'Dutch' by Teri Woods (The Review)

     I know that I'm about 10yrs late in reading so forgive me, but 10yrs ago I was only reading Source magazines. But I finally finished this after about week of only reading it during my smoke breaks. Does that mean that I smoke a lot? Perhaps. I don't consider this an actual book review, because by no means would my 6th grade English teacher approve of this. I just want to express my thoughts, and since there isn't a soul awake or interested at 1am, YOU have to listen to me ramble.

     I like the way this book was structured, because I was expecting the typical from beginning to end format. But Teri, (I say that as if I know her Personally) wrote this in a present tense that mixed with a flashback style of story telling. The present tense part of the story took place at Dutch's trial, and as witnesses took the stand, he and they had flashbacks which also fed into the storyline quite nicely. I love the way this story was told, because sometimes it's not what you say, but how you say it.

     The characters were constructed fairly believable, other than a few facts that puzzled me, but I understand you have to make the story at least a little Hollywood for it to be universally entertaining. So the fact that a 14yr old boy was accepted by the Mob family and granted control of multiple cities was OK with me... Just this time. Dutch overall was a realistic character, I can imagine holding a conversation with the guy, and that's important to me. If I can't imagine talking to, or observing the character in real life, then I lose interest in that person as well as any part of the story that they are directly connected to. Teri Woods did an excellent job with making these characters. It shows that she took time to get to know them and let them create themselves.

     Let's go with my Favorites... My favorite Character was Nina. Nina was a girl who ignored Dutch's fame a street cred. He did everything to win her over, but she never budged. She was traumatized by the death of her younger brother by the drug game, and since then she decided to have nothing to do with it or the people within it. I could picture her in my head vividly... probably because I've a few Nina's in my day.

     Least Favorite Character was Franky. Of course he was designed to be hated though. Franky was a Mob boss who became jealous of Dutch's fame and eventually organized Dutch's downfall, or so it seems. Anyway he was a prick, and he hated black people... and I just happen to be Black!

     Favorite Scene was, well, the whole Nina and Dutch coming of age Chapter. You know that I am a hopeless romantic, so this moved me a lot. For a minute I thought he was actually going get her, and I was rooting for him, but nope... no happy ending. I love it when the ending isn't happy, because that's life right? Write.

     Least Favorite scene was the courtroom shootout. This is one of the Hollywood moments, and as much as I loved Dutch's "Fuck You" to the court, let's just be realistic... I can't even get a cellphone into a courthouse, but these fools got automatic machine guns??? Maybe if it was described how they got the guns in there, I'd be cool with it. But hey, Franky died, so I'm cool with that.

     Overall this was a nice book, and I will start on Dutch 2 ASAP. Good Job Teri... These books are the reason I write... Right?... Write!