the sweet forever

in my continuing effort to read as many novels by the magnificent storytellers of the wire (david simon, ed burns, & richard price to name a few), i turned my attention to george pelecanos. he penned such thrilling, heartbreaking scripts as the deaths of wallace and stringer bell, randy yelling after sgt. carver "are you gonna help me now?", and michael and dookie's farewell.

the sweet forever, like clockers (which i read earlier this summer), truly embodies the spirit of the wire. and the wire owes a debt to the writers it used to further its narrative.

the sweet forever takes place in dc during the 80's cocaine epidemic. its narrative follows cops (partners tutt and murphy), criminals (tyrell cleveland and his crew), and citizens (marcus clay, clay's business partner dimitri karras, employees of clay's store, and the neighborhood it inhabits). and true to form, the characters are layered and multi-dimensional. while the characters do dabble in black and white from time to time, they spend most of their time unfolding in shades of gray.

to the plot.

amazon.com does a good enough job in their editorial reviews that i don't feel like rambling on endlessly when these editors determine what's important enough to tell for a living.

a few quick notes:

1) the story takes place during the opening two rounds of march madness. the male characters (of which there are plenty) talk of the greatness of these four days of basketball in a way that highlights how sacred it is to so many men, me included.

2) the cocaine epidemic and its destruction of many neighborhoods and lives is at the center of the story. and its poster boy happens to be len bias of the maryland terrapins, who at the time of the story was participating in march madness. all eyes were on him as he performed at unbelievable levels. so many admired his skill as a basketball player and dreamed of the endless possibilities for his future. for those familiar with bias' eventual fate (a cocaine overdose just after being drafted second by the boston celtics), it lingers over the story, suggesting that you can have it all and lose it that quickly at the hands of addiction.

3) dean smith receives several shout-outs. during one first-round-viewing scene, dimitri's distaste for carolina seeps out, being a maryland fan and all. marcus steps up to defend the heels and their legendary coach by referring to their guaranteed ability to make it through the first weekend of the tournament. dean smith holds the ncaa record for 13 straight trips to the sweet sixteen, an impressive record considering "madness" is all part of the proceedings. later, when brad daugherty of the heels is drafted ahead of len bias, dimitri again shares his distaste. once again, marcus steps to the plate and praises the "dean smith" pedigree, referring to 25 of dean's players that went on to be drafted in the first round of the nba draft. you go, dean!