The Diva Review:
When you're walking around downtown, or shopping at the mall, and you see a band of street kids panhandling and hanging around, do you ever wonder where they go at the end of the day? Most people don't. And if they did, they would probably assume that they simply went home. I did. The question Rene Denfeld asked is "where is home?"
In All God's Children, we follow the Thantos street family as they basically terrorize Portland, Oregon. We learn that "home" is under a bridge the kids have banded together into a makeshift, dysfunctional family who do what they have to do to survive. The leader is guilty of murder before he even starts the group and the kids get involved in some pretty violent, pretty terrible exploits themselves.
The book explores the street family subculture, the myths and realities, and reaches some startling conclusions. One of which is, not every street kid is from an abusive home. The Thantos family is intriguing because they were one of the first street families to coalesce into a cult-like group.
Denfeld does an amazing job of researching the subject of street families and of representing her subjects as people making questionable choices. She does not resort to clichés or to hand-wringing, but rather presents the Thantos family as a group worthy of sympathy and in some ways, respect. She treats them as people with the kind of detachment that a writer/researcher needs in order to tell the story.
I felt that this was an excellent book. It was so well written and so well told that even those not necessarily interested in the subject would probably be enthralled.
I'll make a confession here. I was so moved by the book that I send Denfeld a fan letter.
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