Customer Reviews

Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America

5 star:		(118)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

I read this book some years ago and was more impressed then than now. Unlike most authors, Mc Call actually admits that he was a an active participant in a gang rape. To actually have such a violent and humiliating crime published in one's own autobiography, the author would have to be very honest, insane or a liar.

As hideous as some parts of this book, I still gave this book to my nieces, daughters and other young Black impressionable females who seem to mindlessly believe anything a Black man tells them. Some months after my adolescent niece read McCall's works, she confessed that she completely broke ties with a young man she had been dating because he showed a lot of Mc Call's tendencies. Some years later, this same young man has impregnated several different women, 3 of which gave birth to his children in the same week (while he was unemployed). Today, he is doing a life sentence in prison for violent crimes.

As disturbing as Mc Call's work is, I have used it for good. Every mother should know where her son is at night. Also, blaming white people for your problems is no reason for McCall commiting the same sins (color casting, rape and robbery).

Finally, if Mc Call committed all the crimes he claims, he should now publish a NEW novel covering his efforts at some form of victim restitution to the individuals, businesses and others he has violated in his past. Well, how about it, Mr McCall?

When Mr. McCall finished his book by saying, "It makes me wanna holler and throw up my hands", he almost described my reaction perfectly. Almost. Actually, it makes me wanna holler and throw up.

I forced myself to finish this book despite wanting to throw it aside in disgust many times. Only Mr. McCall's writing skills and my desire to "hear him out" got me to the end of his screed. Why he's garnered so many rave reviews on this site, however, is beyond me and shows what a double standard exists in this country with respect to racial attitudes (and who's allowed to hate and who isn't). I suppose it's because so many are thrilled to have a raw, honest look inside the author's head in order to see what makes a black man tick. The hatred that he spews toward all whites and this country is sickening and hypocritical, though, and will leave a bad taste in your mouth long after you put the book down. (I wonder if a book by David Duke blaming all of society's ills on the black man would be received so well. Yeah, right.)

Mr. McCall wants to be treated a certain way by whites and yet makes no attempt to hide his own loathing of people who are different than him, i.e. "crackers". By his own admission, he found that he came to like some of the folks he worked with once he got past his own prejudice. (Thanks Danny.) At the end of the day, it's really got nothing to do with skin color. If Mr. McCall ever gets a chance to travel to his "homeland", he'll discover places in Africa where slavery still exists but it's black men enslaving other black men. He can then visit Rwanda to see where genocidal acts have been committed by the Tutsis and Hutus against each other. And when he gets back to the States he is welcome to come out to my city where the Crips and the Bloods try to kill each other. Whether it's skin color, tribal affiliation, or gang membership, blind hatred always comes down to one thing - fear and loathing of differences between people.

If someone feels this book deserves a high rating because it's a pretty good read, I can't fault them too much for that. It is. But for those that hold Mr. McCall out to be some noble warrior who is doing his best to rage against the machine, give me a break. I'd have much more respect for the man if he took responsibility for his poor choices and irresponsible actions instead of blaming everything on Whitey. How sad. Perhaps in his next book he can attack the problem of men oppressing and devaluing women. He seems to have a particular expertise in that field. I wonder if that makes him want to holler too?

This book has some merits, but I find that McCall's relative lack of remorse for participating in gang-bangs and for showing very little evidence of how brutal, how victimizing and how humiliating rape is for women of any race, borders on being unforgivable. McCall seems at times to be downright misogynistic. I've been raped and I don't think that issues of identity can be hierarchized as they are in this text, wherein race trumps gender, every time. What is worse, the perniciousness of racism, or the perniciousness of misogyny and violence against women? We are all multiply complex human beings. Neither gender or race strike me as favorable categories by which to categorize or to conceptualize others. McCall seems to lack the ability to give his victims the respect or attention they deserve. This book made ME wanna holler, and not just because of the undeniably difficult life that black men and women have unjustly faced in America. I personally view McCall as an unrepentant rapist. Admittedly, my own victimization in this respect might, indeed, probably does bias my assessment. However, as I implied above, -- none of this book's merits, and it does have some, can erase my reaction or assuage my utter horror at his lack of sensitivity towards women, generally and towards those whom he victimized, specifically. I had to read this book for a class I was taking and I am not happy with the school for making a mandate of that sort. We also read "Bastard Out of Carolina," by Dorothy Allison, a book that far better and far more clearly depicts the attrocious nature of the indignities persons are subjected to at the hands of others. McCall is, I learned recently, now teaching at my alma mater, which prompted me to add this review to the current "menage." Allison's insights concerning the trauma of victimization and the horrors of which human beings are capable of inflicting on one another offers a superior perspective, not only because her insights are more accessible to the reader, but because she writes with compassion. This is a conclusion that was shared by our entire class, including our fine instructor, whom I miss, wherever she is. Would that they had hired her instead of McCall. Compassion is precisely what "Makes Me Wanna Holler" lacks. Perhaps McCall could learn a thing or two by reading Allison's work. Meanwhile, until I hear that McCall adds "empathy" to his impressive resume, I'll pass on reading any more of his work.

Here is the premise of the book, in a nutshell (words mine): "Hi, I'm Nathan McCall. I grew up in the ghetto, man. I was a thug, yo. White boys should know better than to ride their bikes through MY turf! I was real gangsta back in the day. Me and my buddies gang-raped a 13-year-girl a while back. I got away with it but served three years in prison for robbery. Damn the system! I impregnated several women and ditched them, 'cuz I'm a playa like that. All this happened because I got a raw deal out of life, and hated myself. And all that is whitey's fault!" Need I say more? Makes ME wanna holler indeed!

He does make some valid points about the very real problems facing the black community, and how life in the ghetto really is tough, but apparently fails to realize that his racist, misogynistic, cowardly, callous, and coldly unrepentant attitude is part of the problem, not the solution. He hurts his cause far more than he helps it. The death of personal responsibility is one of the biggest problems in this country, affecting every race, and this rag just fans the flames. Worse than even the worst "gangsta" rap song. He shows absolutely zero remorse or even sympathy for his rape victim. And he expects sympathy for a parasite like himself? Gimme a break. This book was apparently intended to show what is wrong with America. How ironic that it does exactly that, but not in a way the author would find flattering.

This book brought on very different emotions. On one hand I understand his frustration. He came of age in a country that at the time was very intense racially. I think a lot of his anger stems from being sent to that white school. My mother went through the same thing so I know that can have a lasting affect on a young African American. HOWEVER, he can not use that as an excuse for his criminal past. I HATE excuses. lIke others have said, he CHOSE to become a criminal and the theme of "white folks are to blame" really gets on my nerves. These were some sick individuals in this book. The white boys they had to deal with in school had nothing to do with the pain and suffering they caused to others. He mentions robbing or beating up people because they are white like that was an OK thing to do....EXCUSE ME?! Isn't that the same thing racist whites used to do to African Americans? Hypocrisy... Anyway, I felt deeply disturbed after readig this book. I only gave it three stars because it is pretty well written. It flows easy.

I am an African American female.

I have very mixed feelings about this novel. What was GOOD -- explaining the criminal mind while engaging in a crime, high school rivalries, prison life, post-prison life.

What was SAD -- McCall's anger/hatred/violence directed at black women, the girls he gang-raped in high school, the one he planned to kill after sex in a car, his crazed criticism of his wife, his illegitimate children (again blaming their mother alone as if he himself never heard of a condom).

Also, SAD -- McCall had no problem committing crimes against black people in his own community yet he admitted that he would dare not challenge a White police officer's authority on the street! Also, this lying, raping, stealing excuse of a Black man gets caught by America's justice system and now he cries "racism" the way his female victims tried to cry "rape." Like them, no one hears McCall's cry. Next, McCall lies to get a job and is upset over getting caught! He steals and is upset over being watched by others! DUHH! -- MCCALL, YOU ARE MISSING A FEW FRIES FROM YOUR HAPPY MEAL!!

The worst part of this novel is that McCall grew up in a decent home with a father/stepfather. Yet McCall criticized everyone: his stepfather working for white people, Blacks who travelled, white people (yet he confessed having sex with a white woman was some kind of Black male rite of passage).

This is a well-written book by a very disturbed criminal who happens to be a black male. (The book's subtitle is a complete misnomer!!) The only time McCall claims "Blackness" was when he got himself in trouble and needed a way out.

How can Nathan McCall expect any sympathy from any person when he describes raping young women, young black women, and expresses absolutely no remorse? When he fathers children out of wedlock, and blames it on the women? When he cheats on women and tries to blame it on society. You're mad at the world Nathan, but it's everyone's fault but your own. Even beating a white kid half to death because he happened to ride a bike through your neighborhood is SOCIETY's fault. Oh please, break out the violins and give this guy a tissue to cry on. If you want to read a book that really covers this topic, read the classic Manchild in the Promised Land.

McCall should have given his novel a more appropriate title. Instead of "A Young Black Man in America" it should read "A Petty Criminal in America." That's really all this book is about. I believe the "black" part got thrown in the title (and only minimally throughout the book) as a marketing technique to guarantee profits from Black readers.

I resent this book being classified with African American literature. It should be in the True Crimes section of any bookstore. Basically, McCall writes about his misadventures as an adolescent thief and rapist. He then grows into a full-blown adult robber, liar and ultimately a convict.

I won't even go into McCall's baby-breeding, child-deserter pattern. (Liz's mom had the right attitude towards Nathan during Liz's pregnancy. Go, girl!) The rape issues are well-covered by previous reviews. Even though I am Black, the opening chapter of McCall and his hoodlum buddies nearly killing an innocent white kid was nothing more than an attention-getter scene for the book, aside from a terribly violent act.

What's also awful is that McCall still can't provide the reader with an excuse for his thuggery. That's because most immature and irresponsible people blame others. McCall came from a very decent background therefore he can't blame his parents. AT an early age, he simply CHOSE to be a criminal!

Another thing! Why was this guy featured on a Barbara Walters interview? Why is he continually on BET as some sort of representative of Black America? His only contribution is his pair of books, both titled after Marvin Gaye songs.

Black authors, please let your "blackness" be your virtue and strength, not your weakness or excuse!

Sometimes you have to stand up for stuff like that. I read the first third of this book, then pages here and there, and I was disgusted. I was digusted the same why as when I read American Psycho years later, but at least in AP's defense, it was FICTION. This book had potential, it could've been a real look at a system that doesn't care about the people that are in it, how he rose above all of this and achieved anyway. But Mr. Mcall seems happy just telling us how it's everybody's fault but our own, and "did I tell you the time I gang-raped this girl?" "Or how it was some girl's fault that she got pregnant, and I'm not taking care of it". This book marked my one and only failed class in college, I refused to finish it. I let my mother read some of it, and after she read about 10 pages, she completely supported my decision. There are much better books about the human condition, don't waste your time here.

MAKES ME WANNA HOLLER stayed with me longer than any other book I've ever read. It's the story of a life like nothing I'd ever imagined and it gave me nightmares for weeks.

This book is extremely well-written, so much so that you feel the pain of the victims, moreso than that of the writer.

McCall writes about his misspent youth, the drug culture, fights, robberies and gang rapes, in which he participated. He's truthful about his failure with marriage and women in general. He even discusses being arrested and his time in prison, where he worked on his writing craft. Then he questions why main stream America doesn't want to accept him with open arms.

It's amazing that through all of his wrongs, this book offers no hint of shame or repentance. He's not the epitome of "a young black man in America". He's an ex lowlife who doesn't know it. He's the kind of person that's easy to hate.

But because of his honesty in his subject matter and his excellent writing ability, I think this book is a masterpiece. It should be required high school and college reading. MAKES ME WANNA HOLLER is definitely an eye opener.