num_pages: 88
description: The Chocolate City. Hell. The Land of Robbing Hoods. Gary, the armpit city of Chicago, has a number of names. It stands as a mother, pregnant with its roachlike inhabitants, and guards their crime, their greed. Has God left this town? Has He left the crumbling church where parishioners use donations for hamburgers and candy? Or does He turn the other cheek to pious morality, happy instead to see laughing and card playing and love from His flock on Saturday night?The solitary voice of the city's young men poses these questions in Tough Boy Sonatas. Curtis Crisler wanders into the lives of Gary's boys into their darkness, but into their goodness, too. After walking by holdups and addictions, these boys find resurrection in a favorite, loving uncle. This bittersweet, poetic collection explores both angry poverty and innocent childhood with unclothed sincerity.
language: English
title: Tough Boy Sonatas
titlecomplete: Tough Boy Sonatas
genres: Young Adult, African American, Poetry
ratings_count: 71
publisher: WordSong