Homeboy: A Novel

Homeboy is a novel that I often refer to as a true literary hidden gem, and those who find and read it are in for quite the treat. Seth Morgan writes with such a unique style of writing that you will find no were else, and this book truly is one of a kind. It is an intimate portrait of drug use, crime, sex, and prostitution and crime, and those who have fallen into this lifestyle and never found their way out. It is also a chilling portrait of life inside California's notorious prisons and how the main character Joe has managed to survive doing his time day by day. Homeboy is a tale of prison life, heroin addicts, perverts, strippers, pimps and corruption. If that makes it sound depressing, believe me, it's not. It's a journey into a world that most of us will never see or experience first hand, and lovers of scandalous life styles or graphic crime fiction will fall in love with this book. Seth Morgan was once engaged to Janis Joplin, but unfortunately this is his only completed novel as he passed away in a motorcycle crash in New Orleans, back in 1990. Morgan had begun writing his second novel, Mambo Mephiste, which Morgan described as his great big Mardi Gras novel. Only a few chapters were written, and sadly the novel was never finished. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Homeboy asap, it's a literary treasure and the only work of the infamous Seth Morgan.

A criminally overlooked noir classic that could only have been authored by one who's lived "the life". This is the most realistic portrayal of addiction and the evils it spawns; crime, corruption, prison , prostitution, and porn, I've ever read. Though "fiction", this is the horrific truth of the underbelly of America no one wants to look at. Thankfully Seth Morgan had the courage. The plot is as twisted as the best Raymond Chandler, situations and characters lower down and dirtier than Bukowsky, darker than Hubert Selby JR, with prose as poetic and gritty as Nelson Algren's. Should be required reading for aspiring addicts and anyone involved in making or enforcing our country's drug policy. Not for the feint of heart.

This novel is a literary tour through the drug alleys and strip clubs of San Francisco's North Beach and Tenderloin. With an amazing descriptive verbosity slightly reminiscent of Wolfe's Electric Kool-Aid and a sense of hellish despair that has been likened to William Burroughs, Morgan has peopled this novel with the most unforgettable and tragic characters line Rings And Things who acquired her nickname after a three day drug addled sojourn with a motorcycle gang, only to wake up with every inch of her tattooed and every orifice and protrusion pierced and adorned with jewelry. The story centers around a vicious killing and how one strip show barker by the name of Joe Speaker accidentally got involved. And about how he found himself swallowed into the prison system like Jonah being swallowed by the whale.It is an intimate portrait of drugs and prostitution and crime and those who fell into the life and never found their way out. It is also a chilling portrait of life inside California's notorious prisons and how Joe managed to survive doing his time day by day.There are almost no books to compare this one to because it is so unique. But it is powerfully good and really takes the reader into this strange world.Unfortunately, Morgan who was a character in his own right, will never produce another novel. The former fiancé of Janis Joplin, who worked as a strip show barker and did hard time in prison, killed himself and a woman he was with after drinking and driving in the Big Easy.This is a thick, dense book and is just an amazing work.

Normally I prefer a minimalistic writing style which doesn't interfere with the information the book is conveying. So when I started "Homeboy", where every sentence is embellished with adjectives, similes, obscure words, street jargon, and dialect, I thought "Whoa... can I handle 300+ pages of this?".An example: "Smirkily the Fat Man surveyed the wreckage. He wagged his neckless glabrous head, shivering jowls talced like sugared aspic, and clucked his tongue, his standard expression of avuncular reproof for his girls' each peccadillo."Within a few pages though, I was sucked into the plot and curious what would happen to the characters. The writing style was entertaining and seemed appropriate for the story involving murder, theft, and blackmail among hookers, pimps and drug dealers in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco. As an obsessive Scrabble player, I enjoyed seeing words I had studied but hadn't seen in print such as "glabrous". But about half-way through the book, it started to drag. The tone shifted to wacky, and I could tell pretty much how it would all turn out. In retrospect, I'm glad I read it, but I would rate the first half with five stars and the second half with three.

Oh, I loved this book from the story line to the journey. The street slang was so colorful as to be juicey. The writer Seth Morgan was engaged to Janis Joplin so I looked him up and ordered this book to get into his head. What a head. What a fruitful decision. I'm keeping this book to read again as I age and am in need of mental stim.

I came to this book via some old history regarding Janis Joplin (Mr Morgan was her fiance at the time of her death). The book is a challenging read, dense with every kind of street jargon and slang, and a messy trawl through the underbelly of sleazy urban life in the seventies. Worth it though and written with great pace and verve. Mr Morgan was quite a loss to American literature I believe with his untimely demise. RIP.

Its opulant rich style got to me after a while and felt it was strangulating the narrative and me. Its too rich a mix for me.

scruffy dusty smelling book.