Project Girl

"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."and#151;Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes

"In her engrossing memoir, McDonald, a Brooklyn-born lawyer now living in Paris, compares herself to Icarus because she, too, soared and fell mightily. The difference is that after her falls, McDonald picked herself up and charged onward."and#151;Sara Ivry, New York Times Book Review

"Devastating. . . . McDonald argues her case with lawyerly concision, drop-dead ghetto humor, and just a touch of schoolgirl psychobabble. . . . No wonder McDonald fled to Paris, where, freed from the American obsession with race, she wrote this stinging epitaph for the decade that gave us the word yuppie."and#151;Susanne Ruta, Entertainment Weekly

"Going to the bookstore is becoming more and more like riding in a subway--there are a whole bunch of people with stories to tell but very few who know how to tell a good story. Every once in a while though, we might find ourselves sitting next to someone whose story is so intriguing that we actually miss our stop because we are so engrossed in their tale. Such is the effect of Janet McDonald's Project Girl."and#151;Deborah Cowell, Black Issues Book Review

"McDonald's prose is sparse and compelling; her vision is acute, and she avoids self-pity and psychobabble." Los Angeles Times Book Review

"Full of heartache, tragedy and victory...[McDonald's] story proceeds at a fast pace and with fascinating turns." The Washington Post

"Blessed with blinding intelligence...McDonald writes with lucidity and drama." Time

"[McDonald] argues her case with lawyerly concision [and] drop-dead ghetto humor." Entertainment Weekly

"[A] riveting book, a powerful, rare firsthand account." Time Out New York

"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

"Powerful and painful reminder of the enormous gap between the culture of an inner-city black ghetto and middle-class white America..." Kirkus 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.

"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"

"In her engrossing memoir, McDonald, a Brooklyn-born lawyer now living in Paris, compares herself to Icarus because she, too, soared and fell mightily. The difference is that after her falls, McDonald picked herself up and charged onward."--Sara Ivry, "New York Times Book Review"

"Devastating. . . . McDonald argues her case with lawyerly concision, drop-dead ghetto humor, and just a touch of schoolgirl psychobabble. . . . No wonder McDonald fled to Paris, where, freed from the American obsession with race, she wrote this stinging epitaph for the decade that gave us the word "yuppie.""--Susanne Ruta, "Entertainment Weekly"

"Going to the bookstore is becoming more and more like riding in a subway--there are a whole bunch of people with stories to tell but very few who know how to tell a good story. Every once in a while though, we might find ourselves sitting next to someone whose story is so intriguing that we actually miss our stop because we are so engrossed in their tale. Such is the effect of Janet McDonald's "Project Girl."--Deborah Cowell, "Black Issues Book Review

Selected by The Los Angeles Times Book Review as one of the best books of the year, Project Girl is the powerful account of a young woman's struggle to realize her dreams while remaining true to who she was before attending Ivy League schools and receiving impressive diplomas. It tells of the spectacular failures and unlikely comebacks of a ghetto kid whose academic talent opens doors onto a world of private schools, rich classmates, and plum jobs but who back home confronts a neighborhood of growing poverty, drug abuse, and crime. Project Girl is McDonald's story of her divided life and terrible battle to reconcile opposing worlds.

Janet McDonald grew up in a public housing project in New York City. A graduate of Vassar College, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and New University School of Law, she is currently a lawyer in Paris.