{"product_id":"9780812983623","title":"Buck","description":"\u003cp\u003eA coming-of-age story about navigating the wilds of urban America and the shrapnel of a self-destructing family, \u003ci\u003eBuck\u003c\/i\u003e shares the story of a generation through one original and riveting voice. MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: his mother a dancer, his father a revered professor. But as a teenager, MK was alone on the streets of North Philadelphia, swept up in a world of drugs, sex, and violence. MK’s memoir is an unforgettable tale of how one precocious, confused kid educated himself through gangs, rap, mystic cults, ghetto philosophy, and, eventually, books. It is an inspiring tribute to the power of literature to heal and redeem us.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eBuck\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e“A story of surviving and thriving with passion, compassion, wit, and style.”\u003cb\u003e—Maya Angelou \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“In America, we have a tradition of black writers whose autobiographies and memoirs come to define an era. . . . \u003ci\u003eBuck \u003c\/i\u003emay be this generation’s story.”\u003cb\u003e—NPR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The voice of a new generation. . . . You will love nearly everything about \u003ci\u003eBuck\u003c\/i\u003e.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eEssence\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A virtuoso performance . . . [an] extraordinary page-turner of a memoir . . . written in a breathless, driving hip-hop prose style that gives it a tough, contemporary edge.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Philadelphia Inquirer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Frequently brilliant and always engaging . . . It takes great skill to render the wide variety of characters, male and female, young and old, that populate a memoir like \u003ci\u003eBuck\u003c\/i\u003e. Asante [is] at his best when he sets out into the city of Philadelphia itself. In fact, that city is the true star of this book. Philly’s skateboarders, its street-corner philosophers and its tattoo artists are all brought vividly to life here. . . . Asante’s memoir will find an eager readership, especially among young people searching in books for the kind of understanding and meaning that eludes them in their real-life relationships. . . . A powerful and captivating book.”\u003cb\u003e—Hector Tobar, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Remarkable . . . Asante’s prose is a fluid blend of vernacular swagger and tender poeticism. . . . [He] soaks up James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston and Walt Whitman like thirsty ground in a heavy rain. \u003ci\u003eBuck\u003c\/i\u003e grew from that, and it’s a bumper crop.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “\u003ci\u003eBuck\u003c\/i\u003e is so honest it floats—even while it’s so down-to-earth that the reader feels like an ant peering up from the concrete. It’s a powerful book. . . . Asante is a hip-hop raconteur, a storyteller in the Homeric tradition, an American, a rhymer, a big-thinker singing a song of himself. You’ll want to listen.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Buffalo News\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Random House Publishing Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47007130124528,"sku":"9780812983623","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780812983623_p0.jpg?v=1763737727","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780812983623","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}