Customer Reviews

Trick Baby

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

 

 

In this story we get to see Johnny O'Brien grow up to a teen with his black mother named Phala. His father is white and was not around to raise him. Johnny looks white but is raised in a ghetto type neighborhood. When he is a teen his mother is gang raped and put into a mental institute. This is where the story really begins, when Johnny meets a guy street named "Blue" because of his dark skin. He takes Johnny under his wing as a partner in the con game and teaches it to Johnny. Blue street names Johnny "White Folks". Blue's whole life is "Con" and he believes that with a black partner who looks white he will be able to run the con on a larger group of people. Which turns out to be true, I had a good time reading about the different ways that they conned people and all their trials along the way. The book is comical in some parts. Blue really takes on a fatherly role for "White Folks" as his relationship with his lesbian daughter is not as close as he would like. I liked being taken to a whole different world while reading this book. Late 50's early 60's. The way they talked the slang and the price's of things - I really loved this book. White Folks and Blue go through a lot of drama - that they bring on themselves. I do recommend this book. I am looking forward to reading the sequel "Long White Con"

Telling the life story of White Folks, a black con-artist whose pale skin allows him to pass himself off as a white man, this book is not quite up to the standard of Iceberg's first book 'Pimp'. The book recounts White Folks' tragic early life, rejected by children his own age as being a 'Trick Baby', the illegitimate offspring conceived between a hooker and her trick. The main thrust of the story is the play off between White Folks and his older, blacker mentor who teaches him the con game. As with all his books, Iceberg writes in the style and language of the life he actually lead. There is nothing false or trite about this book. The reader gets a true insite into a world that most of us will never have to experience. Its a true cult classic. Often tragically funny, this is one not to be missed.

I loved reading Trick Baby. I read it within 24 hours, so whoever said it is slow I would have to disagree with. But let me warn you, it was a very, very depressing story. Do not buy this book unless you are prepared to have your heart ripped out! I won't give you a plot summary, but this is a story that deals with issues of love, lonliness and deciet. There are two types of people in the world: those who con and those who get conned. Overall, the book is bleak (antithesis of heart-warming) but very enlightening and entertaining. I would profoundly affected. Highly recommended.

...Equipped with a slang term dictionary, this book has me spoiled.

It was good to take a break from the... "Sister-Sister-Fan-Me-At-The-Mall-Dissappearing-Blues-Aint-Like-Mine-Acts" sagas...
Truly poetry in motion as Ice Berg took me through the slums and gutter of the con game.

I truly fell in love with all "Trick Baby" characters as I learned more and more about concentrated 'White is Right' and Blue-Black phrases with no in betweens, amazingly how it applies to my world today, and frankly how somethings never changes.

This book is humorous and truly a gem. When it came to a close, I couldn't put it down, in awe that it was over, fiending for the next Robert Beck novel. So sorry I'd waited so long to get access to the spoken word of Iceberg.

-Sadgyrl
03/12/02

In this story we get to see Johnny O'Brien grow up to a teen with his black mother named Phala. His father is white and was not around to raise him. Johnny looks white but is raised in a ghetto type neighborhood. When he is a teen his mother is gang raped and put into a mental institute. This is where the story really begins, when Johnny meets a guy street named "Blue" because of his dark skin. He takes Johnny under his wing as a partner in the con game and teaches it to Johnny. Blue street names Johnny "White Folks". Blue's whole life is "Con" and he believes that with a black partner who looks white he will be able to run the con on a larger group of people. Which turns out to be true, I had a good time reading about the different ways that they conned people and all their trials along the way. The book is comical in some parts. Blue really takes on a fatherly role for "White Folks" as his relationship with his lesbian daughter is not as close as he would like. I liked being taken to a whole different world while reading this book. Late 50's early 60's. The way they talked the slang and the price's of things - I really loved this book. White Folks and Blue go through a lot of drama - that they bring on themselves. I do recommend this book. I am looking forward to reading the sequel "Long White Con"

I find it stunning that a black pimp (the author, Iceberg Slim)can take you inside the mind of a racially-mixed con man (protagonist, White Folks) in a time period where race where was a central issue of daily life. There is such an authentic feel to this book that it's hard to believe it's fiction. If you've never read Iceberg Slim before, prepare yourself for an up-close look at a world that most people don't even know exists. Urban culture as popularized by music and movies today has never been as glamorous as Snoop Dogg would have you to believe it is.

The fact that Iceberg Slim never enters popular lists of great American authors like Twain and Hemmingway is a shame. He's truly extraordinary. This book, as well as other Iceberg Slim novels, takes a look at the true feelings and struggles of the urban underworld. I would NOT recommend this book to readers under fourteen years of age.

-alan

Yes, i loved this book. So what it's not one of those phony books that ends all well. This is real life, real people and real situations. Iceberg introduces us to "trick baby" and the con-game. He lays down the street law to us and lets us look on characters that are wonderfully portrayed. This is ghetto realism at it's best. I rank it high and love reading this book over and over again. It's a gutty look at life for a hustler.

just like I Dig Donald Goines Iceberg Slim was tight as well.this Book is very honest in the world which it reflectsThe Surroundings.it comes directly at you.Books like this have no time period because upon reading them you can see&reflect them in any time period.it all depends on how you see&view the World around you.

My daddy passed this one to me. This is one of the realest books ever written. If you ain't up on Iceberg Slim and Donald Goins you missing out on classic street lit

Damn this brother could write!

Beck puts you right there on the streets as an eyewitness. Blue Howard and White Folks you seem to know.

This needs to be redone with a bigger budget with Danny Glover as Blue and Robin Thicke type as White Folk.