Part memoir of her cousin, Michael, part devastating analysis of the US justice and penal system, I found Danielle Allen’s book, Cuz, utterly fascinating and thought-provoking. I don’t read a lot of non-fiction (although I think perhaps I should) but this book jumped out at me on NetGalley because of the intriguing story and the author’s personal connection with its subject. (A note on the book’s title – Michael was Danielle’s cousin, of course, but we also learn that ‘cuz’ was a term used by a particular gang in Los Angeles.)

In the first section of the book, one quickly recognises the author’s feeling of regret that her attempts to help Michael make a new life for himself on his release from prison in 2006 ultimately ended in failure. She questions whether she could have done more but perhaps Michael’s rehabilitation could never have been managed in the manner of a task list. What the author and the family didn’t know at the time was that there were always people and connections pulling Michael back in the direction of the criminal subculture.

The author’s academic rigour is evident in her assembling of the available evidence and her analysis of the systemic issues raised by Michael’s life and death. Allen examines the complex web of factors that led to Michael’s involvement in the original carjacking for which he was convicted, his sentencing and his imprisonment. Her descriptions of the soulless and depressing experience of visiting him in prison are especially powerful. There are also particularly interesting sections on the concept of the ‘parastate.’

I’ll be honest and say that, at first, I found the structure of the book, with its frequent changes of timeline, a little distracting. The author has chosen not to tell Michael’s story in a linear, chronological fashion but to start with his murder interspersed with his release from prison, only addressing his childhood and upbringing towards the end of the book. However, in a way, I can now see this structure mirrors the author’s own journey of discovery about Michael. He was perhaps never the person he seemed from the outside; instead he was troubled, lacking in direction, open to being manipulated by others and tempted by easy options.

The book contains wonderful photographs of Michael and his family, including many from his childhood. I found the contrast between the happy, smiling child in the photographs and the troubled adult described in the book very sad and quite moving. Sadly, one gets a sense of someone always on a trajectory to the untimely death that eventually awaited him.

Reading Cuz gave me a fascinating, if troubling, insight into many of the social issues facing the Western world today: gang culture, drugs, racial inequality, the effectiveness (or rather, ineffectiveness) of the justice and penal system. The author proposes a particular solution to the problems she outlines but I was left wondering if there will ever be the political will to pursue such a course. I somehow doubt it in the current political environment.

Fantastic addition to the genre. Extremely thoughtful and revealing. So interesting to look at crime from the family point of view. Great writing.

An important book about exactly why Black Lives Matter and other campaign groups have sprung up in the US. Allen tells the story of her 'cuz' who was bright and loving but was drawn into gangs, sentenced to an adult prison sentence as a boy, and was shot dead in his twenties.

Moving between memoir, guilt confession and political analysis of institutionalised inequality, this is a horrifying document that deserves to be read widely.

This is the author's academic approach to understand why her cousin and millions of other (mainly Black or Latin) young men end in jail or get killed.
She obviously feels guilty because she didn't recognise the signs along the road. Of course she examines the difficult family situation without a father but with many supportive relatives, the role of police and the changing role of gangs, the inapproriate sentencing for minor (mostly drug-related) offences, the justice system and the so-called war against drugs.
Her conclusions aren't wrong, but the way she tells the story is too confuse and often redundant. I don't doubt that society, the place where you live, the justice system and unjust laws play a major role in this tragedy, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that she's trying to find a way to deal with her and her family's guilt. They didn't do much to help him when he was arrested, nor did the help they offered when he was released change things drastically.