Customer Reviews

Never Go Home Again: A Novel

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I became acquainted with Shannon Holmes' writing with his debut "B-More Careful". At first I thought Shannon was a woman because of the detail about how slick the women were in the book and also there was no picture on the back of the book to show otherwise. When I found out it was a man that wrote that book my respect level went a little bit higher for Mr. Holmes. Since then he has never disappointed me with any of his books. The same holds true with "Never Go Home Again". Shannon is not playing with this writing thing and his skills just keep getting better.

"Never Go Home Again" is not your typical drug story where the male is from a single-parent home with nothing but the streets to take care of him. This book is written from the perspective of what happens to a large majority of our young black men. The main character, Corey, comes from a loving two-parent household but still gets caught up in the drug game. His parents are so busy working trying to provide a good life for him that the lure of the streets and pressure from his friends draw him in. Corey's mom and dad are not on dope, they don't beat him, and yet he still sees the fast money that can be made in the streets. You know that Corey is smart and was raised right but he just makes the wrong choices in life which lead him to an unfortunate end. This is a perfect example of people trying to raise a young black male in the best way that they know how but society says that their child's worth is different because of the color of his skin.

All I have to say is I have much love for Shannon in writing this book and think everyone should read it. This book seems to be semi-autographical of Shannon's life from what I've read about him. The difference is that Shannon chose to make a change after being in the streets and in jail with something that he thought he would never do in a million years. He chose to pick up a pen and write about the circumstances of the inner city, what the characters do to survive, and give a message of how you'll end up if you choose to make the same choices. Keep up the good work Shannon. I'm ready for "B-More Careful 2".

I really liked this book. I love the fact that Mr.Holmes took it there with the issues facing our young black brothers. We find Corey who was raised in a two parent household and raised to live right but is influenced by the streets which ultimately results in an untimely death. I love the message that was given in this book and recommend it for young black males to read. Don't sleep on this one!!!!

A strong, riveting and cautionary tale, Never Go Home Again teaches important lessons about the consequences of street life. With its cinematic feel, this novel easily persuades you to read page after eye-opening page until you race to the ending.

The story involves Corey, a New York teen who becomes influenced by the wrong crowd. He's caught up in the game, and the decisions he makes greatly impacts his life. A wide range of convincing characters make up this story and each one of them is memorable and spring from the pages like they are commanding your attention.

Shannon Holmes absolutely has his finger on the pulse of the realities of thug life; where disillusioned young men become trapped in a cycle of drug-infested darkness, and where ruthless killers and dealers know only one way of life. While reading I felt as if I was in prison, and I couldn't wait to get to the end, so I could escape, so I could breathe. The story is authentic, raw, and brutal, yet humorous in an odd kind of way. It's an important book that should be read by every young man and woman, and even their parents. The hardest thing to read is the dialogue; it's very street, lots of slang, and in one chapter, for some reason, Corey uses perfectly good English which kind of threw me off, but it wasn't a biggie. Nevertheless, I've read a lot of books this year, and Never Go Home Again ranks among the most impressive.

This book was very good but then it was sad because there are alot of young males out there that come from good homes with working parents but they start hanging out with the wrong crowd that encourage them to go the wrong way and those are the people in the streets they look up 2 the drugs,guns,money,girls and nice cars with all this comes a hidden price that they don't know and that is death.

The book was good. Not great but entertaining, i've read other peoples reviews
in regards to the authors writing, yet the spelling in the book is that way because
that's slang, for you. Overall, it was a great book just wish the ending was different.

Great to kill time reading, not a waste of money, I feel

I thought that this book was a good read! Yes, "B-morecareful" was great as well, but I'm still waiting on the book "Cash"!

Although I agree that this was a compelling story, the grammar and spelling in this novel serve only to perpetuate the divide between the low-income and average American families. This story not only inspires a lifestyle change, but also indirectly validates our youth's disregard for education and the importance of literacy - eliminating the benefit of creating such a motivational book.

Author's should be more responsible. Although dialect and slang can be found in many books, abbreviations such as "it'z" are completely unnecessary and irresponsible. Holmes should have acted more like the role model (s)he was pretending to be when writing this book.

I'm glad that most of you gave this book 4 and 5 stars; but to me, I found that this book was too long and too drawn out to my liking. Yes, "B-More Careful" has over 300 pages, but I was totally clued to that book. As for this book, I didn't feel the magic of Shannon Holmes pen in this book. I also got a little bit confused about Corey's age from the time he was introduced to the book up to the end. I know Shannon Holmes is trying to keep it street as much as possible, but for me, I feel that this book and "Bad Girlz" were slack ups since "B-More Careful" was totally successful. I do agree that this book should be used as summer reading for most urban high schools and college social science courses. But you can be the overall judge of this book if you purchase it or rent it from your library.

This story about Cory Dixon, who is incarcerated as a young teen. Cory is given some good advice while in prison, but fails to follow it when he gets out. Our young male teens should take a read they may learn something from it. I was expecting something a little different from Shannon as I have enjoyed his previous books.

Locksie
ARC Book Club Inc.

Never Go Home Again is about 16-year-old Corey Dixon. Corey is trying to live the straight and narrow but the lure of the streets is more appealing. Corey eventually starts selling drugs, drops out of school and lands in prison. In prison, he meets a mentor that will teach him some important lessons. The story and the characters were very compelling. What was different about this story is that Corey didn't come from a broken home. Both parents were married and tried to steer him in the right direction, especially his dad. And despite all the people around him telling him the right things to do in life, he journeys down a path that no one could envision. This is the third book by Shannon Holmes, and arguably his best yet. His novels keep getting better and better. Never Go Home Again is not just a good street fiction novel...it's an excellent novel period.

-Radiah Hubbert

Urban-Reviews.com