The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace is the biography of a man who grew up in the poor, crime-ridden neighborhoods of Newark, received a degree in molecular biophysics from Yale, and returned to Newark to teach biology at the Catholic high school he'd attended. The author is one of Rob's Yale college roommates. The title is a spoiler for how it all turns out.
By its nature, the story touches on sociological and philosophical questions about the psychological impact of growing up in poverty, what it means to succeed in life, and how our decisions affect our fate. However, the author made the wise decision to stick closely to the facts and to present Rob's life as it might have appeared from his point of view. Rob's decisions and actions always seem perfectly reasonable and understandable, even when we start to watch him make bad ones.
Hobbs does a very good job giving realistic characters to the various people in Rob's life, to Rob and his parents most of all. He also makes insightful points about the bigger questions without getting too abstract or preachy... although, I have to say that there are some sections, especially later in the book, that sound like cliched college essays. (In the Author Q&A at the back of the book, Hobbs says he started by writing personal essays to help himself understand Rob's story; I'll bet these weaker sections come directly from those essays.)
I loved reading a biography about a basically normal guy. I got a vivid sense of him as a person, and was deeply disturbed by his squandered potential and tragic end.
By its nature, the story touches on sociological and philosophical questions about the psychological impact of growing up in poverty, what it means to succeed in life, and how our decisions affect our fate. However, the author made the wise decision to stick closely to the facts and to present Rob's life as it might have appeared from his point of view. Rob's decisions and actions always seem perfectly reasonable and understandable, even when we start to watch him make bad ones.
Hobbs does a very good job giving realistic characters to the various people in Rob's life, to Rob and his parents most of all. He also makes insightful points about the bigger questions without getting too abstract or preachy... although, I have to say that there are some sections, especially later in the book, that sound like cliched college essays. (In the Author Q&A at the back of the book, Hobbs says he started by writing personal essays to help himself understand Rob's story; I'll bet these weaker sections come directly from those essays.)
I loved reading a biography about a basically normal guy. I got a vivid sense of him as a person, and was deeply disturbed by his squandered potential and tragic end.
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