Synopses & Reviews
An inspiring story of a black woman's coming-of-age.
Project Girl is the powerful story of a black woman with a genius IQ whose coming-of-age in a Brooklyn public housing project locks her into a struggle with the growing poverty, drug abuse, and violence of a neighborhood in decline.
Janet McDonald grew up in a family in pursuit of the American Dream, a dream that seemed within easy reach of the gifted student. In school, McDonald soared past her peers into a world of privilege college at Vassar, studies in Paris, law school at Cornell one she was prepared for only intellectually. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she held on emotionally to the project world she was poised to leave behind.
Project Girl is a story of a divided life and of the struggle to reconcile two opposing worlds. In college, there was drug abuse. In law school, an arson arrest. She suffered a nervous breakdown after a rape. Only through brains, will, and support from friends and family was McDonald able to gain control of her life.
Few books have told about the tensions of growing up gifted in the inner city so candidly, and few success stories seem as unlikely as the one narrated in Project Girl.
Review
"McDonald's prose is sparse and compelling; her vision is acute, and she avoids self-pity and psychobabble." Los Angeles Times Book Review
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"Full of heartache, tragedy and victory...[McDonald's] story proceeds at a fast pace and with fascinating turns." The Washington Post
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"Blessed with blinding intelligence...McDonald writes with lucidity and drama." Time
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"[McDonald] argues her case with lawyerly concision [and] drop-dead ghetto humor." Entertainment Weekly
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"[A] riveting book, a powerful, rare firsthand account." Time Out New York
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"An eloquent account of a remarkable life, Project Girl should be placed on all high school and college reading lists and offered to anyone looking for a book beautifully written." Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes
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"Powerful and painful reminder of the enormous gap between the culture of an inner-city black ghetto and middle-class white America..." Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Janet McDonald grew up in public housing in Brooklyn and holds degrees from Vassar, NYU, and Columbia University. She is one of the few black members of MENSA and practices law in Paris.