Probably the best streets-memoir I've ever read. Right up there with [b:Down These Mean Streets|95127|Down These Mean Streets|Piri Thomas|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403192712l/95127._SY75_.jpg|1061744]. What impressed me most here was Brown's ability to write from a kid's point of view. The kid-logic, that feeling of being afraid without knowing that you are afraid, it's all spot-on. I also thought it was interesting how the adult half skips around in time to best present the various character arcs, and how kids who were mentioned maybe once in passing in the kid part take up several pages as grown ups. I found the chapters on the Coptic and NOI movements fascinating and the Harlem - Greenwich Village connection is also a personal favorite. I did find some of the adult dialog a little wooden at times, and then at other times completely natural, so I'm not sure if that's just my whiteness and the half-century between this book and now, or what. The tensions between New York Blacks and Jews is also a significant part of the book and that naturally had me on edge, but it's clear that Brown is on the side of humanity and against division.

The role that heroin plays in the book also moved me a great deal. Brown is constantly torn as to how to help those close to him who are struggling with addiction, or if it is even possible to help them. I can relate much easier to his relationship to the drug than I can to the more personal struggles with addiction that you get in [b:The Basketball Diaries|682745|The Basketball Diaries|Jim Carroll|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1493867556l/682745._SY75_.jpg|922689] or countless other books from back then.

This is a thoughtful, emotionally intelligent portrait and I highly recommend it.