Book Review of "Random Family: Love, drugs, trouble and coming of age in the Bronx" by LeBlane, A. N.

Essay by llilangel02University, Bachelor'sA+, September 2005

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This book tells the story of a family with a tough life, and shows the difficulties the adolescents have to go through while trying to grow up. Some of their problems are self-inflicted, some are due to their upbringing, and some of them are due to the way society treats them. Mother Lourdes starts her children's lives on the wrong foot. She baby-sits for money to buy drugs and has unhealthy relationships with men. She depends on them for money, affection, and doesn't seem to care about how they treat her and her children. In my opinion, this is horrible; I totally disagree with this behavior.

The men in her life treated her so terribly that her children started in an abusive, negative cycle that that they expected from the world. In my opinion, it is very unfortunate that the abuse that these children went through is very common for families that grow up in poverty.

I disagree with children being subjected to this kind of treatment, but I do know that it is very common. This is proven through Jessica, Mother Lourdes' daughter, without any parental guidance she grew up on the streets. She learns to use her sexuality to get things she wants, and she ends up pregnant at 13 years old. In my opinion, this is very sad, but it happens a lot, not always just in places like the Bronx, but usually to girls with the same sort of family life. Like other women in her life Jessica used sex to keep the men in her life interested in her.

Jessica ends up having children with different men, before she meets Boy George, who she thinks is the perfect man. He is a drug dealer with all sorts of luxuries at his disposal. He...