He is a guy struggling with a lot of issues and teetering on the edge of a total meltdown. Now, even though I had trouble relating to Michael, I also got what the author was going for with him. I also didn't get to hear about any of Nunzio's experiences and emotions, which I really missed. When Michael ditches Nunzio and their planned trip near the beginning of the book, I felt like Nunzio handled that waaayyyy better than I would have. I didn't love being stuck in only Michael's head, as this book is told in a singular POV, and I wish I also got a sense of what Nunzio was feeling.
I felt like, for the majority of the story, he was unfocused as a teacher, wallowing in his personal issues, and not really being there for Nunzio. I wasn't really prepared for Michael to be such a downer character. I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but this book is, IMO, very gritty and fairly angsty.
To boot, my cousin and sister-in-law are both teachers in Brooklyn, so I have a VERY good working knowledge of everything, content-wise, in this story. My mom is a Queens girl, born and bred, and my cousins and aunts and uncles on that side all live in either Jackson Heights or Forest Hills. Though I'm not from NYC exactly, I live in a suburb of NYC (under 20 miles away), and my whole family lives in New York. I've been meaning to read something by Santino Hassell for a looong time, and this book seemed to be a perfect place to start. When I first heard the synopsis of this story, I almost peed my pants in excitement. everything), I'm going with 3.5 stars, rounded down. However, in the end, I couldn't get over some of my issues with this story, and though I really liked parts of it (and that cover is just. I went back and forth with my rating on this for some time, wavering between 3 and 4 stars.
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