The Philadelphia-born author, who jumpstarted the urban fiction craze more than a dozen years ago with Flyy Girl, presents the riveting new tale of Shareef Crawford, a celebrated writer of romantic fiction, who leaves his sunny mansion in South Florida and returns to his Harlem roots to pen a true crime book that may just end his life.
Craving more respect for his craft as a writer, particularly from his peer group of urban men, Shareef allows an enticing female fan to pitch him a no-holds-barred tell-all about an imprisoned Harlem gangster who admires Shareef's writing. With insane courage and an iron will, Shareef, the street-smart intellectual, finally gets a chance to write something more edgy and noteworthy.
However, the Harlem streets he returns to in 2006 have changed, and the stakes of survival are higher now than they've ever been. Amid the rise of high-priced condominiums, a changing population, young criminals gunning to make names for themselves, and old criminals fighting to become legitimate businessmen, Shareef finds himself caught in a real-life thriller where past foes become friends, and trusted friends become dangerous foes. Nevertheless, the Harlem legend is hell-bent to do anything he can to gain the respect on the streets that his career as a writer of women's fiction has failed to give him.
The Last Street Novel is another urban classic as only Tyree, the self-proclaimed Urban Griot, can write them!
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 / 5.0
WELLLLLLLLLLL..........:
Omar Tyree is a skilled writer, I think. However, on this book the plot sucked. I read 2 books in between reading this. I just could not keep myself interested in this one. It's a very long book that could have been better for the length. I read another of his books, DIARY OF A GROUPIE, waaaaaaaaaay better. You lost me on this one, Omar. But, I am about to buy 'What they want' and see what's really good!
Enjoyed it...:
As a reader and lover of African-American authors I had not, up to this point, read anything by Omar Tyree. Not sure how that happened but it did, but I have now corrected this oversight. I did a little research to see which one I would start with because since this was my first book by him I didn't want it to be one of his "bad" ones because then I would be hard pressed to read his other works. I choose this one because: 1. it wasn't a brand new one. 2. People seem to like it. 3. It was the only one in our... more info
Suspenseful Trip into the Mind of an Author:
I read this novel with my author hat on. From the author's point of view I could really relate to the main character, Shareef Crawford's struggle between writing "what they want" and what he believes, while still having a high quality product in the end. The suspense that began to build toward the end of the novel made me paranoid while I read at night because I live alone and I often had nightmares because my mind was still racing from what was going on in the book. I enjoyed how the struggles of... more info
that's it !! no more omar:
what a mess!! 400 pages to say the least. one of the readers, read til it got exciting. when ?..don't bother.
