Old Boys, Old Girls by Edward P. Jones

Old Boys, Old Girls Reviews

• 
  Kate Wood

  I really liked the writing style and the story.
• 
  Anthony

  After leaving home at sixteen Caesar Matthew, petty criminal and drug pusher finds himself on trial for murder, and is sentenced to Lorton, D. C.'s prison in Virginia. After serving his time, and back in D.C. as a dishwasher, his younger brother and sister make contact with him, but he's reluctant to see them. Caesar Matthew's biggest internal struggle is will he return to a life of crime. It boils down to a flip of a coin.
• 
  a ☕︎

  one-man prison saga, lots of jumping back and forth in time à la garcia marquez. a paragraph i sced on my flight: boy, the first dead man. [caesar] was not insane, but he was three doors from it, which was how an old girlfriend, yvonne miller, would now and again playfully refer to his behavior. who the fuck is this antwoine bitch? caesar sometimes thought during the trial. and where is percy? it was only when the judge sentenced him to seven years in lorton, D.C.'s prison in virginia, that matters became somewhat clear again, and in those last moments [. . .] caesar remembered it all: sitting on the sidewalk, the liquor spinning his brain, his friends begging him to run, the club's music flooding out of the open door and going thumpety-thump-thump against his head. he sat a few feet from antwoine, and would have killed again for a cigarette. “that’s you, baby, so very near insanity it can touch you,” said yvonne, who believed in unhappiness and who thought happiness was the greatest trick God had invented. yvonne miller would be waiting for caesar at the end of the line.