From Publishers Weekly
In a shocking and sometimes mordantly funny narrative of struggle and survival, a young woman writes (with the help of journalist Bolnick) of her six years as a homeless, crack-addicted teen living in New York's underworld. Between the ages of 16 and 20, Tina S. lived in the endless labyrinth of tunnels beneath Grand Central Station, where she panhandled, robbed and sometimes prostituted herself for money for food, liquor and drugs. Having fled her constricting life with her mother and siblings on welfare, Tina met Alice, a dynamic woman her own age who introduced her to the "glamorous" world of drugs and hanging out. Soon Tina was trapped in a maelstrom of addictions, arrests, failed rehabilitations, sexual harassments and violence. Alice's suicide, at the age of 19, haunts both Tina and the book. While the story's breathless narrative crammed with incident occasionally takes on a movie-of-the-week feel (Bolnick's earlier Winnie: My Life in an Institution was made into an NBC-TV movie), it also manages to be moving and psychologically astute. Tina's voice is fresh, and the book has a matter-of-fact tone that studiously avoids moralizing. Whether she is explaining the difference between heroin and crack "all you have to do with dope is spend $10 and you're straight for the day. With crack you're always on a mission" or talking about how her gay uncle urges her to deal with her lesbianism, Tina's directness and honesty will hold readers tight.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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