Honky
By:
Dalton Conley
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Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5
Description:
As recalled in Honky, Dalton Conley’s childhood has all of the classic elements of growing up in America. But the fact that he was one of the few white boys in a mostly black and Puerto Rican neighborhood on Manhattan’s Lower East Side makes Dalton’s childhood unique.
At the age of three, he couldn’t understand why the infant daughter of the black separatists next door couldn’t be his sister, so he kidnapped her. By the time he was a teenager, he realized that not even a parent’s devotion could protect his best friend from a stray bullet. Years after the privilege of being white and middle class allowed Conley to leave the projects, his entertaining memoir allows us to see how race and class impact us all. Perfectly pitched and daringly original, Honky is that rare book that entertains even as it informs.
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 2001-09-18
Customer Review: 4 out of 5
A pretty damn good book. - I was assigned to read this by my High School teacher in summer.
This book really shows the real life of kids unlike the other books I've read. This story lacks a main focus though, it's mainly about a kid's life from almost start to around the age of a teen.
This book was interesting to read. I'd like to give out details but, I'm afraid I might spoil it for you all. :(
But, the ending wasn't what I was expecting, so that was kind of a letdown.
Great book, get it and read it!
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Brilliant Memoir with Bright Insights! - Honky is a memoir in which Dalton Conley reflects on his youth. He tells of his position that seems so peculiar and uncommon: a white minority. What is so great about this book is that it is a lesson in racial and social stratification; however, by weaving wit, wisdom, and analysis, Conley makes it feel as though it is just a novel. This is a true example of making academic analysis personal and exciting to read, something we do not see too much of these days.
I was first inspired to read this book after taking Dalton Conley's Introduction to Sociology Course at NYU. He makes his presence known in person as well as the fact that he makes his voice come through the pages of Honky.
Customer Review: 5 out of 5
W/O objectification - This was one of the greatest reads that I had come across on the close examination of 'how races are lived in US'. Due to the nature of the author's profession (a sociologist), the handle of it is skillful and clinical as possible when he gets down to the subject of 'how people lived in NYC'. And the huge part of it is inevitably about races. The triumphe of this project is that the author somehow manages to carry the whole process out without objectifying the subject or dehumanizing people who are involved because he includes himself as the huge part of the experiment, the project and THE LIFE in NYC in 80's. To his eyes, himself as an only white kid among predominantly Black and hispanic kids or Chinese school system in lower Manhattan is just another life in the time and the place. The persepective he carries through the book is literally so rare that I am astonished to learn what a treasure he has had. I do appreciate the fact that he has incorporated the whole experiences to make it really accessible to indiscriminate readers.
Customer Review: 4 out of 5
The Same, Yet Different - Dalton Conley has written a very good book looking at race relations through the prism of his life growing up white in a largely minority project of New York City. What comes out of his writing are two points.
First: Being the minority in any situation is not good. Conley writes about being picked on and beat up for being white. He writes about being the provebial outsider because of his skin color. He writes about his various friends of different colors and the politics surrounding their friendships in the hood. Interestingly, he writes about being treated differently by the teachers because of his skin color. Conley writes about not being hit by minority teachers because they thought that white parents were soft on their children and they would not allow him to be struck. Do I hear the word stereotype? HMMM...
Second: There are advantages to being white, even if you are poor. This is one point that Conley drives home time and time again. Yes he was beaten up for being white, but he also was able to go to better schools due to connections of his parents. You find out all of the parents that cared for their children tried to move them to better schools with the address game, except because his parents had friends in better neighboorhoods he was able to go to the schools his friends couldn't. Conley was also able to go to the country for summer vacation that his peers did not have access. His parents were poor, but also educated and that made a difference in his life. Conley had a role model which helped him leave the projects.
This book is poignant. I lived a somewhat similar life as a white kid among minorities for a good number of years. While my experiences are not exactly the same, they do have similar bases of being beat up for being white and trying to steer through the racial politics of friendship when your friends abandon you because it is easier than standing and doing the right thing in the face of large groups. Being treated differently in school by teachers agravated various situations, even if the teachers were minorities themselves and were doing the right thing for all concerned. These are some of the same experiences, but not on the harsh level he lived.
Honky is a good read and gives some insight to living white inside minority neighborhoods. A good comparison to "Honky" is "All Souls" by Michael Patrick McDonald. A story of an Irish Catholic family growing up in South Boston. There is plenty of racism there also, but from the other side and growing up depseratly poor is the key to both books. Highly Recommended
Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Thanks for the memories - I grew up in the lower east side around the same time as Dalton. The Baruch projects was my home from birth to age 27. I was able to enjoy this book at three levels. One, is was a validation of my experiences. I was a nuyorican nerd who felt like I belonged and didn't belong. I believe Dalton had that feeling as well. I also thought the book indirectly educated people about identity; although white, Dalton was one of us, a lower east sider. Lastly, I enjoyed it as an american story. Alot of people made it out of there and did well.
My only criticisms have to do with some of the time-lines. They don't match my memory (e.g., drugstore hostage dates may be off. Stuff like that was memorable because it was rare). I also wished that Dalton would have addressed issues around racial identity of the the people in the Lower East Side. Puerto Ricans adopted alot of african-american ways. Also, there were white puerto ricans who had some of the advantages that Dalton could have-Albert Ortega, Ph.D.
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