Word: macdonald
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Paul J. Macdonald, whose family has owned the historical establishment Leavitt and Pearce (est. 1883) for the past 15 years, says that "every fall, a fresh batch of freshmen come in," many with the assumption that a Harvard man smokes a pipe. (Not all of his customers are male, of course, though his female customers are mostly European women.) Macdonald sees it as a rite of passage, one that is often quickly discarded due to the amount of patience and work one must put into his or her pipe. It's amusingly easy, after all, to spot a novice pipe...
...into a carton of cigarettes. The above-mentioned junior admitted that he smokes infrequently because of the hassle of finding a proper location. St. John says that he "tough[s] it out with the rest" of the smokers outside. Years ago, Leavitt and Pearce used to fill this need, Macdonald says, allowing only those who had "earned their right" to frequent the store. De facto, freshmen never made...
...embodies the neighborhood's pugnacious spirit and fierce loyalties. The emotional staying power of All Souls is boosted by MacDonald's ability to stay attached to those qualities at the same time that he describes their devastating consequences...
...MacDonald's brothers and sisters spend their childhood acquainting themselves with petty crimes, dope and the unforgiving code of the streets: never, never snitch. The family dodges real and figurative bullets and seems to be getting on until, halfway through the book, members start dropping as if it's the last act of Hamlet. Davey, a schizophrenic, jumps to his death from a rooftop. Frankie, a promising young prizefighter, is shot dead while trying to rob an armored car. Kevin, a drug dealer, is found suspiciously hanged outside his jail cell. Sister Kathy, a serious pill popper, is shoved...
With its probes of crooked politicians, bad cops and layers of racism, All Souls easily breaks its regional and ethnic boundaries. It should be harder to automatically think "black" when the euphemism "inner city" pops up again. Perhaps that is why MacDonald was heckled by Southies at a recent book reading in Boston. Hearing the shock of recognition is almost always a sign that the writer got it right...