This book was another somewhat difficult read. I read this book as if it were fiction instead of non-fiction. It was only when she began talking about being on The Wire and I did a Google search for her that she became real for me. While searching around the web, I found this interesting interview that she did for Fader magazine to promote her character on The Wire. http://www.thefader.com/articles/2006/12/05/listening-in-part-i. I also found a quote online from a New York Times article that said “Stephen King, in Entertainment Weekly, called her “perhaps the most terrifying female villain to ever appear in a television series.” and she was playing a character that was similar to her own life and the show somewhat mirrors and is filmed where she grew up. Once, I started to extra research about her, I found that I just wanted to more and more. I wanted to make sure she was real.
I think that teens would probably do the same thing. The Wire is one of the most talked about and popular shows on television and DVD. I have multiple people suggest that I watch it and the video store where I used to work can hardly keep it on the shelves. She is a celebrity and during her time on the show it seemed that everyone wanted an interview with her because her story is so interesting. I think it is great that she shared it as a novel. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up as a movie.
It is still amazing to me that her real life almost read like a movie or a television show. I kept thinking this stuff couldn’t really be happening, no one’s life can really be like this. I wonder if teens would also read it this way, especially teens that are growing up in rural and suburban settings. I wonder if it would read like they were watching an episode of The Wire or Law and Order. The one thing that I thought was too good to be true was the fact that she survived it all and was able to get a job as an actress on a show like The Wire. I know this is non-fiction and I know that she probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to share her story otherwise, but it still stuck with me in a strange way.
