etc.

Ah, the delight of being able to curl into bed with some pleasure reading after so many weeks. Well, it’s been less than four but still.

I liked this book. It is a memoir about Conley’s childhood in the projects of Lower East Side, New York, a childhood that was unconventional and rife with contradictions. You see, Conley’s family was the only white family in a predominantly black/Hispanic neighbourhood, and while he spent part of his early school years in a local school (where he was singled out for special treatment based on the colour of his skin), his parents were eventually able to cash in on their “cultural capital” and send him off to be educated in the more privileged Greenwich Village. Conley does a great job recounting the many episodes that cumulatively taught him the “difference” between him and his peers and the manner in which a child comes to terms with the privileges of race and class. And, as a social scientist, a big part of the narrative for Conley is grappling with the complex reality of poverty in America.