is brutally honest and depictive, there is a good deal of sexual content and I would never let anyone young read this. I think 16 or older would be sufficient, even though the main character is only 11. This author deserve credit for writing a very gutsy book, a tragedy which I will not forget.

The writing in this book is amazing. The narrative action is the car wreck you see as it occurs, time slowing, your eyes frozen on action you'd rather not witness. The subject matter is, however, far too intense and layered for a middle school student. I know few high school students who could cope with this book. Like another reviewer, I long to see this work used in a university setting.

Powerful. I felt like I was back in middle school. This book is more about bullying than sexual abuse. Why do people think they have the right to treat others so horribly? I recommend this book to those who like depressing books.

I'm sixteen and I actually bought this book for the cover [usually I am very good about these things haha] but it was so much better than I expected from the few lines of summary. This book is amazing. It really brought out the true emotion of Blacky. This was my first Adam Rapp novel and I strongly Recomment "under the wolf, under the dog" and this book together. They are so strong. You won't be able to put them down. The content is a little intense but there is never really detail into the abuse, it's more of a psychological experiance of Blacky Brown. The story just unfolds into a beautifully written book. The style of Adam Rapp's novels are truly mesmerizing.

Adam Rapp's Little Chicago presents a portrait of an eleven-year-old who lives largely in a world that misuses and neglects him. Blacky Brown, the book's protagonist, is introduced to readers first while running through the woods in the middle of the night, escaping from the house in which he's just been sexually abused. The book's darkness hardly subsides from this point. Blacky experiences neglect from his depressive mother, peer ridicule at school, a substandard living situation at home, and virtually no help from any of the clinicians put in charge of his case. He is passed around, treated poorly, and only able to confide in one person-Mary Jane Paddington, a girl at school who is equally outcast by classmates. Though the relationship that develops between the two of them is one of the only points of hope in the book, it is scarcely developed.

Rapp's style is coarse and bristling, full of short sentences and poignant remarks. But this style is so regimented that it becomes predictable, and often it becomes impossible to ignore the author behind the characters. Many moments of beautiful writing and collage-like images emerge throughout this text, largely because of the sparseness of language. However, the vulgarity of language used by characters, at times, furthers the darkness and rawness of Blacky's experience, but may well pose a problem for younger readers.

Though the book targets readers twelve and up, the substance and language of the text is certainly mature and may be unsuitable for many young readers. This text might be most useful for readers who want a hard-hitting book about the traumas young people sometimes face and are able to sort through the painful and sometimes graphic aspects of the book in order to find its virtues.

I loved this book. It's very interesting. I originally picked it out for my brother, but he didn't want to read it. So, being the book worm i am,

I read "Little Chicago".

The language was a little to old for me, just to warn you.

Have fun.
Alley.