Ron SuskindReseñas

Like the rest of us, Barak Obama had virtually no understanding of how or why Wall Street had torpedoed the US economy as he rounded into the final months of his 2008 Presidential campaign.

I write these words even as Donald Trump’s Presidency is rocked by yet new revelations that he is an incompetent President of the United States, when a member of his own administration has anonymously written an Op-Ed piece in The New York Times claiming that his top officials regularly remove sensitive papers from his desk, “slow-walk” his orders, and have to re-explain the simplest of security matters to him.

Americans have a right to expect better from Trump, but how much better?

In Confidence Men we learn that Obama’s economics advisors “re-litigated” Obama’s decisions, “slow-walked” the ones they didn’t like, and flat out ignored others.

But even Obama was not the first.

The US Intelligence Community flat out hid an intelligence assessment from George Bush out of fears that the information would lead Bush and Vice-President Cheney to declare yet another war in the Middle East.

General Westmoreland fed Lyndon Johnson terrible advice and progress reports about the war in Vietnam. But Johnson largely accepted them.

John Kennedy completely bungled the Vienna Summit with Nikita Kruschev.

President Wilson suffered such serious strokes that his wife made all Presidential decisions for the last two years of his presidency.

President Grant was tricked into helping Jay Gould’s manipulation of gold prices before that, and the list of Presidential losers goes on and on.

What exactly should Americans expect of their President and is the office?

Ostentibly the office was designed to administer the fledgling US government, act on the laws passed by Congress, and give the armed forces a single voice to obey.

But from the beginning, the President has been charged with delegating responsibility to paid officers, and often officers paid on a fee-for-service model that encouraged terrific corruption. And they have “slow-walked” reforms to that system ever since.

People who mourn the loss of professionalism in government forget the alienation that accompanied the professional cadres of American government officials. They believed the bureaucracy sclerotic, the decisions divorced from the “real” needs of the people.

Clearly, government is a work in process. If Americans have anything to worry about it’s that their constitution not pre-empt changing circumstances. And if Americans have anything to fear from their Republican leaders its that they ignore global problems out what they say are threats to their sovereignty.

Sovereignty is a useful fiction for vested interests.

Climate change is not a negotiable outcome.

5819. The Way of the World A Story of Truth and Hoppe in an Age of Extremism, by Ron Suskind (read 26 2023) This was published in 2008 and should have been read then. It is a devastating account of the war against Iraq and how we were lied to in order to get into it. I have long deprecated George W. Bush and his minions for that war and this book reinforces my views on Bush and that war. There is a lot in the book reinforcing what I felt in the years of that event. but the book has much seemingly little to do with the events of that war. So the early part of the book was a drag. And we of course have an even worse former Republican president to deprecate now.

What is most impressive about A Hope in the Unseen is Suskind's ability to turn hard journalism into a compelling narrative that reads like fiction but is faithful to the truths of his subjects' lives. I am a high school teacher who sees students who struggle with the same issues of race and class and what it means to try to break out of the rigid and defeating expectations set by the community and society. It is Cedric's strength of character and refusal to cede his morals to those around him which makes him a role model for our age.

I read this long ago, which is why I'm not giving it a star rating. I do remember thinking it was a great book.

A father's story of "finding" his son (a boy who is on the autism spectrum) through the son's obsession with Disney movies. I listened to this one. The printed version apparently has illustrations by Owen Suskind - kind of makes me wish I had read that version.

A slow starter, but once you get into it, Suskind weaves a great story. His investigative work is second to none, and his ability to find and interview the people who were directly involved, rather than yet another interview with the high-level policymakers, makes this worth a read.

Insightful look into how Obama policies were developed, especially regarding the economy and health care, who his advisers were, how they were selected, and how policy was developed. I found the discussion of the make-up of Obama's economic advisory team most interesting, as well as the insight that Obama seems better suited at making an intellectual argument than actually winning an argument with political foes.
It doesn't read like a Rush Limbaugh / Sean Hannity / Glen Beck partisan rant, nor is it a liberal whitewash overlooking the problems and deficiencies of the Obama Administration. It lays out the issues, the pros and cons, and lets the reader make his or her independent judgment. The reality is that Obama's approval rating has declined during his presidency, and it's not unexpected that Suskind's book would reflect some of the issues which led to this decline in approval. But I didn't view this as a hatchet-job, facts are facts, and results are results.

This book is about President Obama first years in office and the financial crisis.

Too soon! Too soon!

This type of book is not my cup of tea, but I powered through because it was a book club book. In the end it made me see certain things in a slightly broader context, but I think the story would be much better when written with some perspective.

I listened to the audio version.

I have read enough about the events taking place after 9/11/2001 to have a grasp of the general way Bush handled this attack. This book fills in a lot of gaps and makes me even more horrified than I was before.

Bush's character and operational behavior is well-known. He is a man of "action", not contemplation. He doesn't read; instead he likes to dive in, take some sort of action. And that is what happened after 9/11. He wanted to DO something and he did.

The "one percent doctrine" was a strategy developed by Cheney, the vice-president (for those who read this many years from now!). Simply put, it states that if there is a one-percent chance that an activity has taken place (or is taking place), then we proceed as if it is a certainty. Thus if there was a one-percent chance that Saddam Hussein was developing nuclear weapons we proceed as if we are certain that he is.

The book offers convincing evidence that Bush and Cheney were looking for ways to invade Iraq well before 9/11. They would have gone there regardless, in other words. Many of us figured this out.

Caught in this situation, where evidence held little value or interest, was the CIA and in particular George Tenet. Tenet's personality is friendly, supportive, helpful. It was apparently fairly easy to run roughshod over his concerns. During the aftermath of the attack, the CIA became a tool for the president and vice-president to use to support what they wanted to do. Rather than an advisor, offering advice based on evidence.

Suskind doesn't exactly stand back in this portrayal. He lets his own feelings come through. It may be this approach that would make some others wonder if he is embroidering any. It seems clear that one source is George Tenet, in part because there is much in here that Tenet may have been the only one to know. I do hope that the printed editions of this book contained references at the end; the audio version did not.

Suskind provides an almost novelistic approach here, filling in facial expressions and gestures, rather a different type of nonfiction. It makes it easy to listen to and understand. I recommend it as one of several one should read to understand how we got here.

4.5 stars. As a parent, this book really hit home as to how important the happiness of our children is. The whole Suskind family never gave up and tirelessly looked for a way to connect with Owen and see the person within. I think they are all heroes!

This book is another view of the financial crisis and how the newly elected Obama administration handled it. Based on Suskind's findings, they did not handle it very well. Too many egos, too much political infighting and a lack of leadership from the President stymied progress on financial and economic fronts. This book basically covered events from 2008 – 2010 so given the economic recovery Obama and his administration must've gotten their act together. Pres. Obama is shown as a very smart man who grasped quickly the implications and effects of the economic turn down. Unfortunately the team and cabinet he assembled were not able to work together and develop a comprehensive economic plan to address the nation's woes, particularly unemployment.

This book is 482 pages but if you are a political junkie like me, you'll find it an interesting read.

A tale of an inner city young man as he travels from his bottom of the barrel DC high school to Brown. The book is known as one that challenges the reader on the issue of affirmative action. It does. More specifically it challenges the idea of "letting in lesser students" into an environment like Brown. But there is also a sub-theme about how girls are doing better than boys. Oh, yes, the so-called boys crisis is in here too. But it's framed in a much better way that I've seen before because it really deals with violence in our inner cities.

I read this book for a seminar class I'm co-teaching this fall. Can't wait to hear what the students think.

5570. A Hope in the Unseen An American Odyssey from the Inner City to the Ivy League, by Ron Suskind (read 21 Jul 2018)The author came to know Cedric Jennings as a student at a D.C. high school which is a high school of many failing kids. Cedric, due to a strong mother (now, though she has never married and has three kids by three different men) and a vigorous church life is determined to succeed and avoids the stupid things so many of his classmates succumb to. The book tells how he succeeded being accepted at Brown in Providence, RI, and his first year at Brown is related (in the present tense!) in much detail. I admit all the mental turmoil which Cedric goes through I found not enjoyable reading and one does not know how he will do but assumes he will do all right else there would not be this book. But there is a lot of angst and one almost despairs over poor choices Cedric's mother makes in regard to her finances. And Cedric does not do a whole lot better sometimes. But it works out and the book while depicting a lot to fret about does end on an upbeat note.½

it was great to get a first hand account of G.W.

A Hope in the Unseen is a true story of a boy named Cedric and his experience moving from high school to college. The central message is that even though one can have low expectations they can rise above with hard work and dedication. With Cedric's extra efforts he was accepted in a top-flight college even though his inner city high school had poor resources.

Very well written account of a gifted black student from D.C. The obstacles Cedric Jennings encounters as he struggles through probably one of the worst, most dangerous, crime ridden high schools are seemingly insurmountable. And the difficulties continue as he continues his education at Brown. Very informative and eye opening. Every white person needs to read a book like this.

I absolutely loved this book and it relates to my life so much due to the fact that my brother with autism loves disney so much as well. It shows that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for everyone no matter how large the obstacle. Giving everyone that sense of hope in any hardship can relieve a lot of stress and worries upon oneself or a family.

Non ho potuto dare più di 5 stelle per questo libro, gli avrei dato tranquillamente 5 . Veramente esilarante, l'amministrazione Bush messa a nudo svelandoci in mano a quale cricca è stata l'Ameriaca prima ed il mondo intero poi. Libro assolutamente da leggere e se lo si fa dopo avere letto Osama di Jonathan Randal è veramente il massimo.

Just as a heads up there will be spoilers in this review! I would like to start off saying that this is a good book, but I did not like it. I found it very slow and for large portions of the story it was difficult for me to relate. But it is still a good story, it has important lessons, it is thought provoking, and can be very moving. There is a difference between good and entertaining; somethings can be good but not entertaining, others can be entertaining but not good, and then there are a few that are good and entertaining. Take the movies Citizen Kane and American Pie for example. Citizen Cane is an amazing film, my high school Film Studies teacher said that you cannot have a film class without watching Citizen Kane. With all that said, I was bored out of my mind when we screened it. On the other hand we have American Pie, probably one of my favorite movies because it is hilarious. But I would never call it a good movie. A Hope in the Unseen falls into the good category for me, so if you are looking to have a good laugh, fright, or mystery this is not the book for you.
A Hope in the Unseen is a non-fiction story written by Ron Suskind, about a young man who grew up in the intercity school system. Left and right students were dropping out like flies all around our main character, Cedric Lavar Jennings. The story starts with Cedric as a junior in high school. He is an extremely determined student with almost perfect marks and a love for learning. During his junior year Cedric is encouraged by one of his teachers to apply for a summer course in a program called MITES. After getting accepted and then going to MITES he realizes how much being at his high school, Ballou, has held him back. He found himself struggling to keep up in class and even get a passing grade. At the end of the program he was told that he was not MIT material, almost crushing his dreams. The book then follows Cedric through his senior year, his acceptance to Brown University, and his life in college.
This book is about growing up, and fighting for what you want. At the beginning of the book Cedric’s school was said to be like a bucket of crabs, as one is about to crawl out it is grabbed and pulled back in. This was Cedric’s struggle, he knew he would get into college, he just did not know which one. He had to fight to keep his nose clean and not let the negativity of others drag him back in. Or follow the path of his father who is in and out of prison for drug charges over the course of the book. Towards the end of his senior year the school had its awards ceremony honoring students for their achievements. Later on in class a student that even though he got accepted into a college did not receive any scholarships, showed his jealousy towards Cedric’s achievements in scholarships. He decides to try to pick a fight with Cedric, but thankfully no one was seriously injured. These were the things that Cedric had to worry about, not whether he would get into drugs but if he would get attacked by other students who picked drugs over grades. And he most likely would not have been able to do that without the people in his life who cared about him.
The story though is not completely about Cedric, it also follows the story of his mother. Barbara is a beautiful character with many thoughtful things to say. Of all the side characters she was the most influential to Cedric. Even with her minimal education and lack of college experience she would always have some inspirational words for her son. She once said “A man,” She says, like reciting a mantra, “takes care of himself physically, financially, and spiritually. And I mean, TOTALLY. Nobody else helping.” This quote really spoke to me because instead of focusing on things like experiences, and strength being the definition of a man it focuses on responsibility. To me this quote is getting rid of the thought that hyper-masculinity is what is necessary to be a man, and saying that when he is responsible enough to take care of himself and truly be an adult, then he is a man. Barbara is the reason Cedric is such a good student, she took him to church and fought to raise him right. She pushed him to do his best, and not fall as many of his fellow classmates did. Barbara gave him all that she could, even taking the couch in their one bedroom apartment so Cedric could have a proper bed to sleep in. While there where others that influenced Cedric, no one was as big of an influence as his mother.
With the help of his teachers, friends, and mother Cedric shows that he can do anything if he tries hard enough. He defied the odds and made it not only in college but an Ivy League university. Through this book Suskind shows how it does not matter where a person came from, or what their schooling was like; with a good support system they can actually do whatever they want. Cedric proves that even though people say the sky is the limits, people can still shoot for the stars. He also shows how our experiences shape us, Cedric left high school with one friend who most of the time he did not really want to talk to. In college he finds friends with similar interest who he likes to be around. At one point he even meets a girl, which at the beginning of the book seemed more impossible than getting into an Ivy League school. Suskind portrays a message that even though you cannot see it does not mean, it cannot or will not happen. There was a point where Cedric could not see his goal of making it in the big leagues of college, but he did it. Cedric shows the readers that there is hope in the unseen, just because a person cannot see it does not mean they should give up.

The American Dream is often romanticized, but the modern reality of a rags to riches story is often a mystery. With his book, A Hope in the Unseen, Ron Suskind offers a real life narrative of this kind of story through the life of Cedric Jennings, a young black man who struggles to make it from an inner city high school to the Ivy League. Cedric has to battle constantly against his environment, as he lives in a dangerous neighborhood fraught with violence and danger, which he is not safe from even in his school. He has to live with the struggle of poverty, as does his single mother, who works tirelessly for her and her son to be able to have enough to make it.
This book explores a plethora of aspects about what it takes to get success from a place where very few find it. In Cedric’s almost all-black inner city high school, Ballou, there are not nearly as many opportunities for success as there are in other, more well off schools; the school does not have very many resources, as one might expect. For the most part, the teachers and administration of the school do not really expect the students to be successful, and this has a very adverse effect on the students like Cedric who actually want to succeed. But the book also explores certain ideas that we often do not think of when thinking of racial and social division. Most of the time, the idea of racial division brings to mind the image of a person of color being mistreated or denied opportunities because of their race. However, there is another condition that plays a part in racial and social divides that I think this book explores very well. For Cedric, this condition does not come from an outside oppressor group, but rather from the students around him. They have this idea that any attempt at success, or good grades, or goals of going to a good college make a person a “whitey,” or makes them not black enough to respect. Because of this, Cedric is stigmatized by his peers, and ridiculed for how well he is doing and where he wants to go in life.
The book also shows how almost every other part of Cedric’s environment is also a malefactor to his pursuits. He and his mother live in poverty, and they both have to struggle with not having enough money to pay bills and get enough to eat. They also live in a dangerous part of the city; hearing gunshots outside is a common occurrence to them, and violence happens even in Cedric’s high school. It does not help that he and his mother only really have each other to help them make it, as Cedric’s father is in jail.
This book also does a good job of showing the internal struggles that Cedric and many other people in his situation have to deal with. Cedric’s father has been in jail for most of Cedric’s life, and even though Cedric has looked for some measure of recognition or affection from his father, it never comes. This puts pressure on him to succeed, because he feels a need to prove something to his father. He receives similar pressure from other sources as well; the students at Ballou are constantly trying try to drag him down, causing him to feel an anger towards them and a need to prove them wrong when they tell him that he doesn’t have it in him to succeed. Cedric’s upbringing also has a big effect on the fights he has to go through internally. Growing up in a dangerous environment has, as the book says, caused him to have somewhat of “a hardened exterior masking deep insecurities.” He gives off as tough of an outward attitude as he can, but inside he struggles with doubting himself, asking if he really deserves to have his dreams fulfilled, and wrestling with a terrible fear of failure.
Reading this book, you can see a lot of development in the people in it, especially Cedric as he goes through his life, faces obstacles, and finds out who he really is. You can see sides of people that you might not usually consider; certain aspects of their past, what they are thinking, and what it is that makes them who they are. While I wouldn’t call most of the people in this book likeable characters, the book does an excellent job of showing the deeper parts of people and portraying them as the complex individuals that they actually are. It shows people who are flawed, some extremely so, and makes you understand why they are that way and actually makes you appreciate them for the flaws that they have.
Suskind’s writing is very engaging, and does a very good job of portraying the people in the story. He interacted with Cedric and the people around him for a great deal of Cedric’s life in order to write the book, but Suskind does an excellent job of completely removing himself from the picture and solely focusing on the characters. It is amazing how he is able to get into each person’s head and explain them so well, all the while making it into a third-person omniscient point of view.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It gave insight into another perspective of the world, and also explored a lot of issues and ideas that are key to understanding different parts of society and how to further unify them.

The biographical narrative, A Hope in the Unseen by Ron Suskind, follows Cedric Jennings through about 3 years of his life. Starting with Cedric's high school days in Washington D.C., where he went to one of the worst public schools in the area. He was surrounded by drugs, violence, drop-outs, and people telling him he was destined to fail. Despite all of this, Cedric was determined to find a way out and make a life for himself outside of the city he grew up in. He poured all his efforts into his work, and was accepted to the Ivy League school Brown University. Here, he had to work even harder just to stay afloat. Eventually, he succeeded in creating a life for himself. This book deals mostly with the process of growing up for Cedric. It covers the issues Cedric faced because of his race, and where he was from, and manages to bridge the gap between his world and our own, creating a relatable and valuable piece of writing.
This book did a great job of showing what growing up was like for Cedric, while making a relatable and valuable resource for others going through a similar process. I really liked the way that Suskind was able to remove himself from the story. I think doing this was incredibly valuable for effectiveness of the book. Had the author been more present throughout the book it would have made it feel like I was reading a psychological case study, rather than the story of Cedric Jennings. This way of telling the story allowed me as a reader to become more attached to Cedric as well as some of the other characters. As I read the book, I started to be more concerned about the outcomes of certain situations, and invested in what outcome I was hoping for. Another big impact was how Suskind described Cedric's change. There was never a blatant statement that Cedric had changed, until near the end of the book, and even then it was very subtle. Suskind described Cedric's change by saying, "He's finally close to feeling comfortable with that name, with himself and who he has become, and he feels a timely need to get back to Washington, to see what home looks like now that he can see so many things more clearly." This was a very simple way of pointing out Cedric's progress to the reader, showing us how much more comfortable he had become with himself. I think all of this combines to give the book a stronger value to a young reader, like myself, going through some of the same transitions as Cedric. The absence of the author allowed me to focus more on Cedric's story and relating to him. The fact that Suskind did not blatantly reference Cedric's change and growth allowed me to realize it myself, and see how gradual of a process the transition to adult hood is.
Another task Suskind handles very well, is dealing with the racial issues Cedric faces. Cedric is told over and over throughout the 3 years in this book that he will be a failure, just because of the color of his skin, or where he is from. I think Suskind did a great job of working with the people in Cedric's life, to create a more accurate picture of what he went through. Suskind mentions this in his authors note saying, "I will be forever grateful for their trust in me and in the ideal that racial distinctions can be bridged by shared understanding." Suskind managed to cross the racial boundaries in place for him. I think it is really important, and very impressive that Suskind managed to do this. Not only did Suskind show Cedric's struggle in a way that would make someone who hasn't experienced nearly the same kind of discrimination as Cedric understand. He did it in a way that did not attack anyone. I think the way this was done is that, in the telling of Cedric's story, Suskind mainly showed the discrimination that Cedric experienced from Cedric's point of view. How it made Cedric feel. How Cedric interpreted it. Rather than in a way that put one party in the wrong, and one in the right. Had Suskind presented the racial issues in the book in a way that seemed to blame or attack a group of people, it would have negatively affected the way the reader interprets the discrimination in the book. Making Cedric's story less valuable. After reading A Hope in the Unseen, I felt like I had a level of understanding of the discrimination that Cedric faced, even though I have had no direct experience with it myself. While I will never fully understand what Cedric, and those like Cedric, have faced, it is now more clear to me. That clarity allowed me to get more out of the book, and better relate to the story. Without Suskind's presentation of this information, I don't think I would have gotten nearly as much out of the book.
I would like to point out that I was not as happy with one aspect. The book focused too much on Cedric and, I feel, left some of the other people in the dark. Barbara, for instance; when I finished A Hope in the Unseen I desperately wanted to hear more about Barbara's life, and how it affected her, and the way she raised Cedric. I don't think that Suskind focusing his energy in the book on Cedric negatively impacted the value of the story. I do however think it left me feeling a little cheated at the end. I just wanted to hear more about the people around Cedric. They were all clearly important people in his life, or they would not have been included in the book. I wanted to see where they ended up, and how their lives changed in parallel to Cedric's. Almost as a sort of supplement to the Cedric's story. Suskind did give a short summary about where some of them ended up, but it just wasn't enough for me. I honestly think I would be willing to read about every single person in this books life. This could just be me though, I have always enjoyed reading about peoples lives, and what they have done. The people in this book were all so different and unique I think each story would be amazing to read. While I felt the book was lacking in telling other peoples stories, this did not detract at all from the more major aspects of the book, or from telling Cedric's story.

Review: Hope in the Unseen
Description: A Hope in the Unseen was published in 1998 and is written by Ron Suskind, a reporter/ journalist who sought to bring to light the hardships of being “black in America”. This book is a biographical novel meaning it concentrates on a specific persons life experiences. This biographical novel centers around the life of one Cedric Jennings, a 16 year old African American boy growing up in the inner city of Washington D.C. When we first start following Cedric, he’s a junior at Ballou High School, an inner city school where grades are of no importance to most. Cedric, however, strives to do his best to achieve excellent grades, despite the bullying he endures for it, so that he can leave the poverty, crime stricken neighborhoods of D.C., where “Gunshots are part of the background score here. Listen on most nights and a few pops are audible”, and make something of his life. The summer between Cedric’s junior and senior year, he is accepted into Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science Program (MITES). Cedric discovers fairly quickly however that while he may be the best Ballou High has to offer, there are huge gaps in his education and classes are much harder than he thought they would be. By the end of the summer Cedric is left questioning whether he is cut out to be in an Institution such as MIT. After director Leon Trilling says Cedric would not be accepted, Cedric returns home disappointed, frustrated, and questioning himself.
During senior year Cedric applies and is accepted into Brown University, an Ivy League college. While this seems like the end of the story, his quest for moving beyond the poverty of D.C obtained, we follow Cedric to college and watch as the struggles of his past continue to make things difficult for him in college. Cedric finds that even at Brown he is behind his fellow classmates academically, leaving him scrambling to catch up to their level. Not only does Cedric struggle academically, but also socially, things are not going so well either. Cedric begins to have trouble with his roommate Rob who comes from a completely different background, rich and white. Cedric also finds difficulty joining the African American community on campus.
While all this is going on at school, at home Cedric encounters even more problems. Cedric’s mother works for the Department of Agriculture and raises Cedric all on her own. She is a strong and independent woman who always supports and pushes Cedric to do his best and escape their life of poverty. Barbara wants Cedric to leave behind their life of poverty just as much as he does. Despite Barbara’s mental support her financial support has always been on rocky ground. Cedric moved constantly as a child, and even now Barbra sometimes has problems paying the bills to keep them a float. Cedric’s father, Cedric Sr., has drifted in and out of Cedric’s life, and jail, due to his constant drug problems and bad choices he makes.
Through out the entire book Cedric shows an impossible focus and determination to accomplish his goals despite what others around him are doing or saying. One thing to consider though, that isn’t stated clearly in the book, is that while Cedric had a strong determination, he couldn’t come close to his goal on his own. It takes “a whole village” as they say, to get Cedric to Brown and to help him succeed once he gets there. Suskind ultimately shows through this book, that any goal can be obtained if you try your hardest, go after what you want with relentless ambition and look to your friends and family when you’re in need of help along the way.
Evaluation: Overall, this book is fairly well written, although sometimes it can get pretty dry and boring because it’s not exactly a thriller. This book was expertly written to show the struggles inner city kids face due to the violence, drugs, and absent parents. Ron Suskind did a wonderful job at really getting into the thoughts and feelings of the characters in Cedric’s life, making it seem like you were inside their head. Each and every person Cedric meets is so much deeper than what you originally see, showing that you can’t judge a person by how they initially appear to be. One of the major running themes of the book is identity. Cedric spends the entire book looking for who he wants to be in life and what he wants to stand for. Other major themes in the book include the challenges of race, and social class in America. Cedric being both African American and from a background of poverty, finds fitting into the world he wants for his future to be extremely difficult. I would recommend the book to certain people. A Hope in the Unseen is an extremely serious, and most of the time, sad book. This book is a lot like reading Steinbeck’s East of Eden or Hawthorne’s A Scarlet Letter. Anyone looking for a more intellectual book, like in a class setting, rather than a book for entertainment would find this a good read.

A Hope in the Unseen is a brutally honest, well written, and incredibly eye opening work that deals with issues of race, inequality, education, overcoming odds that are against you and what it takes to succeed. Author Ron Suskind follows the real life, moving journey of Cedric Jennings. He is a young high school boy in inner city DC that has the brains and the drive to take him far in his academic career and his life, but his journey to try to succeed is harder than most. During his high school years, he dreams of going to a well acclaimed college, and making it out of his impoverished and low achieving area. There is such a surprising contrast, which is represented on the front cover saying, “An American odyssey from inner city to the ivy league”. This idea is a major reason a lot of people are interested in the book in the first place. When you think of students that would attend an Ivy League school, Cedric does not fit the image. Cedric is an inner city boy with an absent father that is in jail and a mother who can’t pay the bills, coming from a place many would refer to as the ghetto. He is at a school that accepts the fact that most of their students are not going to succeed in life, and he is the odd one out. Others at his high school resent him and physically, verbally, and emotionally abuse him for trying to be someone that they could never dream to be. None of this stops him, and neither does struggling at an MIT summer program and being told he would never be accepted into their program. Through his mother, Barbara Jennings’ support, as well as a few teachers, and his own motivation, he is able to get accepted into Brown University, an acclaimed Ivy League School as well as receive numerous scholarships to make this a feasible option for him. The rest of the novel follows his journey as he moves to Brown and begins to realize what an outsider he really is, and how hard the rigor of the coursework is at this caliber of a school. He struggles socially, academically, and emotionally through this transition. Academically you watch him grow through experience, his teachers, and most notably his tutor who showed him how to let his past make his academics stronger and not weaken them. Socially he learns to let people that are different from himself help him grow, and that letting people in isn't necessarily a bad thing. He also finds that he can incorporate the worlds of blacks and non-blacks at Brown, and that maybe they aren't as separated as he thought they were. As Suskind puts it, “…he said something about having spent his whole life among blacks and wanting to see if there is a place for him among non-blacks”. He so badly wants to reject where he came from and the whole culture that he came from that it takes him time to realize that maybe he doesn't have to. As he begins to acclimate and grow into his new life at Brown, he also begins to struggle emotionally. He describes this as “he had been feeling guilty for months now about not belonging in the southeast anymore, about leaving everyone behind”. Suskind does an incredible job showing how he works through these conflicts that he faces, and how he grows and learns from them. Through showing his raw journey without glamorizing it, the reader is able to truly begin to understand Cedric and learn from his amazing transformation.
Coming into reading this book, I expected it to be a story about overcoming the odds and a social commentary on the injustices and inequality in America through social class, race, and in our school systems. Although these topics were discussed and definitely held a prominent role, as they should, A Hope in the Unseen is so much more than that. In this raw account of the ups and downs and all the factors that played a role in Cedric's journey made it so much more than a stereotypical, seemingly perfect success story. I understand more of what it is actually like to be facing these issues. I am also more understanding of him because Suskind shows reasoning and explanation behind almost all of his decisions. Seeing that my story is so different from his, it is important that not only I hear his story but have a better understanding, so that it can influence the way I think about these issues, and Ron Suskind did an amazing job conquering this feat.
Being a freshman college student myself, I was surprised by not only how much I could relate to Cedric but also how much his story has influenced the way I’m thinking about my own. I come from a suburban upbringing and a school that pushed its students to their full potential, and expected all of its students to go to well acclaimed colleges. Although my background isn't even remotely similar to Cedric’s, I've still gained an appreciation for where I've come from, the good and the bad, and how much it has grown me as a person and lead me to where I am today. A Hope in the Unseen has not only changed my perspective on my own life, but also given me insight on the lives and struggles of others, which made the book truly an insightful read.
Author Ron Suskind used his highly observant and incredible insight he was able to get from not only Cedric but others that were a vital part in his story to paint a picture of what Cedric’s life was really like. Another book that relates a lot to how Suskind accomplished this is The Dirty Life, it explores author Kristen Kimball’s transition from being a city girl to following her dreams out to the country to be a farmer. Just like Kimball did in her memoir, Suskind uses his insight to truly paint the picture of what the transition was really like and how it affected the main character. Suskind mentions that “It is [his] hope that this book will similarly confuse dug-in racial expectations and, in some small way, help weave the black experience and the white experience… into a shared national narrative”. I think in some small way he did just that, by not forcing some opinion on the social issues in the book but through letting the story speak for itself. Cedric’s story helps us understand the impacts these issues have on people in America today, but also gives perspective on what that truly means. Through allowing readers to understand and maybe even relate to Cedric who is so different from many of the readers themselves, Suskind's goal was accomplished in the sense of being a small step towards the big picture goal. I truly enjoyed being taken on Cedric's journey, and opening my eyes to these issues I hadn't understood before. Therefore, I would recommend this book to college students because of the ways they can relate to Cedric, but also to anyone that enjoys broadening their horizons through literature and others experiences.

A Hope in the Unseen (penned by Ron Suskind) follows the life of Cedric Jennings, an African American teenager. He attends Ballou Senior High in Washington D.C. - one of the most dangerous and crime-ridden areas in D.C. - and lives in a topsy turvy ghetto world where things like decent grades and making the honor roll are frowned upon his by peers. As if things couldn’t get more depressing, the audience learns Cedric lives alone with his mother, and the two of them regularly work hard to stave off living in poverty. Instead of submitting to the mentality that is cast over at Ballou (that any academic aspirations one might have are worthless and unworthy of pursing), Cedric unapologetically refuses to give up his dreams of attending an Ivy League school. Not only is he driven to succeed and graduate, his mother wholeheartedly believes he can do it and does whatever is in her power to help him realize his dreams. In his junior year of high school, Cedric is able to attend a college summer program at M.I.T. (a program called Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science). Unsurprisingly, at least to the reader, Cedric struggles with the workload as opposed to his other peers, who come from better schools and are middle class. His ghetto background sets him apart though he manages to make friends. A the end of the program, despite how much progress he’s made, Cedric is told by a professor that he wouldn’t be welcome at M.I.T. as a college student. Cedric returns to Ballou at the end of the summer disenchanted and discomforted by his prospects, but simultaneously comforted at not being set apart socially by his peers.

When he finds that one Ivy League college is much more accommodating of minority students like himself, Cedric seems to find renewed hope and a reason why he should keep working towards his dreams. As his senior year winds down, Cedric is able to receive several financial aid scholarships which allow him to attend the college of his choice. Not all of his college-bound peers share the same result, however. Though some of them are accepted to college, there is no way they can afford the tuition on their own, and others cannot go at all, which creates friction and resentment between Cedric and his classmates. Despite that, he is determined to go and to succeed at college no matter what obstacles he may face.

What stood out to me in this book is how much grit and an almost superhuman work ethic Cedric had. It would have been ridiculously easy for him to stop giving caring about academics a long time ago. He’s a poor, inner-city, minority teenager. He doesn’t have access to decent education, and has a father he doesn’t know in jail and on drugs. On top of the obstacles Cedric already faces, he lives in an area where crime is high and gangs are everywhere.There is every reason for Cedric to give up on his future. Almost none of his peers cared about their education, and if they did, they didn’t try to move heaven and hell to get out - mainly because of this impossible situation they were born into. Every possible obstacle Cedric could face, he had to. He couldn’t quite completely exist in either world he was experiencing (educated middle class and poor ghetto background). Instead of bending to peer pressure and allowing himself to fade into obscurity and not make something of his life, he chose - with the help of his mother, his faith, and some dedicated high school teachers - to aim high and to keep clawing his ways out of a poor neighborhood towards a better future.

Cedric’s mother, Barbara was reckless and immature before giving birth to him. She had a tendency towards liquor and bad relationships. Barbra wasn’t the most educated person out there- and it would have been easy for her to believe that her child would face a similar fate to the one she’d been dealing with. However, instead of slipping into that belief, and helping to set him up for failure and disappointment, Barbra does the complete opposite. She keeps him on a tight leash. Before, she had been all over the place; now, she was committed to bending over backwards to make something of her own life and make sure that her son didn’t stay in poverty.

It was moving to read about how committed Barbara is to Cedric through this period of their life, and how much she’d done for him beforehand. It was clear that she was determined to help Cedric. She was an incredible role model for him and helped him mature enough to be able to handle different challenges he would face before Cedric would move out and have to grow up and mature on his own.

After being told by Ballou’s principle that Cedric was “too proud for his own good”, Suskind decided to investigate that claim in 1994. He published two articles about Cedric, but eventually used those as references when working to write an entire novel about the reality of the Jennings family.

Now, I’m not one to really explicitly comment on someone’s race, but I do think this is worth mentioning. Ron Suskind is a white, male journalist who is middle class. As a result, he enjoys a lot of privilege that Cedric and other African American teenagers that he (Suskind) comes into contact with don’t. While writing A Hope in the Unseen it would have been incredibly easy to treat the Jennings and other black people as if they were merely dramatized characters or specimens to be discussed and observed from a literary standpoint. Suskind could have easily dominated the story even though he was just an observer for years on end to document the journey Cedric is on.

What is notable and commendable about this novel is that Suskind is very much absent from the story. He is able to use his mastery of storytelling to get into the heads of everybody Cedric comes into contact with (including Cedric himself). Instead of being overtly present throughout the story and offering direct or indirect commentary, you don’t see Suskind at all throughout the novel. It’s as if he got the story secondhand in detail. Though he spent several years with the Jennings family, he is excellent at removing himself from the story that unfolds. Suskind allows the people he writes about to exist as complicated, complex people who the reader often ends up developing a strong attachment or other fierce emotions towards.

There were parts of the novel that made me smile, like when Cedric was discussing music with his peers in a summer program or when he was in college. He would relate his own music taste with new friends, and play it on cassette tapes or talk about hip hop/rap artists they should check out. Suskind effortlessly related it to the reader, and this distinct transition is lost the first time around. Suskind makes the interactions Cedric has with peers and adults seem relatable or, at the very least, understandable - an entirely new world is accessible and explained without it feeling overwhelming or listlessly dragging on with no plot.

Although this was written roughly twenty years ago (Cedric attends high school and college in the 1990’s) it still offers a lot of insight into low-income, high crime areas and how difficult it is to fight and beat the odds when next to nobody is willing to help you.

There are many stories that set out with the mission to show the journey from rags to riches. A Hope in the Unseen is a nonfiction book written by Ron Suskind that sets out to tell the life-changing story of Cedric Jennings. Cedric Jennings is a teen growing up at Ballou High School, which is not only an inner-city school, but one of the worst schools in the Washington, D.C. area. Suskind artfully tells the tale of perseverance and hard work that undertakes Cedric on his journey to beat the odds at Ballou and move on to an Ivy League institution. By leaving out his own narrative, Suskind sets the scene early for Cedric by revealing how his strive for intelligence is frowned upon when the principal of Ballou refers to Cedric as “Too proud for his own good,” and fellow classmates mock him in the hallways yelling out words such as “amazing nerdboy” that echo off of the walls. Although Cedric’s surroundings are not large motivators, he continues to strive for the Ivy Leagues with the help of others such as his teacher, Clarence Taylor, and his mother, Barbara Jennings. Clarence Taylor often encouraged Cedric outside of the classroom, especially with his famous phrase, “For the race is not given to the swift nor the strong, but to him who endureth until the end!” Cedric is strictly raised by his mother, due to his father being in jail because of drugs. They constantly struggle financially throughout the story, being evicted multiple times, yet Barbara continues to support Cedric in his dream as well as donating to her church the entire time. Her dream is to help Cedric go to the Ivy Leagues.
In order to achieve his goal, Cedric applied for the MIT MITES, which is the Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science program. Once he was accepted into this summer program, Cedric was leaning towards MIT as his dream school. As he continues through the program, he finds himself further behind in the subjects than a lot of the other students. He cracks down on himself and works hard in order to keep his head above water in most of his classes in the program. By the end of the program, Cedric discovers that his test scores and his schooling so far is not enough to get him accepted into MIT. While this was devastating to Cedric, he does not let this get him down. He finds out about Brown University and decides to test his chances with this famous Ivy League university and ultimately getting accepted into the university. While it feels like the story should end there because Cedric achieved his ultimate goal and his future was finally about to start, Cedric’s journey was just beginning. Upon arriving at Brown, Cedric feels out of place amongst the mostly white campus. His skin color made him instantly stick out from the white-washed campus. Cedric’s sense of belonging was also challenged by his roommate Rob. His roommate was not only white, instantly differing the two, but a multitude of differences. Rob enjoyed drinking and hanging out with girls while Cedric preferred to stay in and study. Cedric does, however, find a friend in Zayd, a white student who lives down the hall from his dorm. This unlikely friendship opens Cedric’s mind to the world outside of the inner-city where he grew up.
While Cedric is finding himself in the social scheme of things, he is struggling with academic work at Brown. He finds that his education class is harder than he had originally thought. He tended to focus more on his own experiences growing up than the assignment at hand and was shown the harsh realities of switching from Ballou to Brown when he received a not so pleasant grade on his first analytical paper. Cedric was not turned away just yet thinking that “every sunny expanse seems to have a corner in the shadows.” His hope does not waiver, instead he seeks guidance from a staff member at Brown who reads over some of his papers and guides him in the right direction. Cedric ultimately finds his way through Brown, taking the memories he gained along the way with him.
A Hope in the Unseen is a well-written book that I would recommend to those looking for a slower paced book that speaks on a deeper level about hope and perseverance. The different internal monologues from characters within the book make it flow easily and gives the reader an inside to what is going on, not only with Cedric, but all around Cedric. Cedric’s determination to beat the odds reminded me of the refugees in Warren St. John’s Outcasts United and Junior in Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Blending in and following the social norm is a common theme amongst books of struggle, and the main character in all three books break the social structures imposed upon them and go on to achieve what they view as their goal.
Although Suskind beautifully blends Cedric’s journey into a narrative that expresses themes of hope and hard work, he fails to show just how vital the help Cedric received along the way aided in his success story. Obviously, Cedric’s hard work and willpower were driving forces in his ability to move on from Ballou to Brown University, and he perseveres until he succeeds in his own dreams. It took a lot more behind the scenes work to make it happen. Besides the help from obvious sources such as Barbara or the various teachers from Ballou and Brown that provided him with guidance, Cedric’s success was largely influenced just by the fact that Suskind decided to write a story on him. Without Suskind bringing Cedric’s journey to life in print, Cedric may not have received as much help, whether that be financially or academically, as he did. I firmly believe that Cedric deserved to attend Brown University and that hard work ultimately does pay off; however, it takes many hands to make a story like his successful, and one of those hands is most definitely the author himself.