Six stars for the audiobook narrator, Bahni Turpin, who is beyond fantastic. The book itself is engrossing from beginning to end. The things Goines writes about seem real, and they have very real consequences for the characters involved. This is a story of a neglected child who takes her life into her own hands, making both good and bad decisions--whatever she feels is necessary to survive. She finds love in the unlikeliest place, and this leads to tragic--or perhaps inevitable--consequences. This book is explicit in its horror, but never in a sensationalist way. There is no cruel pleasure in seeing what happens to the girl along her chosen path. Overall, this isn't as visceral as Dope Fiend, so if you are new to Goines, read that first. The man could write, and he knew what he was writing about. He deserves your attention. ( )

Black Girl Lost is probably the most silently yet brutally honest portrayal of young girls slipping through the cracks Goines has ever wrote about. We start following Sandra, whose a young black girl trying to make a life for herself without much help from her drunk mother. She's a hustler, and gets a shop sweeping up at a little grocery shop owned by this Jew guy that's sweet on the idea of her pulling herself up by the bootstraps. But her mother is just a mess, and drags Sandra into some terrible situations that propels her into getting more into the street life to survive. She becomes a old hand at stealing clothes and shoes by the time she's old enough to date.

Along the way in school she meets a kindred spirit whose also in the school of hard knocks surviving as a heroin dealer. He's more independent than her, living on his own, taking care of himself. At first they are just friends. Then they become lovers. But he's too comfortable, slips, and gets caught up. Now Sandra's back on her own struggling, and every possible bad thing you could think could happen to her does. However, when her dude finds out all hell breaks loose and in true Goines fashion, no one gets out alive.

I'd follow this one up right after Swamp Man.
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Donald Goines was a great writer for his time. I've liked all his books I've read so far. ( )

classic donald goines. ha ha. patrons love him so i thought i'd give him a shot. not bad... ( )

Gripping tale of neglected young girl struggling to survive. Her a raging alcoholic, basically leaves Sandra to the streets to raise herself. The sad part is, the girl has potential, evidenced by her taking the initiative to secure a job to take care of herself and choosing not to steal to obtain things she wants. Chance, however, intervenes and throws a monkey wrench into the girl's life. She slowly strays from a path of potential and possibilities to one with rape and murder...but she also finds the strongest love in the world. I read this book in about 2 1/2 hours, couldn't put it down. It's just a well-written, but typical tale of life on the mean streets. It's unfortunate, but this fictional story holds a lot of truth as to how bad things can be for some. I like Goines' writing style because you feel as if you are there, but it's not overly elaborate, wordy or long-winded. Although it's a street tale, there's not a whole lot of unnecessary violence,cursing, and slang in an effort to make it seem more credible. In some books, it is sooo over done it seems corny. I would read more Goines for my urban tale fix, rather than some of the more modern writers. ( )