and wondered if I would be interested in the topic. "Yes," was my answer when I saw that the story centered on the lives of Hollywood's transient population of street kids. Maybe the street kid angle caught my interest as a psychologist or, more likely, it may be that I just got back from LA and Hollywood last week and I kind of missed it and figured the book would let me know more about the area from a different perspective. A cab driver told me about the kids and characters that hung around in Hollywood who were sometimes on drugs and sometimes lost. I wanted to know more. I was not disappointed. Rommelmann's skillful portrayal of the characters shows their unattractive side in a way that is realistic, shady and pulls the reader into a world they may never otherwise encounter.
The characters in the novel are based, in part, on Rommelmann's experiences chronicling the "under-told stories of Los Angeles's various shadow populations for the LA Weekly and the LA Times; a crew of Mexican gardeners working the Hollywood Hills; cop groupies hanging out at the LAPD's favorite bar, an East Coast heiress-gone-alcoholic begging for change at Venice Beach, and the dream-broke residents of Sunset Boulevard's $40-a-night motels."
Maybe these stories should be untold, they are depressing. The kids in the book are around 13-18 (mainly on the younger side). They shoplift, have sex with older men (and women) for cash, use drugs and have kids that they seem to have no business keeping. The girl, Mary, one of the main characters, has a baby at 13 that leaves the reader wondering throughout the book why in the hell she kept it.
Although the reader has to feel sorry at some points for the lives of these teens, it often seems to be of their own making. The babies who are born to the teen moms on the street never asked to be part of it. Sadly, they are the ones who will probably suffer the most.