She thrusts Maverick into loss after loss after loss, the stakes higher each time. Thomas’ genius is her ability to craft one man’s history in a way that illuminates the forces that brought us to this critical juncture. Now a man for real, he could gift his nerdy sister a jacket we’d never afford otherwise, embrace danger by way of a transactional hug and floss and sway all the way to prison, where he’d end up in a matter of months.Ĭoncrete Rose, one of the most eagerly anticipated books of 2021, is being ushered into the world just as Donald Trump’s presidency ends-a presidency that has been defined, among other things, by the weaponization of toxic masculinity. I was there that day-the woman asked me if I wanted it. My bomber jacket came off the shoulders of an addict who couldn’t buy what she needed with money. It meant renting a room in our Harlem neighborhood, wearing the flyest kicks around, and, thanks to his new occupation as a 17-year-old drug dealer, offering me the single best clothing item I owned as a teenager. And when old friends try to pressure him into an unthinkable act, his father in prison-locked away but not absent-counsels the teenager on how a “real” man comes to a decision: not by succumbing into the demands of the street but instead by weighing the cost to those he loves most.īut what does it mean to be a man? For my brother Lindo, back in the ’90s, it meant throwing a fist to protect Mami against our stepfather, only to find himself flung to the streets. Wyatt, offers him a job, a different way to live.
When he is faced with the financial pressures that come with giving up dealing, the neighborhood market owner, Mr. On finding out about her son’s new situation, Maverick’s mother is tough but supportive. Here, a familiar story of violence and poverty takes an important turn.
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