num_pages: 408
description: In her extraordinary bestseller, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses readers in the intricacies of the ghetto, revealing the true sagas lurking behind the headlines of gangsta glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society. Focusing on two romances - Jessica's dizzying infatuation with a hugely successful young heroin dealer, Boy George, and Coco's first love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar - Random Family is the story of young people trying to outrun their destinies. Jessica and Boy George ride the wild adventure between riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street, all four caught in a precarious dance between survival and death. Friends get murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George; Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness, betrayal, the heartbreaking separation of prison, and, throughout it all, the insidious damage of poverty.Charting the tumultuous cycle of the generations - as girls become mothers, boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation - LeBlanc slips behind the cold statistics and sensationalism and comes back with a riveting, haunting, and true story.
language: English
title: Random Family
titlecomplete: Random Family
genres: New York, Nonfiction, Biography, Social Justice, Book Club, Poverty, Race, Sociology, Memoir, Journalism
ratings_count: 12209
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: Borders Original Voices Award
category: Nonfiction, awardedAt: 1104566400000
name: Ridenhour Book Prize, awardedAt: 1041408000000
name: National Book Critics Circle Award
category: General Nonfiction
publisher: Scribner