It chronicles the author's coming-of-age story amidst poverty and violence in Harlem during the 1940s and 1950s.

The New York Times praised the book, saying that it is "written in brutal and unvarnished honesty in the plain talk of the people, in language that is fierce, uproarious, obscene and tender, but always sensible and direct.

And to its enormous credit, this youthful autobiography gives us its devastating portrait of life without one cry of self-pity, outrage or malice, with no caustic sermons or searing rhetoric.

"[1] A less favorable review in Commentary said, "In the early, swiftly-moving vignettes of life in Harlem, Brown is attracted by energy, resourcefulness, pride, style, toughness, the lore and the traits of the hipsters who make it to the top in Harlem.

The boy he shows us is proud of the amount of trouble he can get into, and is well aware that most adults have sadly withdrawn from life.