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Title: AMERICAN SKIN: A Novel by Don De Grazia ISBN: 0-684-86222-0 Publisher: Touchstone Pub. Date: 06 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (77 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: It is a life reading experience!!!
Comment: Told by De Grazia, the life of a rundown teenager, growing his roots in Chicago is an action pact, suspenseful novel that you just can't put down!
This book was setted in the Chicago land area, where the story of a teen named Alex Verdi and his sister had it all good, until the betrayal of his parents changed all that. What Alex didn't know was that his father was a big pot dealer. When Alex's parents were arrested and his sister was sent to a foster home, Alex was left with a choice that would change his whole life. Alex made the decision to be on the run from the cops. From there Alex decides to get a job in the city where he ends up meeting these anti Nazi skinheads, who end up giving Alex a place to stay at this club called The Gorgon. Through out this novel Alex learns a lot about the hard ways of life. That being, his love life, racial controversy, drugs, sex, violence, and betrayal.
I feel De Grazia did an excellent job making the reader become one with the main character, in that, I felt I went through all the experiences the same as Alex. I highly recommend reading this novel. It is life reading experience!
Rating: 5
Summary: "Ah, well...it's funny the way things go"
Comment: The underground life of a teenager in Chicago told by Don De Grazia is an on the edge of your seat type of book that can't be put down. Don beautifully relates to the character and shows true talent in American Skin
The main character, Alex Verdi, gets knocked and thrown around like a rag doll in this book. Trying to survive on the streets after his family is torn apart by a drug bust, he lives a life that feels so real you can feel the pain he goes through. After trying to make a living on his own he searches for friendly grounds in the city which is quiet hard to come by in Chicago. In one scene, he's simply standing on a corner having small talk with a group of kids about his age. Then suddenly, they beat him, mistaking him for one of their rival gang members. After being beat and laying bloody dead on the ground someone offers a helping hand. He moves in with his new buddy Tim and lives the life of a gangster. His life takes wild and crazy turns during this very unpredictable story. Changes in his lifestyle include gangs, drugs, sex, violence and partying... De Grazia has done it all in American Skin. The ending will truly make your jaw drop in this surreal story and just when you think you've figured it out, the unthinkable happens. In American Skin anything can happen, ANYTHING!
Rating: 4
Summary: American Skin: The New Face of Punk-Rock Literature
Comment: In the tradition of Holden Caulfied and Huck Finn, Don De Grazia gives the literary world an unlikely hero, Alex Verdi, whose search for a sense of security leads him into the dark and previously uncharted depths of an American sub-culture. Bomber jackets, Doc Martin boots, shaved heads, and tattoos mark the underground punk society that the majority of America prefers to ignore if not condemn. De Grazia's debut book, American Skin, however, illuminates the trials and dangers of negotiating this scene while still managing to keep it human and even somewhat alluring. Not only is this a solid piece of meaningful fiction, given its themes of alienation, the power of friendship, and the quest for knowledge, it is also tremendously enlightening. I'm willing to bet, in fact, most of this country is not even aware that there is a faction of skinheads existing amongst our working class that is dedicated to the destruction of their Nazi counterpart.
Alex Verdi, alone in the world after his parents were both arrested on drug charges, finds himself living on the streets of Chicago and working as a degreaser in a factory. Soon after meeting Tim and his gang of Skins he is taken in and given a room above The Gorgon, a nightclub that doubles as their headquarters. Clad in Tim's old jacket and a freshly shaved head, Alex begins his story, which is wrought with wild nights and violent fights. Alex, however, is no low-life thug. His voice is courageous and deftly infused with humor and soul. This is not just a blue-collar coming-of-age tale. It's an exploration of decency and depth within the heart of one man searching for both. Without any sense of shyness American Skin maneuvers through the touchy issues of racism, classism, and violence in America's society. And still, beneath it all, there is a message of love that even the most closed-minded reader is forced to see.
DeGrazia's writing is as sharp as the broken bottles his characters combat on a daily basis. Though Alex's greatest weapon is his intellect, he too does his fair share of punching, kicking, and even bleeding. And despite his righteous attempts to defeat the Nazi Skins of Chicago and the biased policemen who are more violent than himself, he does not always come out on top. Consequently, he finds himself by court order in an army boot camp where he and Tim must adjust their mentality to survive an entirely new but equally difficult set of social circumstances, which test both their endurance and the strength of their friendship. It is there Alex finds himself drifting further and further into a world of books-Ayn Rand particularly seems to grab his attention-while Tim remains glued to his working-class Skinhead roots.
At this point, American Skin takes a strange and heady turn as Alex takes leave of Tim in order to pursue his studies at Northwestern University. Although Alex, who readily begins to quote from Kerouac, Checkov, de Tocqueville, and Sherwood Anderson, believes he has finally found a home on this grassy campus, it is painfully obviously that he is an outsider there. For a brief moment, while we as readers wade through his academic musings and rather awkward romance with one wealthy young Abby, De Grazia's narrative becomes slightly contrived. By attempting to morph his heroic Skinhead into an academic, this book-for the first and only time-becomes a bit heavy-handed.
Fortunately, De Grazia has the good sense to quickly return us to the violent hard-to-swallow but poignant and important reality of Chicago that works so well for him. At this point in the story, however, Tim is in prison, and in order to stay alive there has been forced to join the ranks of his sworn enemies, the Aryan Brotherhood. His choice is stark but far from clear. As a testament to De Grazia's writing, the turmoil over the situation that both Tim and Alex feel swirls like a tornado over each page. And still De Grazia chucks us into one final conflict of ethics and strength that brings the book to a fervent and heart-wrenching close.
The controversial title and the various riotous images it may provoke in most high-minded readers should not get in the way of anyone opening up this book, for it is not one of hate but of unmatched love. American Skin is well worth the tumultuous read, which is intriguing, intense, fast, and at times even laugh-out-loud funny.
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Title: Skins by Gavin Watson ISBN: 1587540169 Publisher: Olmstead Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Skinhead by Nick Knight ISBN: 0711900523 Publisher: Omnibus Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 1983 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Blood in the Face: The Ku Klux Klan, Aryan Nations, Nazi Skinheads, and the Rise of a New White Culture by James Ridgeway ISBN: 156025100X Publisher: Thunder's Mouth Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Ratz Are Nice by Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite ISBN: 1555835546 Publisher: Alyson Publications Pub. Date: 01 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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Title: Skinheads Shaved for Battle: A Cultural History of American Skinheads by Jack B. Moore, Moore ISBN: 0879725834 Publisher: Bowling Green University Popular Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1993 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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