Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc - Book Report/Review Example

Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc The author of Random Family, Adrian Nicole is an American-born journalist whose exertion focuses on the marginalized society members, prostitutes, women in prison, adolescents who are living in poverty life among others. She is well known for her non-fiction book Random Family, which was released in 2003. Adrian Nicole was raised in working class family that was based in Massachusetts in a small factory town called Leominster. Her father was an organizer of unions while he mother was working in a rehabilitation center. Her background has played a momentous role in the development of true color values. These blue-collar values also deepened after study sociology at Smith College. After she was through with her high school, she joined the Smith College, and later she joined Oxford and Yale University respectively. After earning her master degree at Oxford University, Adrian Nicole got a job in Seventeen magazines as an editor. Her position was stretchy enough such that she was able to write magazines regarding marginal futures, drug dealers, gang girls, prostitutes among others. Nevertheless, her works were considerably tiresome especially after the release of Random Family. During this period, Le Blanc could get fatigued to an extent that she could not manage to attend to some interviews. , in some cases, she used to hand over her tape recorder to her subject of the interview. The theme of Random Family is Drugs, Trouble or what is presented by the author as fear and Love. The narrative’s focal point is on the day to day struggles of families in the urban youths of the American societies. The author also demonstrates the quest for infant women and children in ensuring that their families are decent. The reception of Random Family was praised for its neutrality. The book managed to balance its views on families, as well as financial stability. Recently, Nicole and Random Family received several nominations and awards. One of the strongest points the author possesses is her excellent research methods. She has received various awards and spots among other nonfiction writers and journalist Nevertheless, the book received by various critics. Nicole’s work is seen to exerts the unflinching and fascination of a classic documentary. Additionally, critics argue why young women and men in Bronx have a deal with drugs as the only form of employment. (LeBlanc 332) Nicole is more often criticizes for presenting the solution to the social problems of the youths of Bronx to be drugs. Virtually, there are the various solution to the social issue that were being experienced by the residents of Bronx other that engaging into drug. Although the author mentions very few information regarding the educational level of her character, It is baseless to point that all these individuals were incompetent to get involved in the job market other than selling drugs or being criminals . Additionally, critics argue that Nicole character selection is ineffective. According to the author’s character selection, it appears that they are inadequate birth control mechanisms. Regardless of their poor financial stability they seem to have more children that their finances can handle. It is not clear why the author decides to make her characters have numerous children. Some critics argue that the title of the book is misleading. The family in question does not appear to be a random family; rather, it is a capricious family. In most cases, the family is portrayed to be cruel especially to the children. For instance, The Author presents Jessica having three daughters living in a one-bed apartment. It is also vital to note down that the apartment does not belong to Jessica; it belongs to her mother.Adrian presents Jessica to be such an uncaring woman to the extent that she would go out to the milk store for milk only to come back in five days. Jessica’s brother Cesar is yet another unreliable member of the family. Cesar is presented to less a sadist but a somehow irresponsible not only to his family but also to his wife Coco (LeBlanc 232). The book analyzes the forms of social experiences that are experienced by the urban youth American societies including drug abuse, murder, and love among others. The viewpoint as well as the purpose of LeBlanc to write this book was to educate on the vulnerabilities that are linked to the usage of illegal drugs including heroin, cocaine among others. He also demonstrates fear in various ways. A part of Nicole subjects are drug peddlers, drug users, prisoner as well as lovers. The author presents characters that are related. Through Jessica, the author has been able to present every other character. The excellent research skills of the author enable her to manage effectively to inter-relate characters to ensure that the flow of the book is easily understood. For instance, desire for Jessica to get enough money to make her family decent make her become a drug abuser. The most substantial evidence that support the thesis statement is about love. The author present love in a very healthy manner. The love that is demonstrated between Cesar and Coco is real Love. Cesar is seen 1 sending love letters to Coco even when he is in prison. Out of love, Coco is seen having grand hardship in her efforts to raise her children. Coco is possibly one of the most compelling characters. Every time she tries to do better for her life, she slips back into her old habits and poverty. Finally, she is seen placing her daughters into a special home for children. Eventually, all her daughters move out of necessity and frustration (LeBlanc 332). The book’s arguments are very convincing. The author present supports her thesis statement regarding love by using Jessica. For Jessica, the most interesting place to be was to fall in love, and the ticket for love was a beauty. In achieving this objective, she gravitated along with boys who have money, enterprising boys. The author presents these ambitious boys to be among the drug dealers. The author successfully manages to link love and money from Jessica. Every time Jessica needs money she could hang on the street with the same readiness to capture the attention of the boys who have money. The author supports her argument of prison by bringing in George into her narration. After having an affair with Jessica, Jessica writes a note to her parents that she is in prison where she is sentenced ten years in Prison while George was sentenced life in prison without parole. The book follows Jessica’s life even in prison. Jessica navigates the complex prison life being away from her children and support from her family. In prison, the author present Jessica having a romantic affair with a prison guard, bears children with the guard. Finally, we find her suing the prison department system for sexual abuse. LeBlanc presents love using a different couple. The author narrates the relationship of Cesar, who is Jessica’s younger brother and his girlfriend Coco who is a mother of two children. LeBlanc demonstrates the degree of love between the two lovers by narrating how Coco endured nine years while Cesar was in prison due to an offense relating to a murder of a friend. Coco struggles hard to maintain her optimism through immense poverty; several apartment moves need to provide for children among others. During his time in prison, Cesar is seen to have gained more wisdom knowledge and growth to understand vast sets of circumstances that are faced by his family. LeBlanc brings emphasizes on love in almost every chapter. Apart from the man-woman love, she demonstrates family love through Jessica. The author presents Jessica feeling unloved to an extent that she is drawing a knife through her thighs. The author supports her argument relating to drug abuse by using various characters to demonstrate the drug usage. The author describes a deep involvement in drug usage and selling in almost every chapter. The first instance when drug usage is described when Jessica mentions that her beauty is used to attracting money. The money boys and the enterprising boys who appear to be Jessica’s main target happen to be drug peddlers. The issue of drug usage calms when Jessica and George get arrested and sentenced to prison (LeBlanc 332). Random Family plays a significant role in understanding the social reality of the urban youth in America. From the analysis of this book, it is undeniable that are faced by various challenges including prostitution, drug abuse, imprisonment among others. Almost every youth that is residing in the urban is struggling financially. Therefore, most youth feels that there is a definite distance between them and the rest of the American citizens. These youth struggle from getting “decent” families which are the desire for every youth. The social life of America is based on families. How stable families are in term of finances determine the kind of livelihood they will be having. The frequently used terms to express the kind of social livelihood most urban dwellers live include “ghetto”, “street” and “decent”. A street family and a decent family represent two different poles of value point of reference and two contrasting theoretical categories. These labelings are a result of the societal contest among families as well as individuals in the neighborhood. Decent families consider themselves to be decent as they consider any other individual as a street dweller. On the other hand, street families consider themselves to be decent as the draw differences between the decent families and ghetto families (Anderson 123). These resulting labels are mostly used in the characterization of inner-city communities as well as each other communities. In most cases, residents are either resident or they are trying to be decent. In the same family, there may be individuals who are sturdily oriented towards civility and decency. For instance, In Jessica’s family can be considered as a decent family. Jessica is strongly oriented towards the civility and decency of their family. This is the same reason she believes that her beauty is the only ticket that can make her get money. The Random Family follows the expedition of two young women who are based in the South Bronx, one of New York most desperate neighborhood. The author presents Jessica in 1984 when she is 16-year-old. She is presented as a beautiful and a charismatic young lady who later become a love interest to a successful heroin dealer by the name George Rivera. Random Family also helps readers to understand how difficult it is to escape poverty through immoral ways. Almost every chapter of that has been written talks about the everyday social struggles that have been experienced by the youth in the American societies. The book also polishes a sobering light on the various government policies that are meant to assist those who are struck by poverty (Anderson 123). The lives of the characters in LeBlanc Random Family profiles are incredibly entangled with one another. These connections tend to bring more hardship and trouble. For example, characters are seen to be overwhelmed in dealing with the everyday chaos of their lives. The mother of Jessica is one of the best individuals to explain how overwhelmed characters are because of life struggles. Coco is another example; Coco is seen having grand hardship in her efforts to raise her children. Coco is possibly one of the most compelling characters. Every time she tries to do better for her life, she slips back into her old habits and poverty. Finally, she is seen placing her daughters into a special home for children. Eventually, all her daughters move out of necessity and frustration (Anderson 123). Through Random Family, it clears to the reader the dangers that are that are experienced by young children. In more a hundred paragraphs in this book talk about cocaine bombardment, beatings, sex, mother’s boyfriend, parties, children wandering around among others. Bring up children in an environment that has some of these criminal activities is such a danger to the life of the child. For instance, by the time Jessica daughter is two years, it is noted that she has an infection that indicates that she had been sexually abused. Although, it was not clear who may have sexually abused it is beyond reasonable doubt it is someone from Jessica’s neighborhood. The Random Family follows the expedition of young women who are based in the South Bronx, one of New York most desperate neighborhood. The author presents Jessica in 1984 when she is 16-year-old. She is presented to be a beautiful and a charismatic young lady who later become a love interest to a successful heroin dealer by the name George Rivera. Through these women, the author demonstrates to the readers the various social experiences that are experienced by the urban youth in the American society (LeBlanc 382). Fundamentally, the author achieves her arguments by demonstrating these social problems through various characters. In most cases; the author has used Jessica to express these social experiences that are faced by the American Society urban youth. Through Jessica, it is clear to the leaders the misconception most urban young people in the American society has, in particular, young women regarding their beauty. Most young women in urban societies believe that beauty is the key to their financial problem. If a young lady realizes that she is attractive and beautiful, she change her lifestyle and engage herself in street activities including prostitution, girls gangs, drug trafficking, among others. Works Cited Anderson, Elijah. Code of the Street Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2012. LeBlanc, Adrian Nicole. Random Family. New York: Scribner, 2003. Read More