**11/08- Everyone keeps saying how "real" this book is. I'm nowhere near finished yet but I have some problems with that. These are "little" things for sure but don't the little things make up the big things? And aren't the little things just as important? Well, to me they are.
Problem #1- I'm fairly positive that somewhere in my travels I'm consumed gin, Ectasy, and Oxy's all together. (I'm aware of all people having different reactions to drugs but hear me out here.....) I don't remember (and I think I would have had this happen...) being "sent into a galaxy of Milky Ways." Not do I remember the "freeway being no longer visible", "not needing any lights", or my destination turning into outerspace. Lastly, My vehicle did NOT "change into a space ship".
And again, I'm well aware different people have different reactions to different things. I consider myself fairly 'in the know' here and sorry....can't happen. NOT REAL.
When Terry goes up in a ball of fire they mentioned this on BET News? Since when did BET News start mentioning the deaths of lowly not celebs? I missed that. NOT REAL.
(I haven't even started in with the mistakes yet - every street name and name like 'Balenciaga' is in italics - for some unknown reason. Whoever "edited" the book loves commas with a passion....
I'm sure I'll find more before I'm done... stay tuned....
Okay, I'm finished the book. It was horrible and the biggest shame is that the story could have been a good one. There were numerous things that made this book on of the suckiest I've ever read. One being that an author should never put themselves in their own book. Especially not repeatedly as was the case with this. It's weird and there is no need for it.
Italics are meant to be used sparingly. They are not meant to be used four times in one sentence for no reason at all. That is annoying and it gives me a headache.
Every curse word, almost every persons name, every city, town state and street was in italics. Why?
Why were there so many spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors? If I wrote a book right now, my first rough draft would have looked immensely better than this finished copy. We all make mistakes. But if I'm putting a book out there that had my NAME attached to it I'd like it to be my very best. Apparently Meadows and Poole don't feel the same way. You don't even have to be the most intelligent person in the world either - the mistakes in this book, and you can find many on any page. Pick any page at random and I can pick out mistakes after mistakes after mistake.
If I see a girl running down the street and I tell the person next to me I wouldn't say "A girl had run down the street." I'd say something to the effect of "A girl IS running down the street."
Now that has nothing to do with intelligence, slang, or anything else. This is something that is picked up before entering even preschool. If I read half of the sentences in this book out loud to my four-year-old she's be able to correct me. And, as far as I know, she's the average four-year-old and not a genious.
Little things too - I keep hearing how this book is "so true" and "real" and "this is the real deal in the streets and jail". What the hell ever. Half of the conversations and sexual encounters related in this book seemed to occur at a club or a private home. Anal sex where the people are screaming and yelling? Um, were the guards just out to tea? I may be wrong about this one but I was under the impression that an inmate could not have a thousand dollars in their commisary at one time. I thought the limit was much, much lower - but like I said, I could be wrong about that.
Is a "whelp" the same this as a "welt"? This is my first encounter with someone getting a "whelp" so I don't know.
Direct quote here: "Candy then jumped in front of the window in her cell, and had pierced her eyes up-and-down the enpty cellblock."
Well damn. She pierced her eye huh?
Direct quote here also: "Dewayne had become so caught up in the pleasure of sex, that he hadn't noticed the ripped, semen-filled glove that had popped off his meat, which at that point, had haphazardly hung over Dewayne's scrotum sack-glove having droplets of blood on it."
(I know most people will have a hard time believing that's a quote but it is - trust me - page 232 last paragraph. Not only is it so poorly written that it's actually laughable but good old Dewayne must have a rather large scrotum sack AND an awfully small penise. For a condom to pop off and fly UNDER his penis to read on his balls? Hmmmmm. And I distinctly remember the page before saying he had a good ten inches. Another hmmmmmmm....
Direct quote: "Cachew, cachew, - c-o-u-u-u-g-h!" Has anyone actually coughed and the cough come out sounding like "cough"? Holy shit.
The last almost quarter of the book are excerpts from other Ghettoheat books. The only one that seemed even half decent was a book by Mika Miller titled ' And God Created Woman'. Every single other one, and they are numerous, seemed just as horrible as this. Some even had the twenty-hundred italicized words.
Direct quote again: "Aunt, Joyce". A damm pigeon would know a comma doesn't go there. There is no time and no reason for a comma to EVER go there.
Lastly, I've lost a great deal of respect for Wahida Clark and Treasure Blue. That pains me to say because they are both great writers and both are two of my favorite urban-lit authors. BUT...... again, they pride themselves on being so "real". Yet they say and allow quotes to be used saying how great this book is. Maybe if they were talking about the story alone, okay. But are we forgetting everything I mentioned above? And I sure did leave a lot out - my fingers are tired. If they are so "real" they should have been honest. I've read enough books by both authors to know that they are intelligent enough for these mistakes to glare at them. So, what did they do? They said how this is a great book and didn't mention anything else? How about keeping your mouth closed if you don't want to be honest? That way you can keep your dignity at least?
Treasure Blue said something I actually agree with - although I mean something far different:
"....Convict's Candy left me speechless!" - Treasure E. Blue
Yeah, it left me speechless too Treasure.
Last night I wanted to give away every single urban fiction book I own. I'm tired of the mistakes. I'm tired of the headaches I get trying to plow through a novel written by what seems like a third grader. I'm tired of having a really great story in my hands that is beyond messed up because of the fact there was no editor. I have yet to come across another genre that shuns editors like urban fiction.
Hopefully this will change.