Summery of the . The dying Ground by Nichelle D. Tramble - Book Report/Review Example

Download file to see previous pages He was raised by his grandparents, who tried to keep him straight, and, for the most part, succeeded. Maceo was not involved with the drug trade, and seemed not to have any bad habits, such as smoking dope and drinking too much. However, right from the first, the reader learns that all is not what it seems with Maceo – that perhaps his life was not as charmed as it might seem on the surface, what with him being a star athlete and being accepted to a top-tier college. For Maceo has a friend, probably as smart as Maceo, if not smarter, named Holly, and Holly was renowned in the drug trade for his ability to cut drugs into multiples so that dealers could get a bigger bang for their buck. It did not seem that Holly was a dealer himself, but he had a skill that made him invaluable and he definitely helped the dealers, so he might as well had been one. Holly was his name because of the street that he grew up on, and his real name was Jonathan Ford. Holly was a “stray” – he essentially ran away from home, although it seems that his mother really didn’t miss him much because she was severely into drugs herself. Holly, as a young boy, took a bus that stopped where Maceo and Billy were playing baseball, got off, joined the game, and bonded with Maceo and Billy. Once Maceo found that that Holly had no home, Maceo took Holly home to meet his grandparents, and the grandparents took care of Holly as if Holly was Maceo’s brother. However, Holly showed up one day with a wad of cash, and the grandfather, figuring that Holly was into dealing already, essentially kicked him out. However, Maceo and Holly remained the best of friends. Billy was another of Maceo’s childhood friends, and played on the baseball team with Maceo. However, at the time that Billy was killed, Maceo and Billy were no longer friends, because Billy had stolen the love of Maceo’s life, right under Maceo’s nose. Also, it seemed that part of why they were no longer friends was because Billy was a big-time drug dealer, and it seemed that Maceo wanted to stay away from that for the most part. Holly seemed to be different, because Holly did not deal, per se, but was involved with the drug trade at the periphery. Along with being involved in the drug trade, Holly was a bit of a thug – he bullied a weak kid when they were both in junior high, beating him up on a regular basis. The kid died during one of Holly’s beatings. Holly claimed that the kid had a seizure and hit his head, and this is what the caused the death. However, it was strongly suspected that it was the other way around – that Holly caused the hit his head, and this caused the seizure that killed the kid. Either way, Holly comes off extremely bad in the incident. But the novel did not indicate that there were other incidents where Holly was a bully or violent, so it might be an isolated incident, but it tells the audience that Holly is a man who is not a good guy. The woman who was in the middle of Billy and Maceo was Felicia. Felicia, like Maceo, was a college student at Berkeley, and this is where Maceo and Felicia met. Felicia goes ...Download file to see next pagesRead More