A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind, a book that I picked up in the library last semester and have NOT returned yet is one that I picked up recently to read. So far so good.
It's about a Cedric Jennings, a boy who lives in a terrible environment in Washington D.C. At school fires are set in the bathrooms, there are few athletes because no one will attempt good grades because they're afraid of being bullied, there are few honor students... I think it said 73 out of about 1500 used to have their names only posted on a bulletin board, but they're just ignored. The adminstration decided that they should great an incentive for those with B averages each quarter. Each honor roll student would recieve a check for $100 at an assembly. At the assembly the kids are humiliated.
Cedric Jennings is not a run-of-the-mill student in this setting. His grade point average is a 4.02. Once after one of the assemblies a kid at school came up told him that he didn't like him and motioned to a gun in his pocket. So, Cedric doesn't go to the assemblies any more.
This story is ridiculously sad so far, not like sobbing sad, but just "THIS SUCKS SO MUCH. HOW CAN PEOPLE LIVE LIKE THIS?" sad. There's lots of violence in the neighborhood, for Cedric's mom it was either abort Cedric or keep her boyfriend. It's a great look into something I've not familiar with Suskind has me feeling for the characters and I'm not far in.
ALSO. This book is NONFICTION because it's based on a series in Wall Street Journal.
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