Buck discussion

In Buck: A Memoir, author M.K. Asante paints a vivid picture of the dysfunction and triumph he experienced as a young adult in Philadelphia. Equal parts alarming, desperate and beautiful, Buck wields jarringly honest vernacular as a tool to draw the reader into Asante’s world. It is an immersive book outlining family disintegration, drug abuse, gang culture and highschool troubles in stark detail. This is not to say that Buck is a depressing read, but an honest one populated by beautifully rendered characters coping with tremendous odds. Our protagonist, Malo, is deeply troubled yet anything but helpless. His mother’s crippling depression and prescription drug abuse haunts him, as does his brother’s imprisonment and his father’s abandonment of the family. Through all of this, Malo finds within himself a strength and independence that he didn’t know was there. It is a heavy book for the young adult crowd, but the storytelling is extraordinary. The story and its urgency pulls the reader along relentlessly, (I unintentionally read the book in two sittings) and the detail applied to the worldbuilding is incredible. It regularly reminded me of the series The Wire, not only in content but also in character depth. Asante’s use of the language of the street fleshes his characters out wonderfully, and his application of hip-hop lyrics throughout was initially distracting but quickly became one of my favorite aspects of the book. Tracing the triumphs and pitfalls of Malo and his friends and family is heart wrenching, but the honesty in this memoir would, I think, connect with young readers in a very meaningful way.