Donald Writes No More

by Eddie Stone

Donald Goines was all of these things. He started as a kid, the product of a middle-class family. After high school he joined the Navy, and discovered the heroin that would rule the remainder of his life. On the streets, he turned to writing when he was straight enough to keep at it. He used the language of the streets and wrote of the streets and its people. His success was immediate and exciting, But eventually the streets claimed him. He was murdered as he sat writing a new book. Here for the first time is the completed story.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

240 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

Reviews

[Terrie]

A friend of mines from Oakland, Ca had me reading Donald Goines books back in the 70's, as the years past by, now in the year 1996 a co-worker in my home town N.O. was reading one of his books and I was like wow, a blast from my past and years later my oldest daughter was reading his biography and she asked me had I heard of him, I just laughed...my daughter is 25 and she was 19 at the time when she asked me.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald Goines is well known as one of the foremost writers of “ghetto realism.” I’ve read most of his books and it was interesting learning about the man behind the tales of pimps, hustlers, and drug addicts. Goines grew up in Detroit and wrote what he knew. He wrote sixteen books in about four years. There has yet to be another like him.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donald Writes No More, The Life of Donald Goines, the Godfather of Street Lit, is a stylistic biography of the author Donald Goines, heralded as one of the greatest writers in the Black lived experience in an era where Black published writers were a rarity (as unfortunately they are still underpublished today).

The biography takes us through an accounting of his life from pre-birth to death and summaries of each of his novels, all wrapped up in just over five hours and narrated in smooth articulation by Leon Nixon. I went in not knowing much about Goines and now I know a lot!

Despite that, I felt this book sort of dragged on, or was sensationalized in parts (obviously we don't know how someone's feeling when something happens unless there's an accounting, or a lot of things that are talked about in this book), but I didn't realize this book was written in 1977 and this is the 50th anniversary (perhaps to go alongside the recordings of Goines' books that Tantor Audio also did?), so it's timely, and mostly, the sad end to a life that moved so fast and so wildly through so much before it petered out.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for review.

[Dion Cheese · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows you that the man behind the pen definitely understood what he portrayed through his characters.

[Tee Marie Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was first introduced to the name Donald Goines, by reading urban fiction books in middle school that would page homage to him in the foreword of a few novels. I also saw my mom and Aunt passing books of his back and forth in my youth. Throughout my lifetime ive heard his name over and over again from Tupac and some other rapper's. But when I say the title's alone of his books have always intrigued me, though I've never really taken the time until now to actually get to learn about the author himself.

Until now, the 50th year edition of the Donald Goines story is being released and when I say this generation has been missing out on a legend. After hearing his story I am very much compelled to start reading through his catalog. Donald was born from humble beginnings. His family wasn't rich by any means but they tried to provide him with better opportunities in life than the dangers the streets of Detroit, Michigan had to offer a young black man in the 1950's. Like so many before him, Donald became a product of his environment and even serving in the Korean couldn't save him. It was there he became a life long heroin addict. Donald was a Pimp, a theif, an addict, an author, a husband and a father. He was known for being a good man but couldn't stay out of trouble or get that monkey "heroin" off his back. He was an addicted who wrote about his actual experiences in life which truly blows my mind. He was so talented and the literary world lost a great one at such a young age due to Donald's relentless dependence on heroin.
I very much captivated by Donald's story though the audiobook seems to get a little redundant towards the 70% mark. Very detailed of his life from beginning to the end. I felt like some of it could've been shorted as it didn't need to be so drawn out.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Publishing-Holloway House for an advance copy of this reissued biography on a artist who followed the dictum of write what you know, creating a series of works that even 50 years later still speak of the problems America has yet to deal with.

I was first introduced to the works of Donald Goines in a flea market held in Greenwich, England. In the day before luggage cost as must as a plane ticket I had traveled to England with an empty suitcase I planned to fill with vinyl, books, and any other stuff I could find. This flea market was amazing and I had a big pile of sci-fi, history books, and was looking at the mysteries. I found a series Yardie about a Jamaican gang in England, grabbed those, and the guy running things said, I have some Donald Goines to if you like that kind of stuff. I did, and I added two Goines books, Never Die Alone and Black Girl Lost. I had never heard of the author, but I was in a spending mood. On the way to Brighton I started Never Die Alone, and had to read more. There was a rawness to the writing, a knowledge that this is what had to be, an anger, and a resentment. And power. And a fear of what it took to be a man in the world. Coming home I started hunting for more Goines and was surprised at how quickly he published, and how quickly he seemed to disappear. After reading this I know why, and I feel the world lost a remarkable voice. Donald Writes No More: The Life of Donald Goines, the Godfather of Street Lit by Eddie Stone is a look at the life of the man, his experiences, his strength and many weaknesses, and of course the work we remember him by.

The book begins with Donald's father dealing with the racism of the South and coming North to Detroit Michigan, where things were supposed to be better for African Americans. This was only a rumor, but Donald's father saved his money and started a dry cleaning service, one that did well enough for the family to be comfortable. Donald was the second of three children and the only boy. From an early age he was groomed to work with his father, and to make something of himself. Donald had other plans. Donald wanted to make himself on the street, a lure that was too strong to ignore, though he tried. At fifteen Donald lied about his age and joined the Air Force, being sent to Korea during the war. There Donald experienced death at close hand, driving the wounded and the dead to aid stations, and acquiring a heroin habit that lasted the rest of his life. Returning home Donald went again to the streets, earing a good income before making enemies with a man that made him flee Detroit. Petty crimes followed, and a stint in prison made him think about trying his hand at writing. And so he did, writing about the life of a junkie, a life he knew well. Success came, and so did the books, for he had stories to tell, and a habit and family to feed. Everything was looking good, but the Street never lets go of a person, even a person like Donald Goines.

The book was published in the 1970's and is being reissued for the 50th anniversary of Donald Goines death, murdered along with his wife in his home in Detroit for unknown reasons. The book is short, but covers Goines' life quite well, getting into the positive and negative aspects of Goines and does its best to try and rectify them. A man who seemed to respect women, had no problem being a pimp. And a man so strong and smart that cold write taut stories of the Street so quickly, could never escape that world, the drugs and the life. The writing is good, though there are some seventies things that might confuse younger readers. Stone really understood Goines, how he thought, how he wrote, and why Goines never seemed to escape.

A very good look at a writer who really deserves a lot of respect. Goines was a writer of power, able to speak from experience about what he saw, what he did, and what he felt. There was a lot of shame, writing about junkies and what they were willing to do was Goines' way of telling people not to enter this life. One wonders what might have come, what kind of books he could have written. And what was taken far too early. A very biography about an author unfairly forgotten, but well worth the time to explore and learn from. Even today.

[S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a good and so true to life for many people. As I read the pages of this book it appears to me that Donald was giving the reader the raw insides of his life. He didn't hold back or try to sugarcoat the details of his life, how he lived, or the things that he had done. This was a great read that I would highly recommend.


Thank you to the author and NetGalley for gifting me this book in exchange for my honest review

[Jasmin Alexia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know where this book and I stand, honestly. I had this book for 5+ years and did not read it until now. When I bought it I only skimmed the blurb and saw it had the word ' murdered' in it, so I bought it. It honestly is a great book, just nothing something I would normally read. Great book, just not the one for me.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eddie Stone paints a very lucid picture of Donald Goines life. You leave this book understanding that even having a purpose is often not enough to fight the demons of drug addiction. Goines life shows us, "If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword."