Little Boy Blue: A Novel (Paperback)

by Edward Bunker (Author) "in the summer of 1943, a plain black Ford sedan carried three people through the Cahuenga Pass from Los Angeles into the San Fernando Valley..." (more)
Key Phrases: juvenile ward, punk motherfucker, charge attendant, Juvenile Hall, Los Angeles, First Choice (more...)

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: 320 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312195044
• ISBN-13: 978-0312195045
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #399,896 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars another solid book from the Master of Crime fiction, April 24, 2003

By	Raegan Butcher (RainCity, OR) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I had only read Edward Bunker's 1st novel before I was arrested for armed robbery and I had this book sent in to me when I was in Snohomish County Jail awaiting sentencing and it gave me a strange courage when I read it. Edward Bunker is the real deal.
Nobody can touch him in terms of understandng and experience. Prison is like war; you can never understand it unless you've experienced it firsthand.Most people will never have to endure what Eddie Bunker(and me) have had to endure but because Bunker is so talented, they can get a little taste by picking up any one of his books; I've read them all and they're uniformly awesome. My first book STONE HOTEL was strongly influenced by him. I think he's the greatest.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it could happen to you, December 2, 2000

By A Customer

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The internal and external making of a juvenile delinquent, October 14, 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.