Hold Love Strong
By Matthew Aaron Goodman
Touchstone, $24.99, 358 pages
This strong debut adds new punch to the coming-of-age genre by focusing on a young boy in a NY City housing project. Abraham Singleton arrives into the world in the cramped bathroom of his grandmother’s apartment in Ever Park. His mother is only thirteen and his four-year-old uncle Donnel cuts Abraham’s umbilical cord: not a fortuitous start. However as Abraham grows up, his dreams for the future and desire to move beyond the limited world of Ever shine through, even though he faces the obstacles of poverty and racism daily. Maturing rapidly, he grapples with the incarceration of his uncles and his mother’s crack addiction, but also falls in love. As graduation nears, an opportunity to attend Brandeis University surfaces and Abraham must confront his fears of leaving his family behind. While the first-person narrative struggles at the beginning (it can be difficult to be convincing about events the narrator cannot remember himself), the pace picks up when Abraham speaks from direct experience. Sharp prose and a wonderful cast of deftly imagined characters help overcome the few predictable inner-city plot points. Goodman writes with confidence and provides an optimistic ending without becoming maudlin. An inspiring read.
Reviewed by Deb Jurmu
