Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
by Walter Mosley

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Book Reviews of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

Book Review: College Prep Review for Fellow High School Students
Summary: 4 Stars

This book has many adult themes in it from the dialogue to the main character being a convicted rapist and murderer. We believe this book should be read by more advanced readers. The format of the book is very complex. It does not go in chronological order. A chapter might begin with something that happened three weeks before the initial reading, and the whole chapter might be on that sole event. If you have read ~House on Mango Street~ by Sandra Cisneros, which follows the same format, this novel is not so hard. However, if you have not experienced this kind of reading before, you might find yourself lost frequently. Anyone below high school will have a hard time with this book. ~Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned~ has many dramatic and depressing themes and chapters. We do not suggest this if you are looking for an uplifting book. Many controversial subjects are covered in this book like racism, discrimination, the life in a ghetto, murder, rape, and many other things that some people find uneasy to talk to about.

However, the book is fascinating, suspenseful, and makes you think. The novel is made to keep you on your toes with every twist of the story. Socrates becomes the unlikely hero that by the end of the book will leave you wanting more. We recommend this to anyone that is looking for an intense and wonderful novel that shows that there could be a little good still left in anyone no matter what.

Greg, Christian, Carrie & Ni - Culver Academy

Summary of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned

"I either committed a crime or had a crime done to me every day I was in jail. Once you go to prison you belong there." Socrates Fortlow has done his time: twenty-seven years for murder and rape, acts forged by his huge, rock-breaking hands. Now, he has come home to a new kind of prison: two battered rooms in an abandoned building in Watts. Working for the Bounty supermarket, and moving perilously close to invisibility, it is Socrates who throws a lifeline to a drowning man: young Darryl, whose shaky path is already bloodstained and fearsome. In a place of violence and hopelessness, Socrates offers up his own battle-scarred wisdom that can turn the world around.

Easy Rawlins fans might initially find themselves disappointed by the absence of a mystery to unravel. But it's a gripping inner drama that unfolds over the pages of these stories, as Socrates comes to grips with the chaos, poverty, and violence around him. He tries to get and keep a job delivering groceries; takes in a young street kid named Darryl, who has his own murder to hide; and helps drive out the neighborhood crack dealer. Throughout, Mosley captures the rhythms of Watts life in prose both musical and hard-edged, resulting in a haunting look at a life bounded by lust, violence, fear, and a ruthlessly unsentimental moral vision.

Literary Books

• Subjects > Literature & Fiction > Literary
• Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Mystery