Street Pharm

The book that I chose to do is Street Pharm by Allison van Diepen, the book has 297 pages, the reason I chose this book is personally I am tired novels taking place years before I am born. This novel pertains to urban problems and one kids’ attempt to survive in the pressures of present day Brooklyn. Within the novel, there are several subplots, one being his love interest, Alyse, and Ty’s fight to stay in school. As well as, his fight not to lose money or control of his territory. It is interesting to watch this young man, balance these things in his life and not let them interfere with each other.

Ty Johnson has learned business from his father he knows how to survive in the real world, to take care of problems on the spot. He has everything in control and knows the way to run things. He is intelligent, patient, and skillful, everything he needs when he inherited his father's business. Ty recently got kicked out of the conventional high school, and is attending an alternative school where if he cuts class without a doctor’s note, he may be expelled. School becomes better for him as he meets a girl named Alyse, they begin studying together, and Ty actually does well in his classes. After being friends with Alyse, Ty asks her out on a date. They end up going to a very high-end restaurant that Ty insists on going to, just because the food was worth it. He has a lot of money through his business, but he is never arrogant or flashy about it. He just dresses in expensive clothes because, “’A man is only as good as his first impression’”. Throughout this daily routine we see how disciplined he is, he follows ideas from ancient samurai texts, like how to handle an enemy. Ty has learned many things from his father, like any distraction such as a spouse or girlfriend is very hard to handle, while having to look over your shoulder all the time. Even though his business is shady, he still seems to rationalize with the reader. “Having a gun wasn’t gonna change my chances of getting shot. You don’t hear about people saving themselves from drive-bys by shooting back. If you shoot back and you lucky enough to survive the drive-by, you still got the cops charging your ass.” (Diepen 15).

Alyse, Ty’s love interest seems to be the polar opposite of the street hustling protagonist. They met on Ty’s first day at the alternative school. She is in all of his classes after the first time they met there was a connection. Alyse is very studious and is worried about her grades for college. She is also a very nice and considerate person, which led Ty to wonder why she was at that school. After the second time they studied together, Ty had asked her, what brought her to the alternative school. It turns out she had gotten pregnant, and wanted to drop out to support he child. But with her mother’s help and an afternoon job, she has been able to return to school. This shows her determination to succeed. The problem is with the relationship between Ty and Alyse is that she doesn’t know that he is a drug dealer.

Sonny is Ty’s business partner, and one