https://grumpybookreviewer.com/fiction-literature/green/
The teenage years are an emotional minefield in the best of circumstances. Imagine living in a newly gentrified neighborhood, with hippie parents start a community garden, who make you wear only hand-me-down clothes, refuse to spring for a new pair of "kicks", then send you, a nerdy white kid, to an inner city, predominantly black school. You are one of only two white kids in your class, along with an Asian, and a couple of Latinos. Green, by Sam Graham-Felsen, is a hilarious, yet heartbreaking coming of age story set in Boston, Massachusetts.
 
David Alexander Greenfeld (Dave) is this kid. Everyone makes fun of him, picks on him, or ignores him. Everyone except Marlon Wellings (Mar) who lives in the high-rise public housing project that borders Dave's neighborhood. Mar is also a nerdy kid who blows away Dave's assumptions about black culture. Together, Dave and Mar plot their method to be accepted to Harvard. The boys become fast friends, but as fractures begin to appear in their friendship, Dave realizes all the freedoms and privileges he has that Mar doesn't have.
 
Told by Dave, and chock full of teenage jargon, this sweet, funny story will challenge your assumptions about race and justice; and will raise important questions about race relations. Green should be required reading. It will be available January 2, 2018.

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In his own voice, we meet David Greenfeld, hero of Sam Graham-Felsen’s remarkable debut novel. Middle school is hard enough to negotiate under normal circumstances, but when you’re practically the only white 12-year-old in an intercity school in Boston, it’s even worse. His parents, latter day hippies, refuse to even buy him Nikes to help pave the way — the right shoes are key to acceptance. So, with a brother on the spectrum who seemingly gets all the breaks, David works hard to find his place. His nickname, Green, carries many associations, including being the color of his beloved Celtics, which is decidedly un-cool in 1992. Things start to shift through an unexpected source — his friendship with Marlon Wellings, an African-American neighbor, and through their bonding over the Celtics, both learn about one another’s samenesses and differences.

The era is significant too -- 1992, the year of the Rodney King riots ("It seemed like the smoke of those riots spread all across the continent, all the way to Boston, like they were looking for their own Reginald Denny....". I had to keep reminding myself that David is only 12, that the challenges he faces are usually portrayed by characters later in their teens, and his enforced maturity is both a blessing and a curse. Reading about the author, it is no surprise given the clarity of his prose that he goes on to succeed in his goals. His friendship with Marlon, riding a roller coaster in which it is in danger of going off the rails due to forces beyond their control, proves most precious to David. What he has learned from Marlon has lasted his entire life to the present and by extension, beyond.

Now that Sam Graham-felsen has written about his own life, I for one hope he’ll continue to turn his powers of observation on a wider world.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an early edition of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After about thirty pages, I gave up. It could be interesting for someone who has not reached adulthood. I just am not the reader for this book.

Sometimes suspense books aren't super suspenseful. That was not the case here. I couldn't put this one down.

Thanks to Netgalley for the free copy in exchange for an honest review.

Not sure what I expected when I requested this one but I certainly was surprised by this one.
A fresh youthful voice explains being one of 2 white boys going to MLK middle in Boston and his friendship with Marlon (Mar). This does touch on white privilege, and the dividing force of racism referred to as "the force". It also delves into poverty, mental illness and the Celtics.
This was definitely intended for a younger audience but some of the language used is not what I would associate with that genre.
Overall thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc but it wasn't really for me.

A wonderful look into a tween’s head, set in the 1990s and heavily dealing with race. A unique voice, one that won’t levae my head anytime soon.

Brutal on my nerves. I really liked the dynamics of the boys relationship but perhaps I got a little too connected to the characters because it got to be a little too stressful for me at times. There was a lot of pressure and some grim realities that made this both a gripping yet tough read.

First person tale of a 6 grade boy living next to low income, high rise housing and attending a heavily African American & Latino school in poor Boston neighborhood. During the year, he experiences taunting, bullying, reverse discrimination, etc. Makes friends and enemies as he roots for the Celtics, deals with puberty, tries to earn his way into better and safer school and dreams of making it to Harvard someday. Okay read, but not something I would describe as special. Characters and situations are best part. Story line is predictable.

This coming of age story is set in the 1990s and centers around the friendship of David and Marlon, two very different kids who find they have a lot in common.

David is one of the only white kids at Martin Luther King Middle School in Boston. He's a target for bullies and hates that his parents won't send him to a private school like his little brother Benno.

Marlon is being raised by his grandmother because of his mother's instability. When Marlon sticks up for David one day when he's getting bullied the 2 strike up a friendship. They find they are both basketball fans and both hoping to attend Harvard someday. Marlon is embarrassed by his mother, while David is embarrassed by his Grandfather. Although they share much in common their friendship is repeatedly tested.

While I enjoyed the story I felt there were quite a few aspects of Marlon's character that could have been better developed and that were deserving of a more in depth exploration other than just being the black kid with big dreams and an unstable mother.

I wanted to like this book! I wanted to finish this book! I liked the main character and I was curious as to where he would go, what he would do, and how his struggles would resolve. But I just couldn't get beyond the language .... was it "youthful slang?" I understood some of it and thought myself pretty cool, but after a while I just couldn't keep up. Maybe I'm too old for the target audience of this book ...... ?

Green is set in the early 1990's. Green himself is a white middle-school kid in Boston whose parents have decided that it's good for him to go to one of the more gritty middle schools- they have hippie ideals and want their kids to be exposed to all walks of life. In fact, Green says that he's the whitest of the two white kids in his school, a first-page sentence that made me smile and want to read further.

Green is basically a dweeb trying to survive in an environment where he's over his head. In an effort to seem cooler, he buys himself a tracksuit of the most cutting-edge sort, not realizing that he's now sporting colors from a rival gang. One of the outsider kids from the projects, Marlon, ends up standing up for Green and the two end up bonding over their shared passion for the Celtics.

This is an exploration of how race and class and money get in the way of two boys trying to be friends. Each kid wants to make it into a prep school, which has admission tests, so that they can get out of the public school grinder. Each gets pressured to betray the other's trust. I can't say that it's a feel-good book.

What got in the way for me was the language. The book is written in first person, and Green uses the same slang terms OVER AND OVER AGAIN, perhaps in an effort to place the reader in time, perhaps in an effort to sound cool or authentic. Every single time he describes what someone is wearing, they're "rocking" it, whether it looks good or not. They rock track suits, they rock sunglasses, they rock things that they can't quite pull off, and Green notes that they're not pulling it off while saying they're rocking it. I don't know if he's being ironic or what, but I don't remember that term being quite that ubiquitous back in the early nineties. I was in my early 20's, not my teens, it's true, and I wasn't in a place that was exactly urban, but I feel like it's overdone. Girls are always shorties, and it ends up feeling like a parody of a rap song. Maybe the author is trying to show that Green is trying too hard, but it ended up feeling like the author is trying too hard. And right or wrong, that's what exasperated me about the book and got me to skim it.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. "Green" is almost the only white boy in a public school in Boston in the early 90s. A coming of age story of a sixth grader, who often seems older. A lot of talk of race from a different perspective and a reminder of just how difficult the middle school years can be. Adults will find the race angle interesting in the current political climate but schools with 6th graders will be unable to use it, unless very liberal due to language and mature topics.

"Green" is the story of David Greenfeld, a half-Jewish, white boy going to Martin Luther King Middle School because his Harvard-educated hippy parents believe in public education, the principal, and the experience of being one of two white kids in predominately black school. David becomes friends with Marlon (Mar) through a love for a basketball team that had become the punch line in the joke for every other cool kid in school. David and Mar watch tapes of the Boston Celtics, hang out at lunch, and David considers Mar his only friend. This is because as the only white kid on the bus, David is the brunt of all of the bullying, jokes, and physical assaults.

In some ways, I love this book because of the story, the way David and Mar have a complicated relationship, how they are trying to find their own way in the mixed up pre-teen years, how they are discovering girls and themselves, and how they are trying to get out of King middle school by testing into Latin, the best school in the city that is a fast step toward Harvard. In other ways, I love this book because I could feel exactly how David felt. Set in 1992, with a pretty spot on representation of this year, I was about the same age, going through the same things David goes through. Trying to make friends. Trying to get girls to pay attention. Trying to make it through the school day without being bullied or tested to fight. Trying to understand bigger issues like God and religion, the changes in my body, and how to explain my family members to my friends. "Green" is a story that I love because it is a story that I can relate to.

I found the novel to be fast paced and engaging, moving along toward a disaster that you know is going to happen. The friendship that is forged feels fragile the entire time, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next, when everything was going to fall apart. This tension made "Green" a quick, entertaining, and enjoyable read.

I was born in the same year as the narrator of this book. I'm not a boy and I didn't go to public school in Boston, but we have other things in common (parents who met at a certain university in Cambridge, a secular Jewish dad and Christian mom, etc.). So I read this one with great interest, although I found the protagonist to be an ignorant pr**k.

If you're going to read lots and lots of coming-of-age stories set in Boston that deal with race and privilege, by all means, read it. But if you are only going to read ONE coming-of-age story set in Boston that deals with race and privilege, make it one that's told from a perspective other than a white guy's, yeah? Make it Caucasia by Danzy Senna or (if you're willing to depart from Boston) Disgruntled by Asali Solomon or What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons or or or...

****4.5 stars****

This story made me laugh out loud but also broke my heart.

Growing up in Boston, the year is 1992. David Alexander Greenfeld aka "Green" feels like the only white boy at Martin Luthar King Middle. That is not entirely accurate because there is Kev, the other one. Green is navigating his way through middle school with hippie parents, second rate shoes, and his absence of color. A chance meeting at a bus stop on the first day of school will create a friendship so deep it will challenge the way the two friends will think. Especially coming close on the heels of the Rodney King police beating and Reginald Denny retaliation.

The narrative divides into eleven chapter each with its unique title, referring to some history, item or event. The first section named the Machine is so funny that I almost ran out and bought that tracksuit. The second chapter Shocked refers to the shock of the Celtics draft picks that OD'd two days later. Green tells his story in present tense and takes us on a unique coming of age story. Graham-Felsen is a master in character development particularly, the protagonist and his friend Mar. Each character juxtaposed against each other displays the division of race, wealth, and religion even though share the same dreams. Green is a 13-year-old boy who struggles with his Jewish identity, living in a hippie's world, and racial tension in a setting of relative privilege. His only friend Mar, or Marlon, a sensitive black tween lives in the projects who studies passionately with the aspirations to be a student at Harvard. They form a fastidious bond when they share certain geeky qualities, a dream of a Harvard education, and the Celtics. Their relationship is put to the test when they start to write their exams for Boston Latin High School, a guarantee to place in college, possibly Harvard. Cracks become great fissures as their differences become highlighted through the strain of the 6th grade and of the inequities of life.

Green, is a poignant story told through the eyes of a 12-year-old. I was traveled back to my youth, a complex time of negotiating friendships, insecurities, and acceptance. All the moments of middle school so cringe-worthy to think of as an adult. The smells, the cafeteria serving mystery ingredients, and lily white Filas. The King student interactions felt so real you felt like a buddy among the tribe, often fighting, cheering, or jeering in the moment.The one thing I found difficult to rock was the lingo with steez. I had to google the urban and gangsta dictionary several times. That made the narrative a bit cumbersome for myself but it kept the dialogue real. After all, it's a tweens tale in the hood.

Green explores the history of a pivotal era of Clinton and Rodney; a climate of racism and brutality in the 1990s. But there is also Boston's rich history of the visit of Nelson Mandela after his release, the relentless Curse of the Bambino, and poor Billy Buckner and the 10th inning of the world series. The "Curse of the Coke. Messed up every, the Celtics, the Sox, the whole damn city."

With memorable and quirky characters, skilled writing, humor, and a pang of sadness, Green makes an impression about the diversity of and the disparities of life in Boston in the 90's. I highly recommend this novel.


Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This novel is a coming-of-age story that is also a meditation on class and race. I wanted to love it. I wanted to have more feelings for the characters. On the whole, I was left wanting something different. One of the major detractions for me was how much of the book was written in dialect. For me, less is more, and it became a distraction for me. While, Green wasn't my cup of tea, I think it is a valuable story with appeal for a teenage audience.

Twelve year old David, known as "Green" to his friends, son of hippie parents who graduated from Harvard, is sent to Boston's Martin Luther King Middle School. They support public school education, ignoring the fact that he and his friend Kevin are the only white students in the school. Kevin abandons Green to become popular, and Green befriends Marlon "Mar", who lives in the projects and has severe family issues of his own. They form a friendship that helps them thrive during this period in their lives, discover their individual religious beliefs, and grow to accept their peers and families with better understanding of who they are. I really enjoyed this insightful, entertaining book.

I was all sorts of excited when I first heard about Sam Graham-Felson’s upcoming “Green”. Boston middle-schools – 1992. I was there. It wasn’t pretty. Graham-Felson captures the mood well. He’s great with dialogue and, yes, that’s how the kids talked. But the 1st half of the book felt a bit flat and I was afraid that I had set my expectations bar a little too high.

Well…..that all changed. The 2nd half was far edgier - delving into the raw institutional and community racism, inequality, and hatred that has always been front and center in the city. The choices of having the main characters be progeny of white hippies, black dysfunctional parents, Vietnamese refugees, Hispanic immigrants, and white high society worked for me. The depiction of an aspirational school with a leader and teachers that really feel that they can make a difference felt genuine. The disconnect between adults and adolescents was the usual, though amped up by the environment in which these kids lived. And there was lots of Celtics, too, in a pretty cool way.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the DRC. Well worth the read for teen-agers, educators, and parents.

This book reminded me in a lot of way of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. It's a book that follows the friendship of two middle school aged boys and the characterizations and depictions of everyday life are the drivers of the novel. However, I may have been the only person on my (metaphorical reading) block who Ari and Dante just didn't click for. Ditto Green. Without a hard-driving plot, I was underwhelmed.

I really enjoyed this book. It's well written, believable, and had great characters. There are a lot of curiosities I have about the characters because they are so interesting, but not because the plot is lacking with more detail.