The Questers -- April 13, 2023

 

The Questers chose The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs as the nonfiction title to discuss this year. Jeff Hobbs was Peace's roommate at Yale University. Peace never quite fit with the Ivy League crowd, but the intellectual genius never quite fit in on the streets of his hometown of Newark, New Jersey either. Hobbs doesn't try to necessarily answer why Peace couldn't escape the dangers of his drug riddled past, but he definitely writes the narrative to force the readers to ask those pertinent questions. Given what some would consider the opportunity of a lifetime, a free ride to Yale, Peace cannot seem to branch out to a legitimate career. 

Even though the reader wants to root for Peace to succeed, the title gives the ending away. There will be no triumphant breaking of generational poverty in this biography. When a generous alum offers Peace a free education, it seems the table has been set for him to support himself and his family upon graduation. However, without a mentor and guidance, Peace finds himself falling back into old habits of survival and comfort by smoking and dealing marijuana. The comfort of danger and poverty is more of an incentive than material success in an unknown world. 

The discussion group gave the book a 2.96 star rating. There were times when the book was a bit slow and hard to follow, but it provided a very lively discussion with difficult societal and moral questions. For those wanting a thought provoking read, this is a good one for the reading list.