Now a man for real, he could gift his nerdy sister a jacket we’d never afford otherwise, embrace danger by way of a transactional hug and floss and sway all the way to prison, where he’d end up in a matter of months.Ĭoncrete Rose, one of the most eagerly anticipated books of 2021, is being ushered into the world just as Donald Trump’s presidency ends-a presidency that has been defined, among other things, by the weaponization of toxic masculinity. I was there that day-the woman asked me if I wanted it. My bomber jacket came off the shoulders of an addict who couldn’t buy what she needed with money. It meant renting a room in our Harlem neighborhood, wearing the flyest kicks around, and, thanks to his new occupation as a 17-year-old drug dealer, offering me the single best clothing item I owned as a teenager. And when old friends try to pressure him into an unthinkable act, his father in prison-locked away but not absent-counsels the teenager on how a “real” man comes to a decision: not by succumbing into the demands of the street but instead by weighing the cost to those he loves most.īut what does it mean to be a man? For my brother Lindo, back in the ’90s, it meant throwing a fist to protect Mami against our stepfather, only to find himself flung to the streets. Wyatt, offers him a job, a different way to live. When he is faced with the financial pressures that come with giving up dealing, the neighborhood market owner, Mr. On finding out about her son’s new situation, Maverick’s mother is tough but supportive. Here, a familiar story of violence and poverty takes an important turn. When Maverick finds out he’s become a father, he’s forced to decide whether or not to take that risk. Members are protected from rival gangs and the risks of their lifestyle, but the only way out is equally dangerous: to leave a gang, a member must risk his freedom or his life.
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He lives by the code of Garden Heights, where behavior is dictated by a fraternity of violence and aggression, but isn’t blind to the hypocrisy of gang life. He keeps his mom blind to his activities by doing odd jobs around the neighborhood, and because she works all the time.įrom the get, Thomas imbues Maverick with innocence, humor and street smarts. The teenager has inherited a gang affiliation from his father, and Maverick accepts the opportunity to make money on the side by selling hard drugs. When we meet him in Concrete Rose, Maverick is the son of a mother who is working-class poor and a father who is serving a lengthy prison sentence.
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