Word: macdonalds
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...MacDonald gives new life to this old American story of poor-white pride and prejudice. He also has a knack for quickly grabbing and holding a reader's attention. How's this for an opening line? "I was back in Southie, 'the best place in the world,' as Ma used to say before the kids died...
...Helen Murphy-MacDonald-King, a pub singer and feisty accordionist who gave birth to 11 children fathered by various husbands and boyfriends. In her signature miniskirts, fishnet stockings and spiked heels, Ma is an unmistakable Southie presence...
...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...