Understand This

by Jervey Tervalon

Book Overview

A novel that explores a neighborhood in L.A.'s South Central and conveys what it means for African-American teenagers to survive on its streets.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 068804560X
• ISBN13: 9780688045609
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Solid Debut About Life in South Central

Tervalon grew up in South Central LA and taught high school in Watts, so it should come as no surprise that his 1994 debut novel set in the same milieu is a gripping polyphonic work that rings with authenticity. Eight different narrators alternate over fifteen chapters to bring to life the problems of growing up in the 'hood in story bookended by shootings. The book starts with teenage football player Francois tossing a football in the street with his old friend turned dealer Doug, who is promptly gunned down by his girlfriend Rika. The first three chapters follow Francois and his tough-as-nails, straight-talking girlfriend Margot, as he struggles to deal with the murder and avoid Doug's brother Ollie, who's intent on revenge. Chapter four shifts to Francois and Margot's English teacher Michaels, a figure who appears to be modeled on Tervalon and provides the first adult view on these struggling kids. Next chapter is Ollie, whose efforts to step into his big brother's shoes as player/dealer are quickly squashed. Francois's mother Ann steps in to provide the perspective of a long-despairing mother trying to keep her kids on the right path, but without a too much conviction. Crackhead Rika appears next, and is shown to have quickly shed her privileged background to become be a hardened femme fatale figure. Unfortunately, her backstory feels rather incomplete, and as she's a pivotal figure in the narrative, it's a pity Tervalon didn't devote a little more time to her story. The story then shifts back to Francois and Margot, whose stormy relationship appears to be destined to wreck upon the imminent shores of Margot's departure for college at UC-Santa Cruz. She details a one-week orientation trip up there that might as well be to a foreign country for its strangeness. Meanwhile, Francois dabbles in the drug trade up in Santa Barbara with his shady friend Tommy, who narrates the next chapter. Tommy isn't a particularly distinctive figure, and his voice feels somewhat similar to the braggadocio of Ollie. Francois returns to Los Angeles, where Ann picks up the story again, having decided to move to Atlanta. She struggles with Francois' inexplicable (to her) depression and refusal to go to school and graduate. Ann calls in Michaels, who half-heartedly tries to convince Francois to finish school up in the subsequent chapter. in the latter part of this, Michales meets up with Margot and shares an awkward dinner with her. He has a weird, uneasy attraction to Margot the whole book which is never fully articulated and feels kind of forced. Francois returns to explain his new setup as the manager of a check-cashing store for another dealer and his final date with Margot, escorting her to Michaels' wedding. Things take a turn for the melodramatic when Ollie's sister Sally appears to reveal the discovery of Rika as a pregnant homeless woman. Sally is a fierce Christian who doesn't take any backtalk from Ollie and comes across as a younger, firmer version of

Best novel I've read in a long time.

This novel does what the writer Tom Wolfe says a novel should do: it goes deeply into a world that most of us don't know and brings back a lively and intelligent report that is well rendered and ultimately unforgettable. The story is tragic and hopeful and insightful and sad all at once. Good book.

great

This book was really good, I liked the humor that was in the book

Wonderously various perspectives by a brilliant writer

Tervalon can write. There's not a sentence that doesn't fit. Every word is in exactly the right place and contributes to the whole, and yet the writing is so restrained and understated that you have no sense of the author's presence, but only of his many, extraordinarily vivid characters. The plot is the least interesting part of the book, but still it hooks you. The book, like life, has its melodramatic moments, but also moments of humor and lots of sympathetic insight into a host of interesting people trying, with varying degrees of success, to make the best of their lives. The abiding feeling left by the book is not the cliched angst of urban hopelessless, etc. etc., but something far more positive and difficult to describe, because the world of this book is far too complex and finely-drawn to be summarized in any string of adjectives. A terrific book.

A tough and tender romeo and juliet survive in the 'hood

UNDERSTAND THIS is a classic book for the 90's, a thoroughly modern re-telling of ROMEO AND JULIET. But this time, instead of the Montagues and the Capulets, we've got rival gangs in south central, unwed moms, and some damn good dialogue. Tervalon has a strong voice and his characters shine with the kind of authentic alive-ness that many writers strive for, but few realize. UNDERSTAND THIS sets a tone for inner-city romance. It's not enough to chronicle, one must create art. Tervalon does this, and does it well. We don't feel sorry for anyone in this novel, we don't patronize, and we don't pity. What we do by the end of the novel,as we turn the last page, is what Tervalon hoped, and he succeeds brilliantly. We understand - this. Just a little bit better.