Back To Life
In the late 1980s, a group of Italian American youths killed a young black man in Bensonhurst. Hostilities reached a breaking point between blacks and whites, and this is the background for Coakley-Thompson's story. Lisa Martin is in the process of getting a divorce from an abusive husband. Her friends try to be matchmakers, but she finds Marc Guerrieri on her own as both find a room to hide in during a party. They find each other interesting and verbally spar for awhile, but when the TV reports the murder of Yusuf Hawkins, they retreat to their separate corners because Lisa is black and Marc is white. They can't forget each other, yet when they meet again their attraction is challenged by their differences. Each has doubts, but it doesn't make it any easier when family, friends, and events seem to prove that they shouldn't be together. With careful attention to detail, down to the music in the background, Coakley-Thompson combines reality and fiction in an intriguing and powerful story.Maria HattonCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved