Larceny in My Blood
A Memoir of Heroin, Handcuffs, and Higher Education
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A fully illustrated graphic memoir of a child of the '60s who was raised into a life of crime and addiction —but graduated into freedom.
Matthew Parker was in his mid-forties when he started college. He’d been sidetracked: Eleven years were eaten up by serving time in various county jails, state penitentiaries, and federal prison. He’d been arrested more than thirty times, racking up eight felonies in a crime career that began at age thirteen, when he started dealing pot. When he got out of prison for the last time and kicked his heroin addiction, he was determined to spend the next chapter of his life in the classroom. And he did just that, going on to complete a master’s degree from Columbia University’s highly competitive creative writing program.Through captivating black-and-white illustrations drawn in a distinctively primitive style, Larceny in My Blood flashes back on Parker's childhood, with memories of a loving but lawless mother teaching him that breaking the law was the way to survive. From there it moves to an account of Parker’s lost decades, where he resorted to petty crime to support a heroin habit. After years of fighting the system, Parker sees the light and Larceny in My Blood becomes a poignant portrait of a man trying to find his way in the straight and narrow. A unique memoir, Parker’s images and words form a mesmerizing road to redemption.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Fresh off earning an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia, Parker has written a memoir detailing a life of drugs, jail, wrongdoing, and literary redemption. Parker's narrative picks up after he's let out of jail and returns to civilian life, and follows his pursuit of a literary career. He also thoroughly discusses the origins of his drug-induced downfall growing up in suburban Connecticut with a series of hurdles: an absent father, a mother well-versed in illicit activity, deadbeat siblings, the lure of drugs, and the ever-present threat of incarceration. At the heart of the story is the constant push and pull between his two pursuits, heroin and literature, and the looming question over which will win out. This wealth of information about Parker's life never thickens into a compelling memoir. Parker's presentation feels cold and reads like a laundry list of bad behavior. The illustrations in the book are also disappointing, a hodge-podge of underwhelming computer-drawn images. Parker's drawings do not make a case for the need for his story to be told in comic form, and although his story has the substance of an incredible life, it is not delivered with style.
