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    Drama City
    Drama City
    Drama City
    Audiobook8 hours

    Drama City

    Written by George Pelecanos

    Narrated by JD Jackson

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Best-selling author George Pelecanos takes listeners into the mean streets of Washington D.C. in his latest thought-provoking work of crime fiction. Lorenzo Brown has just been released from prison. Once the member of a brutal gang, he has vowed to change his life for the better. But his new job brings him face-to-face with the members of his old crew on a daily basis-and now it looks like he may be caught in the midst of a brewing turf war. "[Pelecanos] is one of today's most stellar writers of hard-boiled crime fiction." -The New York Times
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 18, 2011
    ISBN9781461800293
    Drama City
    Author

    George Pelecanos

    George P. Pelecanos is the author of nine richly praised crime novels set in and around Washington D.C., including Hell to Pay, Right as Rain, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, King Suckerman, and The Big Blowdown.

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    Reviews for Drama City

    3.5/5

    161 ratings9 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Great, reads like an extended portion of The Wire. Any fan of that show will like this book.
    • 3/5
      This was a pretty decent crime story.It's hard for me to talk about this book without talking about the Wire. I'd never have heard of the author if it wasn't for the Wire, after all. I think the Wire was a great TV show because it had details and interesting nuggets, not because the main narrative was particularly intriguing. I watched the Wire waiting for my favorite characters (who, with the exception of Omar, were always the minor ones, if not the outright marginal: Bodie, Slim, Brother Mouzone...), and the subtlety (and the familiarity) of the city.This story probably gave the same % of interesting nuggets, but because it was a 6 hour book-on-CD and not a 6 season, 13 episode per season, hour per episode epic, I can't say it was particularly great. The main reason I kept listening was because I live where all these events took place.New York city has such a cultural hegemony that every goddamn book, TV show and movie are supposed to take place there. When I saw the Wire, it was so refreshing to not have to look at NYC (or Toronto, NYC's screen lookalike) or think about the culture of NYC. But it's a true pleasure to read about DC, and to have my neighborhood's landmarks be the backdrop to a narrative was a primary factor in my finishing this book.
    • 4/5
      This is a good easy to read book. The main character is Lorenzo Brown an ex con who lives in Washington DC, he is trying to get his life back on track he works as a Humane officer helping animals that have been neglected. He is friendly with his Parole officer Rachel Lopez and from his day to day dealings with the people of Washington he sees his old gang and other undesirables. There is a bit of a turf war between two rival gangs. Rachel is then attacked and Lorenzo is very tempted to get involved. His old crew Boss Nigel tells him to stay out of it. It doesn't end well for the gangs or Nigel. Lorenzo with the help of his dog Jasmin stays out of trouble. Good book very enjoyable. All the George Pelecanos books I have read have been excellent.
    • 3/5
      Murder and gang wars in Washington, D.C., including some who make it and some who don't.  Helps with understanding of how people get caught up in these activities by looking at long time relationships of people who go to grade school together, then either prison, job or college. Warning: Some coverage of dog fighting.
    • 4/5
      Wow! This is his best so far and probably the closest in sensibility to The Wire. Yet there are no cops in it. Well, a few glimpses of them but they're not the protagonists. The POVs most of the time belong to Lorenzo, still on parole, working diligently for a pet rescue organization and pretty close to never going back to prison, and to Rachel Lopez, his parole officer, who is privately struggling with an alcohol and possible sex addiction. Female POV is not George's strong point, which is why I give this 4 stars.Otherwise, this is pretty damn good, better than a mere airport time killer. I'd emphasize that this isn't a police procedural or a mystery; the murders of and by drug dealers unfold before us. The second shoot-out was so well done; I was figuratively on the edge of my seat!I spotted private eye Derek Strange once but he never appears by name. Although of course it takes place in DC, Drama City reminds me of The Wire because of the fullness of most of the bad guys' characters. They could have gone another way. Because of their broken homes, parents in jail, the temptations and material attractions, well, they didn't. As in other books, Pelecanos frequently rounds back to the turning point age for boys: that's high school, especially early high school. Maybe there was an attraction to sports, a book, a career: they could have gone another way or they still can but ... the odds are not so great. At near the last moment,Pelecanos even sketches how the most unredeemable character, Rico. turned so bad. He was constantly abused by his mother as a child.Pelecanos isn't the profound pessimist that The Wire's producer and sometime writer David Simon is. OK, I haven't seen the entire TV series by a long shot but from what I've seen and heard, when you start feeling for a particular young character on the TV show, chances are good the kid will be killed or off to jail for a very long spell.Not only Pelecanos but even some of his characters (Lorenzo and perhaps even his old drug lord buddy Nigel) see glimmers of hope and possibility. The high-school drop-out girl knocked up by her no-good boyfriend, with the help of her mother or grandmother, might go back to school, even college, and raise a good kid. Moreover, we're seeing the world of the ex-cons in this book. Some, like Lorenzo, have vowed never to go back. Prison has worked in a way. Lorenzo, and some of his cohorts at Narcotics Anonymous are moving to a place where they might be able to help a kid go the right way or help another ex-con. I would like to know more about those who, still "on paper", intentionally "violate" so they can go back in the can; they feel they aren't ready to do the straight world yet, so better to go back in before they do something far worse.This book answered a question I've long wondered about: who would knowingly hire an ex-con? Well, ex-cons themselves are apparently big employers. Construction work and hairdressers, maybe restaurants and mechanics. As for the work of dogcatchers, animal rescue and pet shelters ... I never thought much about it before but I learned something. Good research, George. Of course, some dogs are like some people: because of what's been done to them, they're unredeemable and have to be put down. But the author doesn't hit you over the head with the parallels.
    • 5/5
      The author writes about the parts of D.C. that no tourist buses ever visit: the ghettos in which the drug trade is the only path to advancement. Everyone who participates knows its an ephemeral life: sooner or later you go to prison or you die. Yet, its street cred, its riches, its macho violence seems to be as addictive as the drugs being sold. Occasionally, however, someone breaks away and rejoins the parallel universe most of us inhabit. This is the story of one of those men, and the people who help him, tempt him, threaten him, uplift him. The dialogue rings incredibly true, a fly on the wall experience. This one will stay with you.
    • 4/5
      Wow, a quick read, barely over 3 hours. Almost put it down at the start as it had very tough material, animal cruelty, dog fighting in particular. However sticking with it wasn't so bad. Pelecanos used it just enough to make the point needed without it being gratuitous. It was a riveting storyline that kept me rooting for the good guy to hang in there and though things didn't turn out perfectly for all, it did have a whew, that's good ending.
    • 4/5
      This one is slow and deliberate in it's pacing. The plot is simple and straight forward. The characters are the same. The story is about inner city gangs and how they attract young men with their promise of something better where they become trapped and then die or go to jail. The central male character is trying to move past his affliation to one of these gangs. He is trying to become a part of the fabric of his community without the gang. The central female character is his PO, who in some ways is just as damaged as he is. They both need support in finding stabilty within their community. They need each other but the book is not about them saving each other; it's about being able to find the things in the real world that Lorenzo wanted when he joined the gang. The best part of the book is twofold. The telling of the story of Lorenzo being a Humane Service Officer is really well done. It is slowly developed and seemingly secondary to the bigger story of whether he will get sucked back into the gang or not. But this story is actually just as compelling and is obviously where Lorenzo finds a place where he can be just as committted to what he does in the real world as he once was to the gang. And the second part of the book that is really well done is the NA meetings. It is somewhat of an indictment of a book to have NA meetings be the best part of the book. But it is also true that any author that can use such a simple device so effectively, is a great writer.
    • 4/5
      A crime drama with evocative themes of redemption, community and of all things - the joy of being a pet owner. Take a guided tour through the gritty streets of DC with some memorable, honest characters. Not entirely true to genre, but a decent read anyway.