Ghetto Celebrity: Searching for My Father in Me

We are living in a time of lies. White lies, absurd lies, blatant lies, atrocious lies, I have had it with lies. The 80's look tame and "I am not a crook" Nixon is a altar boy in comparison. Donnell Alexander tells the truth with all of it's stankness. Donnell wrote about all of that we don't want to admit; our hatred of our bosses, our infidelities, our dysfuctional families, our drug use, our arrogance. It feels good to read honesty. This country needs hundreds more Ghetto Celebrities.

The brutal honesty of Ghetto Celebrity, while shocking to average readers, is not shocking to those who know the author. The man who dared to write "Are Black People Cooler that White People?" has turned his uncompromising eye on himself, his life as an alternative writer and his coming to terms with his father. The result is a refreshingly rugged, raw and real biography that is thigh-slapping funny. Ghetto Celebrity is THE book to read this year.

If you love great writing, this is your book. I read a variety of authors, including Dostoevsky, Wallace Stegner, Maya Angelou, Anne Lamott, and Arundhati Roy. Ghetto Celebrity is a unique memoir that's about much more than a single life. Among other things, it's about growing up and about race in America. This is a very honest view, told with incredible style, pain and humor. One of the best books I've read in years.

Whoa. This book is about much more than just Donnell Alexander.It's about a child of a unsupported single mother. An awkward adolescent boy trying to be cool (knowing he's not). A young writer trying to give himself the chance to succeed and really struggling with self discipline. And I empathised with all of him. I give the author MAJOR points for his frank descriptions of his sexual conquests. They felt true, lame, sorta selfish and very, very real. I love this uncovering of dimensions and histories of himself and those around him brave...not knowing or caring whether they look good to us or not. Maybe people will respond to the street-cred, hipness but I felt moved by the vulnerability underneath. I don't feel that often from any non-fiction I've read by a man of his age or background. If I had one complaint it's that the book jumps around a bit too much for my taste. I would've been happy to sink into any one of the stories going on for longer. I can't wait for this author's NEXT book.

Ghetto Celebrity is brutally honest, funny, insightful writing in the tradition of Henry Miller, Norman Mailer and a host of other heavyweights. Alexander challenges you, rocks you and makes you laugh and cry out loud. Buy this book. It's one helluva ride....