An instant New York Times bestseller, named a best book of the year by The New York Times Book Review, Amazon, and Entertainment Weekly, among others, this celebrated account of a young African-American man who escaped Newark, NJ, to attend Yale, but still faced the dangers of the streets when he returned is, “nuanced and shattering” (People) and “mesmeric” (The New York Times Book Review). When … New York Times Book Review).
When author Jeff Hobbs arrived at Yale University, he became fast friends with the man who would be his college roommate for four years, Robert Peace. Robert’s life was rough from the beginning in the crime-ridden streets of Newark in the 1980s, with his father in jail and his mother earning less than $15,000 a year. But Robert was a brilliant student, and it was supposed to get easier when he was accepted to Yale, where he studied molecular biochemistry and biophysics. But it didn’t get easier. Robert carried with him the difficult dual nature of his existence, trying to fit in at Yale, and at home on breaks.
A compelling and honest portrait of Robert’s relationships–with his struggling mother, with his incarcerated father, with his teachers and friends–The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace encompasses the most enduring conflicts in America: race, class, drugs, community, imprisonment, education, family, friendship, and love. It’s about the collision of two fiercely insular worlds–the ivy-covered campus of Yale University and the slums of Newark, New Jersey, and the difficulty of going from one to the other and then back again. It’s about trying to live a decent life in America. But most all this “fresh, compelling” (The Washington Post) story is about the tragic life of one singular brilliant young man. His end, a violent one, is heartbreaking and powerful and “a haunting American tragedy for our times” (Entertainment Weekly).more
It was a very sad and tragic story of a wasted life. Robert Peace was an extremely intelligent young man who was given many opportunities to better his life. He just couldn’t walk away from what he grew up learning, and it cost him his life. This is a story everyone should read to get an understanding of what it is like to grow up in a drug influenced environment, and the hold that that environment has on young people.
Eye opening to a life I have not experienced. So much in this book about life as a poor black person. Rob was obviously brilliant but I bet his father was too. Such a waste of intelligence. However to some degree I feel society is to blame
This book couldn’t have come To my attention at a better time In my life and the current times in the USA. The True story of Robert Peace, Written by his once roommate at Harvard, is a deep dive into the complicated areas of overt and covert racism. This book was a bit hard to get through because Robert was a young man from ‘the projects’ who had an unusually close bond with his a mom, as she did with him. That thread guides this story until the end. This author was able to articulate his own pain in trying to be a ‘good white friend from the right side of the tracks’ to a black man, his college roommate and soon close friend, from the wrong side of the tracks’. The character of Robert is so incredibly complex, but let’s ‘us’, (I am a white woman, wondering how to really get the true stories and to really be allowed in’ to my black friend’s lives), really learn the reality of the permanency of being raised in poor and black/brown segregated neighborhoods, where availability of drugs, quick money for those with little other access, and the tragic danger of living in and around these areas exists ubiquitously. Sadly, while the book was so well written, Especially the info on his influential catholic Jesuit education, rise to leadership in a community where his Dad was a leader, ar Harvard, his incredible intelligence, and the full explication of white and black realities in this country had me truly crying at the end.
I really enjoyed this book, life can be had and overcome
Very interesting story , I really enjoyed the book. Very relatable characters and story moved along well.
Brilliant book. Poverty or family development took a brilliant student from Yale, where he excelled, into a downward spiral. Author’s first book. Would have profited from editing to speed the narrative.
Extremely well written. Even though you know the outcome from the beginning, you keep forgetting that you know that as you worry and root for this incredible young man and feel hopeful for his beloved mother The world would have been better with him in it. A must read IMO.
Such a tragic story of a brilliant young man who had such promise. He just couldn’t seem to leave the bad element of his childhood neighborhood behind. So sad.
Not to sound harsh, but the tragedy was how he wasted his life when he had so much potential to help and influence so many others. As a young person, it sounds as though he had many people helping and encouraging him to go far, which he absolutely did. Unfortunately, he couldn’t seem to break away from his old life. He was given an “all expenses paid” Ivy League education. Why continue to deal drugs all during college? He obviously felt the need to care for his family after graduation. Seems he might have accomplished this much better by first establishing himself in a legitimate career and subsequently helping them. So sad; he could have been such a role model for others.