I wanted to like this book. I really enjoyed the premise but the execution was... unusual. This is Mr Herz's first book, and it reads like it. That is ok. Every author has a first book, and lots of kinks need practice to work themselves out. The writing is a little clumsy at times, but he has a talent for descriptions. It's the organization of ideas and the consistency of time that is bothersome. The ending is nuts. In the weirdest, worst way imaginable. Heck, I couldn't imagine it. The wheels really fall off the bus at the end. Then that bus runs off a cliff. And catches fire. And burns a village below... You get the picture. ***Spoiler Alert ***A couple of things about this story really bugged me. The "ghosts", like the kid on the bridge. Maybe the man on the subway with the EXACT SAME abortion story. I felt like this second story line added nothing. It seemed to muddy the water, if anything. Is this mystical realism? Just the protagonist falling apart? I'm not sure I'd feel any better about the book knowing the answers. Also, I was just kind of left with the feeling there was a slight anti-abortion tone to the book. Maybe not, I'm not certain. Just because the theme of abortion regret was present doesn't make it intended as a cautionary tale. It just sort of left that impression with me. I bought this book when it was being advertised on one of those "great price" promotionals through Amazon, and downloaded it onto my Kindle. I was attracted by the cover photo, the title, and the promotional information. I like the idea of reading new authors. The first bit of the book seemed pretty good. I enjoyed the first few chapters, and felt like there was some good descriptive writing there, where I was getting the "feel" of the neighborhood. But even in the beginning, I wasn't getting a feel for the characters. Things did not improve much from there. Lots of speeches in the dialogue. Not much in the way of characters that I was compelled to get to know. The main character was the worst. I just felt like his problems were, as my college-aged daughter would say, "first-world problems" … the kind of problems relatively wealthy white people have that are NOTHING compared to what other people deal with. This guy wants to clean up the neighborhood. Good for him, and kinda weird. I could see that the author was trying to give the guy a valid excuse to be out on the street, getting to know his neighbors, but wow … there just had to be a better way than this.Nothing happened, like seriously, no action, until about the middle of the book. It was at this point where I seriously considered putting the book down permanently. I began to read other reviews of this book on Goodreads and Amazon, and was fascinated by the reviews that were across the board -- some people liked the book. Many of those, I wonder if they liked reminiscing about the neighborhood descriptions, which were probably very cool [I'm not from New York]. Many reviews mentioned a crazy ending that they didn't like, and THIS was why I continued reading.The ending was totally off the wall, and there was no plausibility to it. Very frustrating and unsatisfying ending.I wouldn't say this was the worst book that I've read, in that another one of the Amazon "great price" books wins that prize. I will say that I read the acknowledgements in the back of the book, where the author writes that he had many friends to thank who read the book and either edited it or told him how they honestly felt. All I can say is, the author must be a great guy, because I can't imagine friends so nice that they would say they enjoyed this book. I would hope to have slightly less nice friends, who would honestly tell me what the failings are of my novel before I published it.I see that the author has written two more books. I think that he should keep writing, but it's my less than humble (and easily ignored) opinion that he should spend more time living with his characters, and figuring out plausible ways in which they would live their lives.
What do You think about The Last Block In Harlem (2000)?
It was just OK...there was room to make it more interesting--but it never played out.
—LarisaTonita
Overall a thought provoking book. I just thought the ending was horrible.
—nell
Touching and believable story with a morbid ending.
—Woj
