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There are currently 18 member reviews
for Losing My Cool
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Kat F. (Palatine, IL)
Shattering preconceived notions
As a middle-class, middle-aged white woman living now in white bread suburbia, I often (even though I know I shouldn't) look at younger people and make assumptions based on how they speak, what they are wearing, what they are listening to, etc. This book was a needed whack upside my head reminding me things aren't always what they seem. This would be a great selection for book clubs and generate interesting discussion.
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Duane F. (cape girardeau, MO)
Loosing My Cool
A good book is many things, interesting characters, a plot that draws you in, text that builds a sense of the scene the characters live within, the circumstances faced by these characters and most importantly, how the characters solve the situation they are faced with. "Loosing My Cool" took me to a world I know little about and for all intents, a world I did not understand or even wished to visit. I must admit, I was in awe of the author by the end of this book. A young man coming of age filled each and every page. It occurred to me that I was watching and listening to him as though he were my own son. A magnitude of words have been written about peer pressure, it is not a new idea that children fall prey to influences beyond the realm of home and their parents perceptions. But this book spoke with such a new, clear, honest and brave voice, I was compelled to listen. What young people are faced with in the fast, free, drug laced easy virtue of today's world is beyond what a parent can imagine. What this book does is allow a teenager to see the reality of that world. I think is should be required reading for every high school student. The seeds planted by caring parents need fertile ground to grow upon. Today's teenager can either give in and live in fear of the pressures of their peers and flounder, or they can grasp the vast and varied philosophies of the world and find their place to succeed, They can not think like us, they are living a different experience, but more importantly, we don't need them to think like us. What this book tells us is that they need their culture as a new starting point. Understanding that thinking and evaluating what life offers, is the real freedom. I love the simple wonder of this book! Even at the tender age of 64, Thomas Chatterton Williams gave me a new view of a world I was in opposition to, and made me rethink my viewpoint. Well done!
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Sharon W. (Two Rivers, WI)
Losing My Cool
I thoroughly enjoyed my book. Being from NJ originally also had me interested. It was very interesting to read how books and hip-hop came together. I was glad to see that the father kept on Thomas about a good education. Listening to his father, he went a long way. Even though his brother didn't study as hard, did well by himself too.
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Sande O. (Rochester, NY)
Now I think I understand a lot better
Hip hop music and culture always eluded me. Being a white female I failed to see the allure, but having read Thomas Chatterton William's new autobiography, I think I get it now. This is an extremely well written voyage into the world of modern day black youth. Although Williams was born to a biracial, middle class intellectual couple he was still drawn into the Hip Hop mystique
How he was attracted to it and how he extricated himself from it forms the nexus of this "coming of age" voyage. I found the trip and the author's reflections very rewarding. It is sure to stir controversy and start readers thinking.
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Barbara C. (Riverside, CA)
A Father's Love
Being the age of Thomas' father myself, that relationship was the thread that I followed through the book. The book was rich with philosophical turns, anecdotes, history, and culture from a very non-typical perspective....but very much driven by the loving, strong father. The book had so many facets to understand--hip hop to Hegel in 200 pages. I guess my desire would be to sit down at the table with Pappy and Thomas and understand the subtle nuances between their middle class and mine. I loved the book and couldn't put it down!
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Kendra R. (New Orleans, LA)
Engaging and thought provoking
I found it so engaging I read it in a day. Williams provides insight into what draws people into the hip-hop lifestyle as well as what it means to be black today. As he evolves his perspective, so follows the narrative. I'm already looking forward to rereading it and sharing it with friends so we can discuss it, black and white together.
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Terye B. (Scotts Valley, CA)
How cool is cool?
This was a fascinating story on so many levels. A young black man struggles for his identity and finds it in the black culture of Hip Hop and BET television. While fitting into a crowd, a group he never gets to know his true self. When away at college he finds himself and learns to appreciate the structured, collegiate life his father was preparing him for since childhood. This true story is told in an easy tone, and brings back all the teenage struggles for acceptance and the awakening of adulthood. I would highly recommend this for a book group.
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