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Whoreson: The Story of a Ghetto Pimp
Born and bred to the violent life of ghetto prostitution, the son of a beautiful Black prostitute and an unknown john, Whoreson Jones thinks he has it all figured out--until his self assurance is shaken by betrayal
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
77 people are currently reading
3281 people want to read
About the author
Donald Goines
30 books757 followersDonald Goines was born in Detroit to a relatively comfortable family - his parents owned a local dry cleaner, and he did not have problems with the law or drugs. Goines attended Catholic elementary school and was expected to go into his family's laundry business. Instead Goines enlisted in the US Air Force, and to get in he had to lie about his age. From 1952 to 1955 he served in the armed forces. During this period he got hooked on heroin. When he returned to Detroit from Japan, he was a heroin addict.
The next 15 years from 1955 Goines spent pimping, robbing, stealing, bootlegging, and running numbers, or doing time. His seven prison sentences totaled 6.5 years. While in jail in the 1960s he first attempted to write Westerns without much success - he loved cowboy movies. A few years later, serving a different sentence at a different prison, he was introduced to the work of Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck). This time Goines wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Whoreson, which appeared in 1972. It was a story about the son of a prostitute who becomes a Detroit ghetto pimp. Also Beck's first book, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967), was autobiographical. Goines was released in 1970, after which he wrote 16 novels with Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher. Hoping to get rid of surroundings - he was back on smack - he moved with his family to the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts.
All of Goines's books were paperback originals. They sold well but did not receive much critical attention. After two years, he decided to return to Detroit. Goines's death was as harsh as his novels - he and his wife were shot to death on the night of October 21, 1974. According to some sources Goines's death had something to do with a failed drugs deal. The identity of the killers remained unknown, but there were reports of "two white men". Posthumously appeared Inner City Hoodlum (1975), which Goines had finished before his death. The story, set in Los Angeles, was about smack, money, and murder.
The first film version of Goines's books, Crime Partners (2001), was directed by J. Jesses Smith. Never Die Alone (1974), about the life of a drug dealer, was filmed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring DMX. The violent gangsta movie was labelled as "junk masquerading as art."
During his career as a writer, Goines worked to a strict timetable, writing in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to heroin. His pace was furious, sometimes he produced a book in a month. The stories were usually set in the black inner city, in Los Angeles, New York or Detroit, which then was becoming known as 'motor city'. In Black Gangster (1972) the title character builds a "liberation" movement to cover his planned criminal activities. After this work Goines started to view the social and political turmoil of the ghetto as a battlefield between races.
Under the pseudonym Al C. Clark, Goines created a serial hero, Kenyatta, who was named after the 'father of Kenya', Jomo Kenyatta. The four-book series, beginning with Crime Partners (1974), was published by Holloway House. Kenyatta is the leader of a militant organization which aims at cleaning American ghettos of drugs and prostitution. All white policemen, who patrol the black neighborhoods, also are his enemies. Cry Revenge! (1974) tells of Curtis Carson, who is tall, black, and used to giving orders. He becomes the nightmare of the Chicanos, who have crushed his brother. Death List (1974) brings together Kenyatta, the powerful ganglord, Edward Benson, an intelligent black detective, and Ryan, his chisel-faced white partner, in a war against a secret list of drug pushers. In the fourth book, Kenyatta's Last Hit (1975), the hero is killed in a shootout.
The next 15 years from 1955 Goines spent pimping, robbing, stealing, bootlegging, and running numbers, or doing time. His seven prison sentences totaled 6.5 years. While in jail in the 1960s he first attempted to write Westerns without much success - he loved cowboy movies. A few years later, serving a different sentence at a different prison, he was introduced to the work of Iceberg Slim (Robert Beck). This time Goines wrote his semi-autobiographical novel Whoreson, which appeared in 1972. It was a story about the son of a prostitute who becomes a Detroit ghetto pimp. Also Beck's first book, Pimp: The Story of My Life (1967), was autobiographical. Goines was released in 1970, after which he wrote 16 novels with Holloway House, Iceberg Slim's publisher. Hoping to get rid of surroundings - he was back on smack - he moved with his family to the Los Angeles ghetto of Watts.
All of Goines's books were paperback originals. They sold well but did not receive much critical attention. After two years, he decided to return to Detroit. Goines's death was as harsh as his novels - he and his wife were shot to death on the night of October 21, 1974. According to some sources Goines's death had something to do with a failed drugs deal. The identity of the killers remained unknown, but there were reports of "two white men". Posthumously appeared Inner City Hoodlum (1975), which Goines had finished before his death. The story, set in Los Angeles, was about smack, money, and murder.
The first film version of Goines's books, Crime Partners (2001), was directed by J. Jesses Smith. Never Die Alone (1974), about the life of a drug dealer, was filmed by Ernest R. Dickerson, starring DMX. The violent gangsta movie was labelled as "junk masquerading as art."
During his career as a writer, Goines worked to a strict timetable, writing in the morning, devoting the rest of the day to heroin. His pace was furious, sometimes he produced a book in a month. The stories were usually set in the black inner city, in Los Angeles, New York or Detroit, which then was becoming known as 'motor city'. In Black Gangster (1972) the title character builds a "liberation" movement to cover his planned criminal activities. After this work Goines started to view the social and political turmoil of the ghetto as a battlefield between races.
Under the pseudonym Al C. Clark, Goines created a serial hero, Kenyatta, who was named after the 'father of Kenya', Jomo Kenyatta. The four-book series, beginning with Crime Partners (1974), was published by Holloway House. Kenyatta is the leader of a militant organization which aims at cleaning American ghettos of drugs and prostitution. All white policemen, who patrol the black neighborhoods, also are his enemies. Cry Revenge! (1974) tells of Curtis Carson, who is tall, black, and used to giving orders. He becomes the nightmare of the Chicanos, who have crushed his brother. Death List (1974) brings together Kenyatta, the powerful ganglord, Edward Benson, an intelligent black detective, and Ryan, his chisel-faced white partner, in a war against a secret list of drug pushers. In the fourth book, Kenyatta's Last Hit (1975), the hero is killed in a shootout.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews
January 28, 2014
This book is amazing, it grasped my attention from the first page. I love how it tells a story. It starts off as his mom being pregnant with him, by A white man who paid her for sex. This is how he got the name "Whoreson" because he was the son of A whore. This story is told magnificently. It covers all of the stages of his life. There is even some psychology in this book. As he grows older he falls in love with A woman who resembles his mother. He also becomes A pimp. There are parts in this story where I actually felt sorry for him. He is naive, when it comes to dealing with women and gets played time after time. Even though he is a pimp you want him to win in this story. I wish there was A sequel because this book is great. Karma shows up so many times in this book. When he finally gets his life on track, and the woman he wants he loses everything because he is lied on. knowing the story, you know its karma. Karma can make anyone vulnerable and once again you feel sorry for this pimp, even after all the wrong he has done. It amazes me how Donald Goines was A heroine addict in/out if prison but somehow wrote a story so great it is loved even in the 21st century. 5/5 This book is a true page turning, mind captivating piece of work!
July 14, 2013
I really struggled with this book. While it was a great read, I found myself struggling with the fact that I was rooting for a pimp??
Donald really left it open for how the reader should feel, he didn't seem to want to push the reader to feel bad for or to think against the antagonist. He simply put it all out there raw and let you come up with your own emotions.
Without giving away too much of the plot I will just say this I didn't feel the main character redeemed himself until the last 3 or 4 paragraphs. It still was not a warm and fuzzy feeling but it was a hopeful one for the future. I wish Donald was still around to give us a part two. I really want to know what became of Janet , Boots, Tony, Stella and Ruby.
I kind of hating how once he moved on from someone that their story line just ended.
Donald really left it open for how the reader should feel, he didn't seem to want to push the reader to feel bad for or to think against the antagonist. He simply put it all out there raw and let you come up with your own emotions.
Without giving away too much of the plot I will just say this I didn't feel the main character redeemed himself until the last 3 or 4 paragraphs. It still was not a warm and fuzzy feeling but it was a hopeful one for the future. I wish Donald was still around to give us a part two. I really want to know what became of Janet , Boots, Tony, Stella and Ruby.
I kind of hating how once he moved on from someone that their story line just ended.
September 5, 2010
The title character (yes that's his given name, guess what his mother does for a living) is nasty, brutish, and tall. He's biracial. He's got an enormous tool of reproduction and curly/wavy hair. His lifelong dream is to be a pimp, and he achieves this dream, but at a price. And... that's pretty much all you get as far as character development, quite an achievement given that Whoreson narrates the entire thing.
So, I wish I could have liked this one more, but despite the ultraviolence and hilarious sex scenes, our hero is, well, he's kinda boring. It woulda been great if Goines equipped Whoreson with a fatal flaw, or maybe a bizarre personality quirk or two (aside from beating up women). And a cynic like me just can't abide any lengthy novel that ends like this one does.
On the plus side, the plot is absolutely nutzoid -- some will say implausible, but hey fiction's all about making up stories. And you get the sense that Goines is trying to redeem his own lived experience, something he never really got to do once the needle hooked him and later did him in.
So, I wish I could have liked this one more, but despite the ultraviolence and hilarious sex scenes, our hero is, well, he's kinda boring. It woulda been great if Goines equipped Whoreson with a fatal flaw, or maybe a bizarre personality quirk or two (aside from beating up women). And a cynic like me just can't abide any lengthy novel that ends like this one does.
On the plus side, the plot is absolutely nutzoid -- some will say implausible, but hey fiction's all about making up stories. And you get the sense that Goines is trying to redeem his own lived experience, something he never really got to do once the needle hooked him and later did him in.
January 10, 2014
Whew!!! Man this won't allow you to go to sleep. I promise you'll want to finish the book before going to bed. Excellent book!!!
January 8, 2009
PIMPING'S WHERE IT IS
DANG!!!! Pimpin' is so hustling. I guess it was the first hustle but to have your mother name you according to conception then to teach you "The Art of Pimping!" I like how detailed this story was, and how he shows you each step he wasn't a master pimp he took steps.
Donald Goines is a brilliant writer the best stories come from within.
DANG!!!! Pimpin' is so hustling. I guess it was the first hustle but to have your mother name you according to conception then to teach you "The Art of Pimping!" I like how detailed this story was, and how he shows you each step he wasn't a master pimp he took steps.
Donald Goines is a brilliant writer the best stories come from within.
March 1, 2009
This was Donald Goines's second published novel. Like Dopefiend, his first published novel, it's a vivid, unsentimental, rough-hewn story of ghetto life. Unlike Dopefiend, however, I didn't find it as compelling. Part of it might have been the first-person narration. For the most part, the reader only gets the perspective of the novel's protagonist, Whoreson Jones, and after the halfway mark, I got tired of his small-mindedness, violence, greed, and inability to learn from his mistakes. I wanted Whoreson to move from being a gorilla pimp to being a finesse pimp, and when he didn't, I wondered how he was able to attract so many attractive, relatively together whores to his stable.Of course, just because Goines didn't take his character in the direction I wanted him to doesn't make this a bad book, but the last chapter goes in such a different direction that I felt as if Goines didn't know where to go with his irredeemably bad protagonist and just tacked on an ending. If there had been more of a progression of his character toward that end I probably would have liked it more.
June 11, 2009
I used to own this book, it was one of the best books I have ever read, it didn't help any that the book was stolen from me. The character in this book made me smh, goes to show you how anyone can turn bad in certain circumstances.
November 7, 2017
The Jungle Creed says the Strong must feed on any Prey at hand, I was branded a Beast and sat at a feast before I was a man.
This read is harsh, but most know Goines is not for the fainthearted.
This read is harsh, but most know Goines is not for the fainthearted.
March 11, 2021
A decent story from the bottom pyramid of sex workers. Street walkers and their pimps will always be filled with drama.
November 28, 2014
I found this to be entertaining and exceptionally paced. The characters has great depth and development. I found the execution of the ending to be phenomenal, there a life lesson message in the read. Goines is one of the pioneers street literature and you can see why in Whoreson. I'd recommend this book for any first time reader of Donald Goines work or if you're new to street literature overall.
Read
February 12, 2009 Whoreson written by Donald Goines is a pretty fast paced book that tells the story of a ghetto pimps struggles as he goes throughout life until he finally meets a women who he can truly love and be faithful too. The main characters consist of Jesse, Whoreson’s mother whom introduces him into the way of life as a pimp; Big ma,a older women who took care of Whoreson after his moms death and who also was his second mother; and Janet, a young successful woman who whoreson has truly shown love towards.
After Whoreson’s mother’s death, life becomes a daily struggle as he has to run and get out of town, missing his mother’s funeral. He struggles with his mother’s death as he tries to move on. He starts his game playing life at an extremely young age of 16, although he’s not a professional yet he knows how to play by the rules to get what he wants. He has some troubling moments of life dealing with time in the penitentiary for running prostitution and other problems of life he later runs into. I believe the moral of this book is to tell you the true story of a tough life as a pimp and the struggles you many and can come in contact with, but over all I believe it’s telling you there is good in everyone and anyone can change there way of life for the better.
After Whoreson’s mother’s death, life becomes a daily struggle as he has to run and get out of town, missing his mother’s funeral. He struggles with his mother’s death as he tries to move on. He starts his game playing life at an extremely young age of 16, although he’s not a professional yet he knows how to play by the rules to get what he wants. He has some troubling moments of life dealing with time in the penitentiary for running prostitution and other problems of life he later runs into. I believe the moral of this book is to tell you the true story of a tough life as a pimp and the struggles you many and can come in contact with, but over all I believe it’s telling you there is good in everyone and anyone can change there way of life for the better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 2, 2013
I would give this book a triple five star rating. The conversations and the characters are so realistic, that you would swear this story really took place. Donald Goines stands alone as a legend in this genre. Buy this book, and buy more for your friends.
May 16, 2022
I read this book when I was a teen. It was on of the first gritty raw books about a guy whose mother was a ghetto prostitution who had a trick baby.
May 1, 2019
I listened to the audiobook version of this after hearing the title of the story in a different book. :) I was kind of horrified about what I listened to but it helped me see that it was the beginning of all the urban hood stories that permeate the urban market. Instead of gangsters, the main character is a Pimp. A whore bore a son and named him aptly Whoreson who was the product of a pregnancy with a trick. Whoreson grows up knowing exactly who he is and what he wants to be when he grows up and that's a pimp. His mother shows him the ropes and teaches him what he needs to know to make it in the game. At age 16 after his mother passes away, Whoreson is on his own and learns about the streets and how to increase his pimp game. He has some trials that lands him in prison where he isn't reformed but is made even more cruel in the face of fuck or be fucked. Whoreson didn't care about if the prisoner was black or white as he was both ethnicities and neither one claimed him as their own. But also while in prison, he got an education and realized that he had a knack for learning so he became a sophisticated pimp in having more than street knowledge but it didn't stop his hustle once he left the prison life. In his youth, there was a girl namd Janet that told him that she couldn't be with someone that lived that kind of life and she went out to become a famous singer. They had a strange connection with intermediate meetings throughout the story during different periods of their lives getting reacquainted with one another each time. Janet was Whoreson's kryptonite and he always had a soft spot for her. The journey that Whoreson took led him to a place that he may not have necessarily wanted him to be.
January 27, 2021
This was a very good book, but it had one of the most unlikeable main characters that I have ever read about. I think, besides Gone Girl, this is one of the only books I have read in which I wanted the main character to get caught in the end. Even this ending was too good for him.
July 1, 2014
I would give this 3.5 out of 5 if I could have. Overall, I was pretty disappointed by this book. It tells the story of a young boy raised in the streets. He tells us about various adventures and struggles he injurers yet most of his stories are just mediocre with nothing extraordinary. Basically, because he had no positive role models, he was a selfish, self-centered, money hungry jerk. He even borders on sociopathic at times, only showing leaving moments of empathy and insight into his wrongdoings when he gets caught. Even when he is forced to pay for his crimes, he repeats his mistakes as soon as he is back on the street. This story could go on and on and on but fortunately the author finally ends it before telling us about another 10 years of his life which surely continued with the same patterns. If I had felt more towards the main character or felt some sympathy for him, I might have enjoyed the stories more but it all just kind of fell flat.
March 29, 2007
One of the best, grittiest, and saddest of Donald Goines' novels.
September 3, 2019
This was dark and so good I might read the rest of his books, when I can find him. Haven't read Goines in such a long time!
November 22, 2021
What a sad gritty tale..Unfortunately even today stuff like this still happens.
December 7, 2021
Pure, unadulterated pulp.
May 11, 2017
Good writing, interesting story, but a little too gritty for my taste.
February 3, 2020
It's so interesting to me how my attitude toward this book has changed in the years since I first read it. I don't know if it's because this was the first book like this I had read, or if it was because of my age (I was no older than 21 the first time I read it. I'm 38 now).
***SPOILERS AHEAD!!! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!***
As I was reading, I didn't like Whoreson AT ALL!!! I was torn on whether or not to root for him. He had been born in the ghetto. He had been exposed to the elements of the ghetto. But he had women all around him who cared for him and loved him. I was confused about why he seemed to hate women so much.
And he really was a shitty pimp. He was a hustler. He knew how to get money, but he never had what it took to pimp hoes. He kept losing his women. Even the one's he beat the shit out of who I suppose should have been to scared to leave him ended up leaving. How did he have so much confidence in his destiny when he got it wrong at every turn?
What he realized through Janet, strangely, was that he was capable of love. And he having his baby made him want to be a good man for her and their child. But or course, his past caught up to him. Imagine spending all your youth TRYING and FAILING to pimp, just to end up in jail for it. That's like trying to steal something from the store and getting caught before you even touch the item.
I think my rating may have come from the fact that not all of the book was a surprise' even though many things I had forgotten about, I pretty much knew what was going to happen. Had this been my first go around, I still wouldn't have fucking liked Whoreson (until the end when he suddenly had his epiphany behind bars), but the story probably would have grabbed me more.
***SPOILERS AHEAD!!! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!***
As I was reading, I didn't like Whoreson AT ALL!!! I was torn on whether or not to root for him. He had been born in the ghetto. He had been exposed to the elements of the ghetto. But he had women all around him who cared for him and loved him. I was confused about why he seemed to hate women so much.
And he really was a shitty pimp. He was a hustler. He knew how to get money, but he never had what it took to pimp hoes. He kept losing his women. Even the one's he beat the shit out of who I suppose should have been to scared to leave him ended up leaving. How did he have so much confidence in his destiny when he got it wrong at every turn?
What he realized through Janet, strangely, was that he was capable of love. And he having his baby made him want to be a good man for her and their child. But or course, his past caught up to him. Imagine spending all your youth TRYING and FAILING to pimp, just to end up in jail for it. That's like trying to steal something from the store and getting caught before you even touch the item.
I think my rating may have come from the fact that not all of the book was a surprise' even though many things I had forgotten about, I pretty much knew what was going to happen. Had this been my first go around, I still wouldn't have fucking liked Whoreson (until the end when he suddenly had his epiphany behind bars), but the story probably would have grabbed me more.
January 22, 2014
I had great hopes for this one but for me it was a big disappointment. I just couldn't get past the unbelievably idea that a mother would call her baby Whoreson - even with post natal depression. I kept thinking, really! I mean really! Especially since the description of his childhood showed she clearly loved him despite their circumstance and her fucked up values. She would have definitely changed his name early on in his youth. Why she as a working girl would think it important to tutor her son in pimping is never explained and just not believable. For classic Goines read Dopefiend on how to absorbingly portray grim broken lives.
August 12, 2018
Maybe this was a good book when the author penned it, but I cannot get past the anti-feminist aim of this novel. Pimping ain't easy. The ending leaves the reader hanging & this book was so hard to digest, that I wouldn't dare request a sequel. Also the slang was damn dated in this book, that I literally had to look words up, in order to properly follow the plot. & I am sorry, if you are searching for a novel with a happy ending, run now! The plot just progressively worsens over the course of the book. It really wasn't my cup of tea, but I guess it provided an alternative prospective when it was published.
December 17, 2020
Donald Goins's books are brutal. He lived what he wrote about, so the details ring true and relevant, even though they happened decades ago. He was an intelligent man with the eloquence required to craft novels and the background to make them real.
The thing that I can't wrap my head around is why the women allow themselves to be pimped by worthless and brutal men, especially considering the fact that Jessie didn't have a pimp. Is it the time period, the 50s and 60s, when women, especially black women, had fewer rights? Is it ignorance of their own value and power? I know now pimps often use addictive drugs to control prostitutes, but that didn't seem to be Whoreson's main tool.
The thing that I can't wrap my head around is why the women allow themselves to be pimped by worthless and brutal men, especially considering the fact that Jessie didn't have a pimp. Is it the time period, the 50s and 60s, when women, especially black women, had fewer rights? Is it ignorance of their own value and power? I know now pimps often use addictive drugs to control prostitutes, but that didn't seem to be Whoreson's main tool.
July 19, 2008
With the tag "America's #1 Best-Selling Black Author" stamped across the top of this book, I expected something different from Whoreson.
Unlike Robert Beck aka Iceberg Slim, Goines does little to make me root for his character. Here he creates a man with all the tools to succeed at what he wants, but at the same time, nothing about the character makes me feel any sympathy towards him or his troubles, which for the most part, he seems to create with his destructive behavior.
Read Pimp instead.
Unlike Robert Beck aka Iceberg Slim, Goines does little to make me root for his character. Here he creates a man with all the tools to succeed at what he wants, but at the same time, nothing about the character makes me feel any sympathy towards him or his troubles, which for the most part, he seems to create with his destructive behavior.
Read Pimp instead.
February 10, 2018
A masterly disturbing depiction of the pimp life in the 60's. It's fast-paced and even if you're not a fan of Urban Fiction you'll still be engaged enough to keep reading. There's not a lot of character building in this story but honestly there isn't any one character in this entire novel you really want or need to get to know. Donald Goines is at his best with this one but you have been warned
March 27, 2012
Goines' work is pretty brutal stuff, verging on exploitation. Often cited as an influence by hip hop stars, he writes gritty stories about crime and addiction. Think "The Wire" but way pulpier. Must reading for anyone interested in Detroit writers and ways the city gets represented in fiction.
September 17, 2013
This book is one of my all time favorites, because of its raw content and the author's extreme visual usage of words the book read like a movie, i could not put it down and found myself still visualizing the scenes in my head days after finishing it.
September 27, 2015
Read it because a friend recommended. Pretty trashy, moderately entertaining. Not bad, but not exactly my kind of book. Apparently the author actually lived in the ghetto, so it was kind of interesting to peek in and see what really happens. Not sure exactly how much, if any, he exaggerated.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 189 reviews