Play Book Tag discussion

I enjoyed reading this memoir, the story of Laura, a single mid-thirties ad executive in NYC who doubles back one day to respond to a panhandling 11-year-old boy. She takes him for a meal, then does the same the following week. It becomes a regular thing and a friendship develops. Both Laura and Maurice are unusual. Laura comes from a family with a warm loving mother and an alcoholic abusive father, so she knows something of family dysfunction. Maurice has more or less raised himself, amidst an extended family of drug abusers and sellers. He’s a good kid, and he escapes the cycle of drugs and poverty that defines his childhood. Laura no doubt plays a role in this, but Maurice’s own resilience, decency, and willingness to trust are, to me, the most impressive aspect of the book. Laura is down-to-earth and honest in her responses to Maurice, and the two each satisfy a need in the other. Laura’s background is described in some detail, and it is relevant, but I would have liked to know more about Maurice’s feelings, perceptions, and growth. Knowing it was a real story made it compelling; it would have been wanting if it were fiction, perhaps because the writing is a fairly straightforward recitation of facts. Nonetheless, I found it a heart warming story and rounded up to 4 stars.