They each had their own struggles: drug addicted mother, mentally ill sister, poverty, abuse, heartbreak, negative peer pressure, and even jail. But the journey from then to residency was not easy. In high school, they made a pact to become doctors together. Despite their tough upbringing, they were all able to graduate from medical school. Instead, most of their loved ones were struggling to make ends meet and turning to drugs. There were no doctors or lawyers walking their streets. The Pact is an inspiring memoir that chronicles the life of three men who grew up in a violent neighbourhood. When I saw this book on Amazon, I knew I had to read it. Unfortunately, some of them may find out too late that it just doesn't work that way. When they read this book and see how the world just up and gave this boy unlimited chances, they're going to see that luck as a given. This isn't to say that's not something I can do in my own classroom, but the fact remains that 13-16 year old kids see the world differently they already think they're indestructible and that failing grades mean nothing, that they're good enough to play in the NBA, that skipping class and refusing to do work for years on end won't affect their dreams of becoming a lawyers and doctors. I took serious issue with how lightly these issues were touched upon, and felt there was some serious space for a teachable moment there. Your decisions determine your path in life, as much as that may suck, it's reality. Lucky him, but those 2nd and 3rd chances don't usually happen in life. The stars aligned and he wound up with no consequences. These things include violence, anger, and therefore arrests. One of the boys in particular repeatedly makes the wrong choices, knowingly, and succeeds in his efforts to become a doctor by sheer luck. That's why I don't let them tell stories.įinally, (see, that's an example of a transition fellas) I really didn't feel that the element of luck was properly addressed here. I have friends like that, and it takes them forever to get a point across. Allusions to later (or earlier) events are one thing, but it's almost as though the men, while telling their stories, had constant ADD, as though in mid-story they had the "oh, and by the way." method of telling a story. This jumpiness made the story confusing, and it should have been more carefully laid out in its chronology. Other sections would be discussing one deep philosophical realization one of the men had, and in the next paragraph he's recounting an event totally unrelated. One Dr would be telling a story about an event that happened in this life and in the very next paragraph he's recounting an event that occurred years later. I realize these doctors are not writers, but that's what editors are for. I'm a professional "reader," if you will, and even I found myself going, "wait, what?" on way too many occasions. Firstly, the organization was horrendous. However, there are so many things in this book that prompted me to have to literally have to restrain myself from throwing it in the ocean on multiple vacation occasions. I really do think it's a valuable idea for people to explore through individual stories of success like this one. I appreciate the overall theme: perseverance and pulling oneself up from metaphorical bootstraps. I would give this 2.5 stars, but definitely couldn't round it up to 3.
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