"Up the Way" by BEN
Published 2009 by DC Book Diva Publications
Copyright 2009 by Benjamin Janey
Urban Literature
From the Back Cover:
"Not just another ghetto story. We're talking from behind bars; Ben has raised the bar - taking the art of storytelling to the next level! San Dora is a prison where there's money to be made. Joining forces childhood friends and CO's Mia and Jazz are on the come up and playing by their own rules.
Escalade and Do-Boy hold down the streets, while in prison Akbar, Malik, and Born Freedom represent the Gods to the fullest. Renegade female guards take no shorts and are "gansta"! Even the Warden has issues.
The sex is "salacious", and their swagger - "canonical". Take a journey into the lives of these characters, every page is unique, it's full of surprises and nothing is ever what it seems."
My Review:
I initially had a difficult time getting into this book. It takes place in New Jersey and the use of slang associated with that area was quite a conundrum. I found myself reading pages over and over again to increase my comprehension while still keeping track of the key characters. Even the title didn't register with me at first. "Up the Way," oh that means doing time in a penitentiary, got it.
My other stumbling block was navigating myself through prison lingo and references to the Muslim faith that wasn't familiar to me. Terms like "bout-it, Gods, and Astafallah," just to name a few peppered the novel to give it authenticity. Finally I got into the swing of it.
Jazz and Mia the key female characters in the book vie for your attention. They are both correctional officers at a New Jersey penitentiary. Jazz being the most seasoned, schools Mia on the ins, outs and who's who on campus. Mia appearing naive initially soon comes into her own when she meets a drug dealer on a bus on her way to work. The two ladies work the prison as if it were their own personal playground without regard for authority or repercussions. Their mission is to make money by any means necessary and if love, romance, and mayhem happen along the way then so be it.
Fred "Escalade" and Douglas "Do-Boy" head up the male cast of characters who regulate the street drug dealings, while Malik, Akbar and Born Freedom run the drug scene from behind the cell walls.
There are an array of characters intertwined in this story of a corrupt prison system meets street hustle. No one is who they appear to be.
There are some story lines that don't seem realistic but add to the drama and suspense, so I just went with it without analyzing it too much. After all it is fiction, and drama, sex, love, lies,and corruption make for a good story.
In addition, there were parts that were reminiscent of the movies "New Jack City" and "Belly", if you've seen those you will recognize the familiar scenes as you read along.
The ending is not what I anticipated, but went out with a bang..
Ben tied it up nicely at the end, and let's just say that good guys don't always finish first.
For me, the novel is not ready for mainstream, and I don't think Ben wrote it with mainstream in mind. What is does have is urban realism which can have its own following.
You can check out the publisher and her collection of novels at www.DCBookDIVA.com.
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