The Pact
Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream
-
-
4.3 • 87 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A remarkable story about the power of friendship.
Chosen by Essence to be among the forty most influential African Americans, the three doctors grew up in the streets of Newark, facing city life’s temptations, pitfalls, even jail. But one day these three young men made a pact. They promised each other they would all become doctors, and stick it out together through the long, difficult journey to attaining that dream. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt are not only friends to this day—they are all doctors.
This is a story about joining forces and beating the odds. A story about changing your life, and the lives of those you love most... together.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jenkins, Davis and Hunt grew up in and around the projects of Newark, N.J., a place decimated by crack. "The sounds of gunshots and screeching cars late at night and before dawn were as familiar to us as the chirping of insects must be to people who live in the country." The three attended high school together in the mid-'80s and made a pact to attend medical school together. "We didn't lock hands in some kind of empty, symbolic gesture... We just took one another at his word and headed back to class, without even a hint of how much our lives were about to change." Against incredible odds the almost complete absence of male role models, a history of substance abuse in two of the families, and even incarcerations the trio made good on their word and now practice medicine. Told in alternating first-person chapters, the story of these young men's struggle has remarkable clarity and insight. In extremely accessible prose, the authors articulate the problems they faced: "On the streets where I grew up, you didn't worry about consequences. If someone disrespected you, you beat his ass. Period," says Hunt; while Jenkins recalls, "Sometimes it felt surreal, walking past the drunks, dealers, and addicts on my way home from dental school with a pile of books." Although it is a memoir (which, by nature, is often self-serving), this book's agenda is far from hidden and its urgency is undeniable: through their pact, Davis, Jenkins and Hunt achieved success, and if they did it, others can, too.
Customer Reviews
EPIC
One thing I bet a lot of you never knew THERES A MOVIE FOR THIS BOOK!
Great Book
Almost brought me to tears. The authors vividly take the reader into their lives exposing the good, bad and ugly. Their constant struggles: financially, socially and emotionally to reach their dream of becoming doctors. I’d recommend this book to anyone.
Unrelatable but Decent
I feel selfish for saying im a privlidged highschooler who was born in a middle class home. The purpose of a book is to be able to relate with the characters which I was unable to not because I'm who I am but how the characters were made out (yes I know it's non-fiction). I couldn't focus on a lot because they tried to make us relate to situations I've never been or ever will be in. Though I found the whole highschool and college part of it entertaining, I moaned when it went to some "I did a crime, oops how bad of me" scene. It's just constant "oh I was lucky here, oh I was lucky there" which gives a freshman like me the wrong ideas of what highschool should be like. I'll cut some slack since it was the 80's but really I got tired of the whole "gang violence was terrible" by pg. 2
Really I give it more a 1.5 out of 5 stars but 2 was the only option.