I’m torn on how to rate this one - it took me over a week to read a 368-page book which is usually an indicator that I’m not much enjoying a book or finding it that engaging. But when I did sit down with it and had the time to get into it for more than half an hour, I would become completely immersed in the colourful cast of characters and their antics in 1960s New York. It didn’t exactly call out to me, but when I made time for it I enjoyed it. I don’t feel like we properly got to know the characters - instead they’re all integral to creating the vast, vibrant tapestry that is a New York housing project in the late 60s. Tensions are running high, between Black people and white Italians, between cops and civilians, between drug dealers and old timers. McBride ties all these together in a surprisingly funny, moving, and thought-provoking way. Though it definitely does drag occasionally.