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George Cain
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Blueschild Baby: A Novel Kindle Edition

by George Cain (Author), Leslie Jamison (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 60 ratings
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“The most important work of fiction by an Afro-American since Native Son.” —Addison Gayle, Jr., The New York Times Book Review

A searing chronicle of the life of a young ex-convict and heroin addict in 1960’s Harlem, an unsparing portrait of a man who couldn’t free himself from the horrors of addiction  

Blueschild Baby takes place during the summer of 1967—the summer of race riots all across the nation; the Summer of Love in the Haight Ashbury; the summer of Marines dying near Con Thien, across the world in Vietnam—but the novel illuminates the contours of a more private hell: the angry desperation of a heroin addict who returns to his home in Harlem after being in prison.

First published in 1970, this frankly autobiographical novel was a revelation, a stunning depiction of a marginal figure, marked literally and figuratively by his drug addiction and navigating a predatory underground of junkies and hustlers—and named George Cain, like his author.

Now with a new preface by acclaimed writer Leslie Jamison, this is an unvarnished conjuring of the tyranny of dependence: its desperation, its degradation, its rage and rebellion; the fragile, unsettled, occasional shards of hope it permits; the strange joys of being alive and young and lost and hooked and full of feverish determination anyway.

“[A] powerful literary account of addiction.” —The New Yorker
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  1. Print length
    217 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Ecco
  4. Publication date
    March 12, 2019
  5. File size
    3.2 MB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This semi-autobiographical tale is about a black man who wins scholarships to prestigious schools but comes to see himself as an "artificial nigger." He drops out, goes to jail, then returns to the black community he has failed, where he embarks on a voyage of self-discovery. "Powerful," PW commented.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

A searing chronicle of the life of a young ex-convict and heroin addict in 1960s Harlem, an unsparing portrait of a man who couldn’t free himself from the horrors of addiction.

Blueschild Baby takes place during the summer of 1967–the summer of race riots all across the nation; the Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury; the summer of Marines dying near Con Thien, across the world in Vietnam–but the novel illuminates the contours of a more private hell: the angry desperation of a heroin addict who returns to his home in Harlem after being in prison.

First published in 1970, this frankly autobiographical novel was a revelation, a stunning depiction of a marginal figure, marked literally and figuratively by his drug addiction and navigating a predatory underground of junkies and hustlers–and named George Cain, like his author.

Now with a new introduction by acclaimed writer Leslie Jamison, this is an unvarnished conjuring of the tyranny of dependence: its desperation, its degradation, its rage and rebellion; the fragile, unsettled, occasional shards of hope it permits; the strange joys of being alive and young and lost and hooked and full of feverish determination anyway.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07GNK6DLZ
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ecco; Reissue edition (March 12, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 12, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3.2 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 217 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 60 ratings

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George Cain

George Cain

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
60 global ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

  • MadNat
    5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating true story. A good read!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 13, 2021
    Verified Purchase
    I read this several years ago and, I don’t know why but, ever since the late 1990’s this story has stuck with me. I will randomly think about it from time to time. I loaned my old copy of this book out over a decade ago and never saw it again so I decided that I should get, and re-read, the story/experience of a fellow human being, that’s been in the background of my thoughts for the past 20+ years.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Rukiya Vibes
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great Read
    Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    One Of The Most Honest Novels Ever Written.
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  • August Canaille
    4.0 out of 5 stars Stylistic masterpiece of drugs
    Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    One of the best drug books out there. It's a shame he only wrote one. He does sort of go overboard with the "kill whitey" racial mentality in the last half, but, hey, it's the sixties. They should have been on that trip.

    I would have given it five stars if it didn't have such a cookie-cutter ending. Obviously, this ending did NOT happen to the real George Cain.
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  • billnbea@mail.pjsnet.com
    5.0 out of 5 stars NYC childhood memories of your neighborhood come to life.
    Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 1999
    Know how the good ol' days are only good because these days have gotten so bad? Crack cocaine, car jacking and drive-by shooting all make marijuana, stolen hub caps (remember hub caps they went the way of vinyl and the eight track) and knife fights look like a spirited day with the Quakers. Blueschild Baby brings you back to the good ol' on-the-block neighborhood days when the local winos (todays homeless) were your good friends who would encourage you to do something with your life so you wouldn't end up like them, and you respected them and listened to them because of their obvious example. Remember the bad kids on the block who didn't beat you up because they knew you were not one of them, and they too, with a distant glance, encouraged you to get out of the neighborhood and not become a familiar fixture like an old graffitied lamp post that never went anywhere? Remember how mysterious that life seemed and how you always wondered what would have happened to you if you had travelled down that road? Well Blueschild Baby takes you down that life road without the tell-tale tracks on your arms or the lost decade of life in a unique gripping style that will have you going right from the last page back to the first page like a ride that you just have to try again. If you don't like reading you'll read this book and not feel like you are reading but living. If you are an accomplished reader you'll enjoy the weaved web of Georgie Cane's sad vision of life. How does it end, at the beginning.
    8 people found this helpful
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  • brian johnson
    5.0 out of 5 stars Where's Georgie Cain?
    Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2000
    Well, that's what I remember as the author's name, to this novel of heroin addiction. I read it in the early '70's and have been looking for a copy for nearly that long. I remember the cover of a dog-earred paperback with the picture of a young man with a star-spangled bandana tied around his head. A first person account of a young African-American's dive into the murky sump of living the junkie life. Unlike the more current vogue of wealthy screenwriters or models and musicians succumbing to the wiles of the trendy, but evil dragon, this is the tale of a good kid from the ghetto who simply is sucked into an environmental hazard. Even after seeing family and friends die, if all your peers are doing it, are you different enough to resist? Georgie wasn't. Then he tried. Nearly thirty years later the book was good enough to make me wonder if he succeeded then and is still.
    7 people found this helpful
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  • Diana
    1.0 out of 5 stars Uggh
    Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2021
    I wrote another review of this book that got rejected, probably because I described the content accurately. This book is vile and misogynistic.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Fatou Francesca Mbow
    5.0 out of 5 stars Important book
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    A must read. To understand.
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