Grace After Midnight: A Memoir
Grace After Midnight: A Memoir book cover

Grace After Midnight: A Memoir

Hardcover – Bargain Price, November 1, 2007

Price
$57.45
Format
Hardcover
Pages
240
Publisher
Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date
Dimensions
5.5 x 0.88 x 8.25 inches
Weight
11.2 ounces

Description

From Publishers Weekly Pearson, who stars in HBO's The Wire , was born ill and underweight from her mother's drug habits, and later worked for a crack dealer in East Baltimore. At age 15 she killed a woman in self-defense and wound up in the Jessup State Penitentiary. She got a wakeup call when the notorious dealers she called Uncle and Father wound up respectively dead and imprisoned for life. Once out on parole, Pearson took an assembly-line job and didn't give [her neighborhood dope dealers] a second glance, but after repeatedly getting fired because of her rap sheet, she returned to dealing before a chance meeting gave her a way off the street for good. This isn't a light celebrity bio, but a powerful story of someone trying to find her way in a dark world, realizing she can still choose her life's direction even in tremendously difficult circumstances. Pearson's narrative is spare, even poetic, rendering traumatic moments all the more powerful. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 'A powerful story of someone trying to find her way in a dark world, realizing she can still choose her life's direction even in tremendously difficult circumstances. Pearson's narrative is spare, even poetic, rendering traumatic moments all the more powerful' - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Felicia still lives in Baltimore, Maryland and is currently studying at the Baltimore school of the Arts. She's currently shooting two feature movies.David Ritz's most recent bestseller is Tavis Smiley's What I Know For Sure. He has also collaborated with Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Laila Ali and B.B. King on their life stories. He has won a Grammy, a Deems Taylor ASCAP award, four Rolling Stone/Ralph J. Gleason book awards and is the co-composer of "Sexual Healing." He lives in Los Angeles. Read more

Features & Highlights

  • While Felicia is a brilliant actor in a truly chilling role, what's most remarkable about "Snoop" is what she has overcome in her life. Snoop was born a three-pound cross-eyed crack baby in East Baltimore. Those streets are among the toughest in the world, but Snoop was tougher. The runt of the ghetto showed an early aptitude for drug slinging and violence and thrived as a baby gangsta until she landed in Jessup state penitentiary after killing a woman in self-defense. There she rebelled violently against the system, and it was only through the cosmic intervention of her mentor, Uncle Loney, that she turned her life around. A couple of years ago, Snoop was discovered in a nightclub by one of The Wire's cast members and quickly recruited to be one of television's most frightening and intriguing villians.While the story of coming up from the hood has been told by Antwone Fisher and Chris Gardner, among others, Snoop's tale goes far deeper into The Life than any previous books. And like Mary Karr's story, Snoop's is a woman's story from a fresh point of view. She defied traditional conventions of gender and sexual preference on the hardest streets in America and she continues to do so in front of millions of viewers on TV.

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(301)
★★★★
25%
(126)
★★★
15%
(75)
★★
7%
(35)
-7%
(-35)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

No Wire secrets but still a GREAT read!

I picked up this book after watching the TV series The Wire which I am a huge fan of. I was hoping Felicia would reveal some behind-the-scenes secrets about her time working on the TV show in this book, but it just isn't that kind of book.

Instead, she tells the story of her life up to the point when the book was published. She has definitely had a difficult yet interesting life growing up in Baltimore. Even though she was adopted by very loving foster parents, she was drawn to life on the streets and got caught up in the world of drug dealing. She also had a lot of anger inside and quickly got a reputation as someone who was quite violent and would be called upon to beat people up.

Later she gets involved in a fight and kills a woman in self-defense, then lands in a women's prison. While in prison a lot of things happen and she begins reconsidering her life and doing a lot of introspection. After getting out of jail she struggles to find legitimate jobs and this was quite a sad portion because she was a hard worker but some people couldn't see past her criminal record.

Then she ended up getting hired to work on The Wire. On the back flap of this book it says she was introduced in the third season and would be starring in the upcoming fifth season. But The Wire ended in 2008 so this book is a bit older and was written while the show was still airing. Like I said, it doesn't give any real details about the show and is mostly about her life. If you're looking for juicy behind-the-scenes Wire details, this isn't the book for you but I think you'll still enjoy reading her story.

Overall this book is quite a quick and easy read. I finished it in one day because the chapters are short and to the point. I really liked this no-nonsense writing style and it made me like her even more after reading about her life. I recommend it to anyone looking for an interesting true story/memoir and even for die-hard Wire fans despite the lack of details about the show.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

great book poor delivery

The book "Grace After Midnight" was new as promised and it was hard covered. It was bought for psych class in high school. The topic was very interesting as we live in a very quiet town. However the delivery was not as promised and I paid extra for that... It was post marked the day before it was to be delivered and coming to New England from the west coast so I was a bit upset! When you pay for priority you expect prompt delivery!
✓ Verified Purchase

Great quick read/

I bought this for a friend and she loved the book, she loved it so much she read it front to back in like 4 hours.