SUMMARIZING (135-180)

  Carroll might seem like a tough guy, but when it comes to being in the dark he ain't as tough anymore. There was one incident when all the electricity in the East Coast had gone off and he was stuck on the train and he began to panic and feel as if he couldn't breathe. He felt as if the terrorist where trying to take a hit and that just made him even more nervous. He never pictured his death on a train with people he doesn't even know. However he did manage to get out and the streets where a mess. Everyone was breaking into all the stores and robbing people and the police where no where to be found.

  Carroll, in my opinion, is like a 14 year old boy trapped in a 24 year olds boy. He now seems to be interested in older women. For instance, there's this one lady about 40 years old and he uses her for sex and money. How can a 40 year old put herself with a 14 year old? Is she lonely?

Quote: "I am now in Riker's Island Juvenile Reformatory doing three months for possession of three bags of heroin and a syringe." (Carroll178)

Reflection: I hope he learns his lesson now and changes his life over. After being in the game fore about 3 years now and finally getting to do some time seems to be the best thing for Carroll. He didn't like being in there at all. He did n't even want to write in his diary. All he does is wake up, eat and then run into a broom closet so he wouldn't get himself into any trouble with anyone.

100-135

  Basketball is Carroll's life, well at least it was. His friends and him usually go get some downs and up's before the game. Lately there coach has noticed what's happened and told them if they didn't stop they would be playing. Knowing that they were the best playing they didn't care what coach said because for them to win a game they had to be on the court.
  Carroll's main focus seemed to be drugs. School wasn't his things but he still continued to go because he had no choice. His classes where based on the Catholic religion, which he didn't like. He hated The area that he lived in and all his so called "wack" classmates; All the girls seem to be up tight and din't care about what type of game he split to the and the boys were to soft and wasn't his type of people to chill with.

  Quote: "Do you think Christ would fight in the war?", "yep" she replied. "well did you ever read about Christ killing, or using a gun?"(Carroll100)

REFLECTION: I think the way he thinks about Christ and the beliefs that people have, which are way different than his. I never though about things his way until now. About the war thats going on in the world that not God creation that's man's creation; He wouldn't kill and shoot people so why agree with war and all the things that come with it.

Summary 50-100

Jim Carroll is not just any ordinary Irish 13 year old boy. He has been through it all; drugs(cocine,weed,meth,ect.), sex, and always out on the street getting drunk to the point where he doesn't even remember anything that happened the next day. Everytime when school is over he would go to hang with his friends and they would just sniff glue and get "wasted." At the age of thirteen roaming in the streets of New York.

There was a point in the story i thought that he was going to change, which was when his friend Bobby Sachs lost his life from a night that they all got drunk, but Bobby took a little too much more than everyone else and he began to puke so they decided to talk him outside for fresh air and he ran away from them and feel to the ground when they picked him up they realized that he wasn't moving or saying a word and a police man noticed them and came over to help and they found out that he was dead. Knowing that his friend past away Carroll didn't seem to be affected by the whole situation and kept at it with all the drugs and alcohol.

Quote: " I left dazed out in the street like I had just come out of a four hour movie I didn't understand" (Carroll68)

How come he didn't change? Knowing that this could happen to him he still kept with it, why? He didn't understand what took place at the funeral, looking at a 16 year old that look 40.
When do you reach that point and say when am I going to make a difference?

The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll

THE BASKETBALL DIARIES BY JIM CARROLL: "

                                                  SUMMARY PAGE 1-50

                Reading the first couple of entries in The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll things get very intense. From the basketball games, stealing clothes, to all the drugs (sniffing glue, trying heroin for the 1^st times, and marijuana). Just 13 and a half years old, Jim seemed to have been through more things than any normal teenager growing up in the streets of New York.

                One scene that stood out to me was when Jim was told to go to confession by his “Brother” and told the priest that he was forced and he never went to first communion either. The priest then began to yell and told the Brother that he should have never done that to Jim. I always thought that the priest would have reacted the way he did. Do all priest act like that? What was the reason of him acting in such a way?

Quote: “That thing is going to blow up into a gang war soon.”(Carroll 11)

                This section of the book talked about violence and how one boy beat up another boy and then revenge was taken place for the boy that was beaten up by his brother. Things just kept escalating into a bigger problem and that’s how it is living in environments’ such as Roxbury or Dorchester. If you were to touch someone’s family member they are going to come after you and then when you think about it, it’s like gangs going after each other and then someone ends up losing their life.  

Summary (140-225)

Susanna's now 21 years old graduating college in just a couple months and trying to get her life on with with her own place, a new relationship, a better bond with her mother(which seems to be working), with her other getting off of all the drugs that she has been taking, her back pains are finally going away, she has her self into a stable relationship with a wealthy man and everything seems to be going perfectly. However things never stay that way in Susanna's life. Her boyfriend Noah get's addicted to gambling and is surging all of their money. Its either he come home with no money or 3 thousand, which is very unlikely. To get her mind off things she gets a job at a political office, where her father also works. When there comes a new job there comes new men and she ends up having an affair with he boss and a few months later ended up getting fired.

Susanna was the type of girl that ran man to man having sex with any and everybody just to be satisfied at the end of the day. The mail man, deli worker, 2 French boys in a taxi, you name it she did it. After a while things did get a little played out and she though of settling down and then she met Gordon, as you know when things are too good in the relationship they must be someone cheating and it was the worst day of her life, getting dumped by the one person she loved most. After being along for awhile she then met Christopher, someone who didn't want her for just sex but for who she was and someone who didn't want to be cheated on.

QUESTIONS:
How was this relationship going to turn out?
Would her mother be okay with him dating and soon be marrying her daughter?

"On medical forms after that I always wrote one in the spontaneous abortion." (Sonnenberg 215)
REACTION:
It kinda bothered me in reading this section because, as being a Christin, i didn't believe in things like abortion and for her to go and follow in her mother foot steps(3 abortions) and do it was alerting. Why would she do that? what was going through her mind as she laid there getting it done? Does?would she ever regret her decisions?

Summary#3 Pages:88-140

Like her mother, Susanna, too, becomes promiscuous, flitting from boyfriend to boyfriend. Growing up in a sexuality environment, she is get's more mature ahead of time, quickly adapting to her mother's lifestyle. There was one time when her mother, Daphne, encourages her daughter to sample some cocaine. First, she holds out a small amount and then offers tips, and Susanna slowly begins to inhale. Even though her mother may act this way and make it seen as if she lets her children do anything, one thing she loves is her attention and hates when people get in her way. Once when Susanna tried to have her own opinion, things turn ugly. Yelling abusively, Daphne slaps her daughter across the face, punches her repeatedly in the stomach. This then becomes a routine in Susanna's life that she tries to accept and get use to.

At the age of 14, Susanna escapes from her mother's side by attending boarding school in Connecticut before transferring to another school in Colorado. There, she begins an affair with her English teacher. It is a pattern of seduction that will persist for many years.

Quote "Listen, darling. You can't just go jumping into bed with anyone who asks you. I know Lincoln's speacial, and I always knew he'd be your first, but you have to behave like a lady. Otherwise you'll get a reputation". I stared at her. She went to her room, forgetting the fire, and I picked up my diary and struck the same notes of indignation any teenager would." (Sonnenberg 117)

REACTION: In my opinion this shows that Daphne knows how things are suppose to go when it comes to getting involved with men. I see that she's trying teach her daughter that sleeping with any and every man isn't good, but she feel as if she shouldn't lead her in  the direction on men, but more on her education at boarding school. 

Why does it seen as if Susanna is heading into her mothers foot steps?

What made her finally realized that the way she grew up was wrong?

Is there a reason why Daphne treats her children the way she does, did something go wrong in her child hod that left her to move into thess steps?

Summary page 40-88

Now that Susanna is 12 years old things around her seem to be changing. She is more active with her friends and seems to be very interested in boys now. She plays game like run, catch, and kiss ; She also gets advice from her friends Elise and Marcy. On the other hand her mother seems to be going through misery having to deal with serve back pain and not being able to do anything for herself or her 2 children, but her mother Patsy managed to step in and help.

*So far in the story it still seems to be going on with the list on stages in her life as each year goes by and the different things her mother goes through, he boyfriends, and different places that they move to.

Quote: "My stomach flopped as if a boy was about to kiss me."-Similie
   This shows that she's finally maturing and becoming a young lady.

Her Last Death by Susanna Sonnenberg (pages 1-40)

SUMMARY

It all starts off with a phone call from aunt Irene stating that Susanna's mother has been in a car accident and is now in a coma. The narrator shows her tone as not feeling and kind of emotion for her mother. She had been lied before about having cancer and now Susanna feels that she shouldn't go to be by her mothers side because it can be another trick. Days going by and she doesn't know what to do, one side of her feels that she has to go because that’s her mother but the other side is telling her no. The narrator also tells the 2^nd chapter in lists, as we learned in class, about each year in Susanna's life as a young girl growing up.

Susanna has grown up to be a wife and a mother of two son's. Her mother and father split by the time she was just 3 1/2 years old. She moved from place to place with her mother and younger sister, Penelope. Her mother was the type of women that had lots of men and she also did drugs, cocaine.

Quote:

“With my mother I had nothing left to lose, the last of a daughter scattered as ashy silt, the orphan collapse.”

Reaction:

This shows that her mother meant nothing to her and she meant nothing to her mother. Their love for one another is like ashes scattered every where. There was nothing there between them.