DURING INTERCOURSE Stuy, NY, a little misunderstanding can escalate into having a cost on your own head-even if you’re totally clean. This gritty, triumphant debut catches the heart and the hardship of lifestyle for an metropolitan teen.

Most of the stuff that gives my neighborhood a poor name, We don’t really mess with. The weapons and drugs and all that, not really my thing.

Nah, not his thing. Ali’s got plenty of happening, between school and boxing and helping out in the home. His best friend Noodles, though. Right now there’s about ONCE I Was the Greatest a dude searching for trouble-and, somehow, it’s generally Ali around to get the parts. But, hey, a guy’s gotta consider his boys, right? Besides, it’s all little potatoes; it’s not like anyone’s getting hurt.

And then there’s Needles. Needles is Noodles’s brother. He’s got a symptoms, and gets these ticks and blurts out the wildest, craziest issues. It’s great, though: everyone on their street knows he doesn’t mean anything by it.

Yeah, it’s great…until Ali and Noodles and Needles find themselves someplace they never likely to end up being…somewhere they by no means should’ve been-where the people aren’t so friendly, as well as less forgiving.