All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
by Michael Macdonald
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael MacdonaldEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-11-01
ISBN: 0807072133
Number of pages: 296
Publisher: Beacon Press
Book Reviews of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
Book Review: It was a good book
Summary: 4 Stars
The book All Souls: A Family Story from Southie, is a story written by Michael Patrick MacDonald. MacDonald describes in great detail the chaotic history of growing up in the projects of South Boston during the 1960's, 70's and 80's. The story reveals to us to the cruel realities the residents of Southie suffered on a daily basis. According to MacDonald, Southie was "the best place in the world" (MacDonald, 1999) In reality it was a place filled with drugs, corruption, crime, poverty, and racism. MacDonald shows how tough it was to grow up in the inner city.
Throughout the book, MacDonald discusses a number of different events that affected his life. The story starts off with his family's early days of living in Columbia Point. Columbia Point was mostly an African-American neighborhood. At this time in history, racism was very aggressive among whites and African-Americans. MacDonald shares various accounts that he and his 9 brothers and sisters had with racism. His family and the other few Irish people who lived in this neighborhood had to defend themselves daily.
A few years later the MacDonald Family moved to their grandfather's place in Jamaica Plain. The six boys slept in one room and the two girls slept in another. The mother Helen slept on the couch in the living room. Michael tells some funny and interesting stories about working with social workers. At this time, 85% of people living in South Boston were collecting welfare. Social workers would drop in from time to time to check in on the family. When Helen (Ma) would get a phone call from a social worker she would jump up in a hurry. The problem was not that the house was a mess but the owned too many nice appliances. Michael tells the reader how his family hid the TV and toaster so the social workers would not find them. The MacDonald's had no male to take care of the family so they had to rely on welfare.
With the help of some politicians and the Boston Housing Authority, a place opened up for the family to move to the Old Colony projects. Old Colony is mostly an Irish Catholic community where most of the children were raised without a father. As Michael travels to and from some of these places, he expresses many interesting comments and observations. He explains the first few weeks at the projects with humorous stories about capturing cockroaches in their house and watching action unfold on the streets below with his siblings.
In 1974 the Boston politicians wanted to end segregation by bussing white kids to black schools and vise-versa. Michael speaks how this brought the unity among his neighbors during the busing riots in 1974. They joined together and fought the city throwing rocks at buses and police, holding protest marches, and demanding an end to busing. Many of the kid's skipped school of even dropped out because the protesting was so severe. These scenes are shown in such great detail that the author makes readers feel as if they are in the heart of the action. Michael does a good job of putting the reading right in the situation. This book gives me good insight of how some families live in the inner cities. It really shows us how some families are in survival mode. Social workers who work in the inner city need energy to be able to breathe some hope into their clients. Social workers also need to be knowledgeable about the community and resources that fit their clients.
Further into the story, we learn of the large-scale violence and drugs causing great turmoil within the community. Residents are in desperate need of rescue, but no one seems to care. Michael talks in painful detail of the great number of murders and suicides occurring on a daily basis in Southie. The saddest part of the book is when Michael tells the different stories of how he lost some of his brothers and sisters to drugs or violence. Davey was the second oldest boy. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was put into a mental institution for years. He was forced to take various medications. As the years went on, Davey's mind got worse. When he finally got out of the institution many of his family members did not recognize him. Davey's mind got worse and worse and one summer night he jumped off a building. The family was in shock at this incidence even though they were around death every day.
Many of Michaels siblings were on drugs or into some kind of violence. His sister Kathy was once on Valium, speed and cocaine when she jumped out of a window. She would spend many months in a coma and ended up being paralyzed for the rest of her life. The oldest brother Frankie was the one who carried the family name. He was known for his boxing skills and even became famous in the neighbor hoods. Frankie unfortunately got into drugs and ended up being shot in the back. Michael's other brother Kevin committed suicide not long after Frankie's death. Again Michael recaps these stories like you are there with him. Drugs are a big problem in the inner city. Social workers should work with law enforcement to take out drug dealers. They should also help those who are addicted to the drugs and need a way out.
Summary of All Souls: A Family Story from Southie
A breakaway bestseller since its first printing, All Souls takes us deep into Michael Patrick MacDonald's Southie, the proudly insular neighborhood with the highest concentration of white poverty in America. Rocked by Whitey Bulger's crime schemes and busing riots, MacDonald's Southie is populated by sharply hewn characters like his Ma, a miniskirted, accordion-playing single mother who endures the deaths of four of her eleven children. Nearly suffocated by his grief and his community's code of silence, MacDonald tells his family story here with gritty but moving honesty.Irish Books
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