Give Me Mine
by Gary Ford

Reviewed by: Joey Pinkney
February 2008

Gary Ford has penned a coming-of-age story that will grab your heart and surprise you with its richness in quality. Why? Because Ford has authored a near-perfect tale of a white girl growing up in the hood minus the stereotypical garbage we see in a lot of the novels flooding the market. The reader gets to follow Janay Nicolay as she slowly matures in the Westlawn projects of Milwaukee. She’s naturally smart, yet vicious because of constantly being attacked because her color. Kicked out of school for a fight she didn’t initiate, Janay quickly switches gears and abandons the idea of going to school. Her mother, Diane, is addicted to crack, so it’s up to Janay to figure out how she is going to eat and scrape up money for the Section 8 apartment they inhabit.

As fate would have it, the same day she leaves school is the same day Scottie sees her walking home. Scottie is Westlawn’s version of Robin Hood—steal from the banks and flood the projects with gifts and necessities. Scottie reels Janay in with sex and money. He eventually trains her to be his getaway driver as he robs banks with his best friend Fonzi. Young and dumb, she blindly does whatever he wants. In return, she gets money, clothes, her apartment renovated and a car. But most of all, she feels respected—something that’s hard for her to come by. Even the calls from various women in the middle of the night with threats don’t bother her.

Scottie disappears for weeks at a time, only popping up for sex, food or for Janay to drive. Janay follows suit and does whatever he asks. All the while, she steadily stacks her money in secret “just in case”. That “just in case” turns out to be a new life. Pregnancy slowly changes her perspective on life. She eventually leaves Scottie to do his dirt by himself and focuses on her daughter, Lashay. Janay gets her GED and tries making a legal living.

She goes from “that white girl” to “that crazy white girl” to “that crazy white girl that can do some hair”. While experimenting with her mother’s hair, Janay finds out that she can do any hairstyle she sees. She spends most of her pregnancy honing her skills by doing free work to whoever needed to get fresh. Her talent as a hairstylist gives her a new direction, and she runs with it. Janay pursues a license in cosmetology. Her talent lands her a job with the most highly respected hair salon in Milwaukee. She even wins a hair competition in New York while at the same time gaining a set of friends that love her for her. While in New York, she also meets a man who is too good to be true—a realtor/DJ who fell in love with her at first sight. She finds a new purpose in life and finally a reason to get out of Westlawn projects. Will her past life with Scottie come back to rear its ugly head, or will Janay finally get to live the life she longs for? You have to read this great novel to find out.

What did you like best about this book?
Gary Ford spent a lot of time making this book a quality effort. His attention to details and nuances of his characters made this book hard to put down. Reading about Janay and her struggles and triumphs was a pleasure to experience.

By the end of the book I felt like I watched her grow up. I was right there when she realized that Lashay was more important than the illegal activities and the fights with people who challenged her dignity based on her skin color.

I also like the twist that was inherent in this book. Usually the ghetto is reserved for African-Americans, and white people are outsiders. Janay, as a white girl/woman in the hood, was a minority and had to fight a kind of racism usually reserved for other African-Americans trapped in the ghetto.

It took a while to figure out the significance of the title “Give Me Mine”. It all made sense by the end of the book. I hope this book continues to develop a strong readership.

What did you dislike about this book?
I have only two gripes with Give Me Mine: the cover and the long paragraphs. When I first picked the book up, I thought, “Here we go, another hood rich story...” The black woman in a fur coat standing in front of a car on dubs had me thinking this book was a dud. I wonder why Gary Ford didn’t put together a cover that better depicted imagery
of a white girl struggling for respect in the hood.

The long paragraphs that popped up every now and again also had me shaking my head. It was real hard to read certain passages when one paragraph covered about 80 percent of the page. I think a little editing was in order to break these long paragraphs into smaller, bite-sized chunks.

How can the author improve this book?
Change the cover to make it a little more interesting and true to the story. Invest in a good editor to tighten up the format of the story.

Other than that, I enjoyed the book a lot. I think other readers who like a good story will appreciate the novel Gary Ford has given to the world.

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J.P. Brown :

Posted 1360 days ago

This was a good book but I like his second one better. It has more purpose than these typical urban/hood books. Those type of books can get so lame after you read so many of them for so long. I like his autobiography better.

Fellow Milwaukee Author TERESA RAE BUTLER- author of HO-9 :

Posted 1378 days ago

Fellow hometown author, GARY FORD has quickly become one of my personal faves. I had to give him two reviews, Barnes & Noble and Amazon. Touched was excellent and GIVE ME MINE is worth
************************************************ ************
oh so many stars as well. I am so proud.
I can't wait for the sequel!!!!
Milwaukee author of DONT' EVEN TRIP and GLITTER GUNS N BUTTER
www.myspace.com/teresaraebutler

Harold P. :

Posted 1390 days ago

This book has set a trend in the Milwaukee area. This author is on his way and is greatly supported in our hometown. I couldn't make the signing and release of his second book but the streets won't stop talkin' about it.

Reading Divas Book Club from Chi-Town :

Posted 1421 days ago

"Give Me Mine" was a great book, but the second book "TOUCHED" by author Gary Ford is even better. The Reading Divas call his second book scandalous; a good scandalous though! He shares so much about real life in this book. An amazing story that touched each one of us in a totally different way.
He'll be in the Chi this summer to hang-out with the beautiful ladies of the Reading Divas Book Club.
We can't wait!

Velma :

Posted 1445 days ago

This book was a good read but to short. I think a sequel would be perfect. It was surely set-up for one. I'll buy it.

Terrance Welch from ATL :

Posted 1467 days ago

I moved to ATL from Milwaukee 3 years ago. I didn't even know about this author until I left Milwaukee. A co-worker was reading this book and told me about it. She knew that I had lived in Milwaukee and she was questioning me about some things mentioned in the book. I read it afterwards and was so impressed. I liked everything about this story. I can relate alot better because I've lived in Milwaukee. I tried to research this new author but couldn't find much about him. Due to his first book I can see that he has a bright future in writing.

Trina "ReaderChick" Bates :

Posted 1478 days ago

Lil Gary's book is the hottest shhh to hit these Mil-Town streets since.... Hell, I can't even remember!
I love the main character. Now every white-chick in the Mil sware they runnin' somethin'. Great work Author Gary Ford.

Janet Walker :

Posted 1488 days ago

I thought the book was so unique and different from everything else out there. This writer did something that men don't normally do. He showed so much versitility in his writing style. All of the characers were so real. I'll be checkin' for Gary Ford in the future. I read this book twice!

Joey Pinkney :

Posted 1538 days ago

I think you will find this book fullfilling on a couple of levels. One, this book is set in the ghetto but not trapped in the ghetto. Two, the characters are rich and true to life.
Although Gary Ford is a man, he wrote a novel from a female's perspective that is seamless in it's depiction. This book is like a good movie in that it pulls you into it's whirlwind of plot twists and forces you to look around.

Therone Shellman :

Posted 1539 days ago

I myself have been reading since my early teens which is way before the era of modern urban lit so i like stories which go outside the norms with colorful lead characters. I'm busy but I'm going to get this book-real soon.

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