A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A hip-hop tune bursts forth from the six-foot-high amplifiers, prompting the shoulder-snug slopes of black teenagers to sway and pivot in their bleacher seats..." (more)
Key Phrases: second midterm, main green, music control, Bishop Long, Cedric Jennings, Cedric Gilliam (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Ron Suskind won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1995 for his stories on Cedric Jennings, a talented black teenager struggling to succeed in one of the worst public high schools in Washington, D.C. Suskind has expanded those features into a full-length nonfiction narrative, following Jennings beyond his high-school graduation to Brown University, and in the tradition of Leon Dash's Rosa Lee and Alex Kotlowitz's There Are No Children Here, delivers a compelling story on the struggles of inner-city life in modern America. While it appears to have a happy ending (with Jennings earning a B average in his sophomore year), A Hope in the Unseen is not without a few caveats (at times, Jennings feels profoundly alienated from his white peers). Trite as it may sound to say, this book teaches a lesson about the virtue of perseverance, and it's definitely worth reading. --John J. Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

YA-Cedric Jennings is the illegitimate son of an off-and-on drug dealer/ex-con and a hardworking, badly paid mother; it is her single-minded vision to have the boy escape the mean ghetto streets unscathed. Cedric has listened to her and is, as the book opens, an A student at a run-down, dispirited Washington, DC, high school, where he treads a thin line between being tagged a nerd and being beaten by gang leaders. Suskind, a Wall Street Journal reporter, follows the African-American youth through his last two years of high school and freshman year at Brown University. Inspirational sermons at a Pentecostal church, guidance from his mother, a love of black music and singing, and a refuge in the logic of math combine with the young man's determination and faith in the future to keep him focused on his goal of a topflight college education. Despite many low moments and setbacks, Jennings's story is one of triumph within both cultures, black and white, which together and separately put tremendous obstacles in his path out of the inner city. It is a privilege and an inspiration for readers to accompany Cedric on part of his long, difficult journey to maturity. His journey continues at this moment, since he is now a senior at Brown this fall. YAs of any background will be introduced to new worlds here.
Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 373 pages
• Publisher: Broadway (May 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767901266
• ISBN-13: 978-0767901260
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (127 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,322 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #4 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology > Urban
  #7 in	Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Discrimination & Racism
  #10 in	Books > History > United States > African Americans

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extraordinary Experience, January 3, 2002

By	Grant Finlayson (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

A remarkable work of non-fiction by a journalist who followed an inner city kid in DC for his last 18 months of high school and his first year at Brown (the first graduate of his school to attend an Ivy League college). At a basic level, it is an illuminating and entertaining account of life in a part of our society that is largely inaccessible and incomprehensible to those who are not in it. But there is much more to it than that. The book provides compelling descriptions of the thoughts and feelings of a cast of real characters including:

(1) Cedric, the protagonist: a sincere and diligent - if sometimes a bit prickly - young black kid who wrestles with conflicts between desire to achieve vs. desire to fit in; his childhood faith vs. inner city culture of sex and drugs; his childhood faith vs. the more sophisticated culture of experimental skepticism at the University; loyalty and affection for his family vs. the aloof individualism characterizing most young Americans.
(2) Cedric's mother: flawed but heroic; a fierce advocate for her son; an unbending force for faith and morality in his life.
(3) Cedric's absentee father: a dynamic personality, but caught in the trap of drug use as he goes in and out of prison and relationships; alternatingly wracked by guilt and soothing himself with rationalization; struggling to hold on to his tenuous relationship with his son.
(4) the minister: a complex character who gives stirring sermons imploring his impoverished flock to shun the moral evils around them and show their devotion by contributing their last farthings - which he uses in part to purchase his Cadillac; his true commitment to his flock is put to the test at the end of the book when Cedric's mother is faced with the prospect of losing everything in a forced eviction, which the minister alone has the wherewithal to prevent.
(5) the advantaged black kids he meets at Brown: their prep school backgrounds and easy familiarity with white culture set them apart from Cedric, but he shares with them other cultural inclinations and references.
(6) his upper-middle class white roommate from Marblehead: a congenial kid who thinks he has life pretty well figured out and prides himself on being able to get along with anyone, but who becomes increasingly confused and hostile after a series of conflicts and miscommunications with Cedric.

For me, Suskind's use of an omniscient narrator to tell the story succeeds - enabling him to weave insights gleaned from multiple sources into a fully informed story. No memoir of an individual participant could achieve that breadth of perspective. It works because his research is so thorough, and the point of view of each character portrayed with sympathy and respect.

All in all, extremely compelling stuff. Nothing short of amazing for something this insightful and rich to come from the pen of a white Jewish guy from out of town. In the afterword, the author comments quite movingly on how meaningful his personal relationships with Cedric and his mother had become to him. They clearly opened their souls. The result is a remarkable portrait of a family that is at once flawed and heroic, endowed with modest resources (and even capabilities) but who nevertheless reach for uncommon achievement; a family uplifted by faith in the face of great and continuing hardship. Very inspiring.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A bittersweet read...excellent nonetheless, October 16, 2000

By	Amy T. Ruder (Ludlow, MA USA) - See all my reviews

I rated this book 4 stars for Suskind's writing style. The main character,Cedric Jennings, well, he should get 6 stars for tenacity alone (as should his mother, Barbara). This was an eye-opening book, especially for someone like myself who lives in a country setting far away from inner-city strife and hardship. Cedric endures the taunts and ostracism of his inner-city high school peers because he is bright, motivated, and interested in learning. (His mother's infleunce should not be underestimated here, nor should Cedric's faith and the support of his church.) He succeeds beyond all odds in getting accepted to Brown University, only to learn that it's very difficult to fit in and be understood there as well. Poor Cedric doesn't seem to fit in anywhere he goes and yet, he "stays the course" in spite of a mulitude of reasons why he should not. What a wonderful triumph and inspriration his story is. I'd highly recommend it- particularly to non-African American readers who most likely don't have clue what it takes to get out of the ghetto- really. This- "just go out and get a job" mentality we "majority" folks spout needs to be blown up. Read this story and you'll see what real inner-city people are up against. It may change the way you view things and may even inspire you to want to do something about the way things are.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The power of the story prevails, August 21, 2000

By A Customer

As many other reviews have noted, the basic elements of the story underlying this book are immensely powerful. The journey of Cedric Jennings from dysfunctional inner city schools -- and the broader antagonistic sub-society in which they exist -- to they Ivy League should inspire all of us toward the level of discipline Cedric (and his mother!) have achieved. As told in this book, the story also highlights the many 'filters' on both sides of divide that obstruct the ability of poor black to communicate with affluent white. I recommed this book to anyone who feels indifference welling inside them, and needs to be stirred to action to help make the world a better place.

For me, the book was not without flaw, however. I am familiar with a few of the characters in the book from my own past experience. It seemed to me that Suskind was not as completely objective as he claims in the epilogue and acknowledgements at the end of the book. I noticed that Suskind treated some characters dismissively (e.g., Clarence Thomas, Leon Trilling), and it seemed that these were characters who weren't lock step with Suskind's symapthetic view of Cedric's journey. The use of such journalistic license isn't unique to Suskind, of course. It's precisely the use of such license -- to expand more on a character's inner feelings here, to provide less extensive explanations elsewhere, to speculate on motive here while exploring motive more fully elsewhere -- that can be so infruriating to those who are quoted in the newspaper, no matter the subject. Maybe it's for this reason that Suskind's epilogue, in which he expounds upon how his methods ensured objectivity, leaves a feeling that he doth protest too much.

In the end, is this a book I'd recommend? Absolutely. The power of the story prevails over it's flaws. It's inspirational and insightful.