Quote:
Originally Posted by irishjayhawk
What's it about?
I finally read 1984. Didn't care for the ending, though I understand it completely.
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The author, Michael Downs, was born in Hartford, CT. He moved away to begin his journalism career, but moved back in the late 80's/early 90's to work for the Hartford paper covering high school news and sports. He met these 5 kids from the Hartford Public football team who each pledged to go to college then come back and live and work in the Hartford community, to try and make it something other than the shitty, disaster of an inner city that it was/is (like every inner city).
The book sees Michael finding out whatever happened to those kids and their pledge. At the same time, he examines his own choice to move away from the city of his birth despite his grandparents' failing health. This stunning work of creative nonfiction explores what really owe to where we grow up, what/how much sacrifice is ok in life, and on an antecedent level it explores the American city.