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| Plot Summary of Forced Entries, The Downtown Diaries |
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"It is now a few years later, and teenage poet and heroin addict, Jim,is living in the Chelsea Hotel, supporting his habit by doing various art "things" and writing poetry. He has a sneaking feeling that his addiction
is not only holding him back as an artist, but it is spiritually sucking him dry.
He goes to church and lights candles to certain saints (St. Duncan and St.Francis) for guidance. He's tired of looking like a redheaded scarecrow, and living like the scum on the sidewalks. He attends a performance art happening, and throws a cockroach down on the ground, and sprays the
bug with pesticide until it parishes. The papers say the next day that his "performance" was symbolic of the Vietnam War, but it is even more symbolic
of what Jim is doing to himself with drugs. When his close friend is murdered
while they're looking to cope dope, Jim channels his soul searching into
kicking heroin for good.
"
Joan Clare, Resident Scholar
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"This followup to "The Basketball Diaries" finds Carroll at age 20, still hooked on heroin and obsessively forcing an entry into the glitzy New York scene of the 1970s. He works for artists Andy Warhol and Larry Rivers; hangs out with luminaries like Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, William Burrougs, Ted Berrigan, Patti Smith, and Robert Mapplethorpe; and he makes the scene at the legendary Max's Kansas City, where the Velvet Underground is playing. He comes to understand that this quest is empty -- that in his ceaseless efforts to be part of the scene, he is losing his unique vision and thus his ability to write, and that he will be unable to kick his heroin addiction as long as he is driven by the desire to be part of the scene. So he moves to a small town in California, where, during a long period of reclusion, he conquers heroin and regains his poetic voice."
Cassie Carter, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Forced Entries, The Downtown Diaries |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Tone of book?
- thoughtful
Time/era of story
- 1960's-1970's
Life of a profession:
- writer
Internal struggle/realization?
Yes
Struggle over
- nature of existence (heavy philosophy)
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Job/Profession/Status story
Yes
Druggie/Wino problems?
- drugs
Wisdom from homeless/bum?
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
- Irish/McCourt
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
- Very much smarter than other characters
Physique
- very athletic
- physically sick
Main Adversary
Identity:
- society
Age:
- a teen
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- a lot
- throughout most of the book.
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 9 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Northeast
- California
Mountains/Cliffs
Yes
Mountains:
- climbing on trails
City?
Yes
City:
- New York
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Sex in book?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- touching of anatomy
- licking
- use of artificial tools
- actual description of hetero sex
- descript. of female anat. (the big B's)
- descript. of nude males (the big P)
- male homosexuals doing their thing
Lot of foul language?
Yes
Unusual Style:
- a lot of play on words
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
- written like a journal/diary/letters
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
- little dialog
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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