Book Review: Another Brooklyn

Another Brooklyn, by Jacqueline Woodson

A great novel is both familiar and enlightening. This one qualifies.

It's familiar in the sense that Woodson writes about growing up on the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn, near the same time as I grew up on similar streets in the Inwood neighborhood of upper Manhattan. We played the same games and shared related experiences of life in the big city.

But, of course, our perspectives are world's apart -- mine of a white boy being reared by immigrant, Irish Catholic parents, and hers that of a women of color growing up in a motherless apartment.

I think I know her story, but of course, I don't.

 And such is the wonder of this book: Woodson gently removes any preconceived notions of her life I might have, and replaces them with a stark reality. She shows us her fears and her joys. She bring us small moments of love coupled with times of change and rebellion.

When August and her brother and father move into the neighborhood -- her mother is coming "tomorrow" -- she looks out her apartment window and longs to be a part of the three girls she sees skipping together down the block. She eventually gets her wish, but as the story develops and the now four friends' relationships change, she begins to look for a way out -- to find "another Brooklyn."

It's sad and it's happy. It's funny and it's serious. Overall, it's a damn good book. I highly recommend it.