Random Family (Adrian Nicole LeBlanc)

Recently I finished reading 'Random Family' by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc. The book, which was published in 2003, tracks the lives of several people, all more or less related either through blood or marriage or friendship, who lived in the Bronx (or upstate, in Troy) during a ten-year period through the 1980s and 90s. Many of the men are involved in drug trafficking and other crimes, both petty and serious (and most eventually end up in jail), while the women tend to have many babies from different fathers and then scrape by as best as they can in what is obviously a daunting and demoralizing welfare-system bureaucracy. As a book, it makes for an incredible, fast-paced read: LeBlanc tends to write short, uncomplicated sentences that nevertheless perfectly convey the complicated (and shifting) emotional landscape of her subjects as they (like all of us, perhaps) struggle to get by in life, and she captures the occasional joys as well as the more frequent hurdles and tragedies they endure. It's hard not to root for the people in her book, even when you disagree with the choices they make or suspect that they possess qualities you would probably seek to avoid (as much as possible) in family members and friends.
Of course I could not read it without thinking about similarities between the 'street culture' described in the book and that which exists in Washington Heights, and how for the most part I (like the majority of people in the neighborhood, I believe, whether we are poor or less poor) do not appreciate the drug dealing and loud stereos and violence (both petty and drug-related) that seems to be part and parcel of any impoverished neighborhood in the modern era. I also understand the kind of governmental (and parental) neglect that leads children to make the kind of choices that will make their lives harder as they grow up and will most likely condemn them to a life of poverty. But at the same time, I have personally been terrorized by thuggish teenagers (mostly girls!) on my block whom I feel fairly certain share many things in common with the teenage girls described in the book, so my heart was at times conflicted to read about their suffering, and perhaps felt a certain kind of cheap, self-righteous pleasure about it -- as if they were getting what they deserved -- notwithstanding my undying belief that we are all individuals and it's obviously unfair to blame any person for the actions of another.
Leblanc shows in vivid detail how difficult life can be on the streets, but (and this is not necessarily a criticism of her work -- particularly as entertainment -- but more a reflection of my own circumstances) I'm not sure she offers any kind of insight or redemption, which is perhaps troubling for those who seek to escape the life she describes.

Comments

[katiebakes]

I am so glad you read the book! I also thought of you because she worked on the book for over a decade before being finished with it :)

For me, the hardest part to read was when the daughter comes back from camp and everything regresses back to the way it was previously, because I was a counselor at one of those camps for four years.

[Matthew Gallaway]

Yes, Katie--that was soooo sad. I think the author made a very conscious decision to simply describe and not judge, which made for great reading but was difficult at times for those of us whose lives have intersected with kids in similar situations as those described in the book. (I.e., ugh, the cruelty of our stupid world!)

[25thcenturygirl]

do you know what happens to the family after Adrian finished her book?

[Matthew Gallaway]

I do not -- sorry! Its a good question, though.