{"product_id":"book-fg07","title":"An Ambition to Belong","description":"\u003cp\u003eJourney with Jim through \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAn Ambition to Belong\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e, second book of master novelist Jim Sniechowski's \u003cstrong\u003eLeaving Home Trilogy\u003c\/strong\u003e. This is an astute and insightful psychological journey into the inner life of Jim, an adolescent in the midst of trying to \u003cstrong\u003eforge his own identity.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eTrapped in two different worlds\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ehe belongs nowhere\u003c\/strong\u003e: at one end his Polish immigrant Detroit inner-city Catholic family and its Eastern European \u003cstrong\u003epeasant beliefs and terrors\u003c\/strong\u003e; and at the other \u003cstrong\u003ea late-1950s upper-class suburban Jesuit college-prep high school in suburban Detroit \u003c\/strong\u003ewhere he is \u003cstrong\u003etotally unprepared to deal with the world of money and arrogance\u003c\/strong\u003e he finds there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt home, a \u003cstrong\u003eseverely restricted life style\u003c\/strong\u003e laced with \u003cstrong\u003eraw gut emotion\u003c\/strong\u003e; at \u003cstrong\u003eschool emotionless intellect taught by arrogant Jesuit priests\u003c\/strong\u003e. On home turf he is a member of The Royal Lancers, a street gang \u003cstrong\u003ewhere his life is threatened by Donny\u003c\/strong\u003e, a psychotically deranged fellow gang member. At school, because of his dress, especially his Ford Motor Company issue black work shoes, \u003cstrong\u003ehe is perceived as a non-entity, a non-being who has little or no worthwhile existence.\u003c\/strong\u003e Confronted with the death of young friend and then later an incident of racism and a savage incident of anti-Semitism, Jim rises to \u003cstrong\u003efind the strength that forms the first layer of his conscience and his conscious sense of self.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \"The author is especially talented at depicting the \u003cstrong\u003eparadoxical mix of frustration and exhilaration that marks adolescence\u003c\/strong\u003e. A thoughtful, meditative tale about the pain of youthful disillusionment.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"INAudio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49437910171952,"sku":"BDfg07","price":9.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/fg07-Square-cover.jpg?v=1773401010","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-fg07","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}