Homeboy

Seth Morgans first and last completed novel is a simultaneously brilliant and uneasy read that like an addiction, first captivates then unravels itself until the reader is rendered helpless to its grimy power. His story begins deep in the gut of a seedy San Francisco underbelly and ends up ensconsed in the heart of a prison hell. As the story unravels, we are introduced to a smorgasbord of whacked out, grimy, and tragic characters whos' tales gather around us to weave a web of terrifyingly real and sometimes disarmingly surreal situations. The story of 'Homeboy', if it is broken down to its core, is surprisingly simple, but it is told in a way that demands the reader to concentrate. Like the first minutes in a subtitled movie, we are forced to think hard about what we are reading. But the beauty in 'Homeboy' lies not in the story, but the unbelievable use of the English language. His descriptions of seemingly simple places, people and events are described using words that a terrestrial author would never dream of using. And yet these descriptions paint a picture of incredible detail, you can almost physically smell the stench of wretched human lives steaming out between the cracks of Coldwater Prison and feel the warm chill of heroin as it is pumped through the brittle veins of 'Rings n Things'. The fact that we will never have the honour of another complete book by Seth Morgan is tragic. But unlike Jeff Buckley and countless other gifted artists taken from us before their time, Seth's death seems somehow apt and befits the legacy of what he has left us described within the well thumbed pages of 'Homeboy'.

I'm not normally a fiction reader but even though "Homeboy" was copywrited in 1990 I ordered and read it because I came across a recent reference to the novel that indicated it was about San Francisco. Oh yes-it was about The City and although I had lived there many years ago and could still recognize the street names and neigborhoods that was the extent of my recognition. Seth Morgan penetrates the belly of the beast to an extent that his San Francisco and later California, might just as well be on the dark side of the moon in terms of it's familiarity to what I knew of SF.I know little about fiction writing but I can say that Morgan organized Homeboy differently than the other fiction works I've read. He has divided Homeboy into short little mini-chapters like many contemporary TV shows-stories built around a particular theme but broken into disparate separate dramas that weave in and out of each other. You must be aware because these mini-chapters dissolve and reform in new settings and at different times and because the book is so dense be prepared for a demanding ride.This ride is bleak and uncompromising-you will be confronted by situations and activities that I, as a neophyte crime reader, had never been confronted with before. For instance, the section titled Fence Parole is as hard a piece of writing as you might find or the scene played out in Hotshot-tough stuff for a little suburban guy like me.If you like well writen books that deal with hard subjects then Homeboy is for you-seek it out because it will be worth your time.

This is one of my all time favorite books. I am now buying my third copy to read again. My first copy I loaned to an inmate while working as a prison counselor. The guy made parole and took the book. Oh well. I found a copy again in a book store and thinking I learned my lesson, loaned it to a co-worker (now a probation officer). Again, the book did not come back. I've recommended it to so many people and have decided to try again. It's really a great description of an entirely different lifestyle. An enlightening description of "life on the edge".

This book was awesome, from the very first sentence up to last. I didn't want it to end. Morgan paints a lyrical narrative of an unsavory slice of life that most of us won't have the misfortune to endure. The images and language throughout the book are vivid. Although it's a sad journey, you feel good reading it. You will not regret this read!

If you don't mind spending a few heart-pounding hours stuck inside the filth and sewage of the lower end of Northern California's food chain, then you are sure to be rewarded when you read this unforgettable portrait of a cast of lowlifes. Consistently "used, and abused, served like hell," (Grandmaster Flash's words, not Seth Morgan's) the characters in this work, from a junkie strip club barker to a overpierced hooker, from the stereotypical cop with a mission to the snuff-film making drug-dealing fat man, bring to life a world most people (including me) never see. For all I know it doesn't even exist, but Seth Morgan makes it seem as if it does. Not only does the plot sizzle but Morgan's use of language adds something new to the literary world. Pick this book up if you can find it and you'll be sucked into the fastest moving story this side of Morgan's own biography.