Patrick and Christa have both blogged about this book before, and it was on their recommendation that I decided to give it a read. Or rather, a listen, despite my tendency to shy away from novels in audiobooks (I get too involved in novels, much to the chagrin of anyone riding in the car with me). And holy cow, was it good.
When the novel starts out, Eddie is in the process of escaping from a horrible situation, one that somehow led to both of his hands being cut off at the wrist. The rest of the book tells the story of what exactly led to that horrific situation — turns out, it was a bunch of other horrific situations, including the racially-driven murder of Eddie's father, Eddie's mother, Darlene's, subsequent addiction to crack cocaine, young Eddie's long search for his mom after she disappeared one night, and Darlene and Eddie's entry into not-quite-slavery (but-yeah-totally-slavery) at the titular farm. The narration of this book bounces between Eddie, Darlene, and, ingeniously, the crack cocaine itself. Hannaham does an excellent job of presenting this tough and sobering story, and his narration is top notch. I'm so glad I listened to this!
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