Iceberg Slim (1918–1992)

i tend to like autobiographies from criminals/degens/vagrants, so i enjoyed this. it makes me wonder how much of that is exaggerated, or an outright fabrication. i know he changed the names and apparently lied about the iq part.

i guess i find it hard to believe people who wrote these books can remember stuff so vividly. maybe its my zoomer brain but i could not remember a lot of shit in my life. reading the old-timey slang was quite fun, i wish the glossary was twice the size bc there were a lot of missing terms… (mere)

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‘Trick Baby’ is an American crime novel from the 1960s from black writer Robert Beck, better known as Iceberg Slim. Beck was a pimp and hustler turned author who became an important voice in African American writing in the 60s and 70s. Two of his books were filmed and they’ve been championed by more recent figures in black culture like Snoop Dogg and Ice T.
His first book was a heavily autobiographical novel, ‘Pimp’. ‘Trick Baby’ was his second and tells the story of White Folks, a young man with a white father and a black mother who is pale skinned enough to pass as white. Set mostly in the 1930s and 40s, it follows White Folks from childhood and through his life as a young man who falls into the life of a conman in Chicago. It’s a book that is packed with incident, with detailed and fascinating descriptions of the cons Folks and his partner run. That side of the book makes for very entertaining reading and the plot charts Folks’ growing success and relationships, in particular with a wealthy white woman.
Race plays a big part in the book, with the main character finding himself out of place in both the white and black worlds. It’s handled with passion and the prejudice expressed by the white characters is horrifyingly effective. The gap between the two worlds is stark and the depiction of the slum areas of Chicago is memorable. It’s an often moving read, and Folks is a sympathetic character for all his flaws. His relationship with his mother is particularly well handled, and the source of his many insecurities. That conflict, between the confident trickster and the uncertain young man, is at the heart of the book and it works well.
The treatment of female and LGBT characters is hard to take, but the book manages to tread the narrow line between showing prejudice and actively condoning it. The writing is a little rough at times, but it has a raw power that fits the subject matter and makes for a compelling read.… (mere)

In fiction, an unreliable narrator is a fun twist that makes you think twice about what you just read, and reanalyze it through that lens. In an autobiography it makes it awfully hard to maintain your suspension of disbelief. Iceberg makes a lot of claims that are hard to swallow. For example, quoting the lyrics to whatever song was on the radio at the time---which are always thematic to the plot. Every character in the book talks in his voice; even supposed squares routinely refer to all women as "bitches" and talk in jive. As such, I decided to read the rest of the book in the frame of mind that it's fiction.

And as fiction, it's actually not that bad. I mean, it is---if it were published as fiction it wouldn't have been published. But it's interesting. It's not a story you've heard before. It's told by a disgusting, terrible human of an antihero, but I sorta found myself rooting for him anyway. It presents a view of the world I'd never seen inside of: that everyone is fundamentally out to get you, that loneliness is the only possible way to live, and that if you don't outsmart everyone all the time they'll outsmart you. Honestly it sounds like a pretty terrible life, but a lot of the intrigue is watching someone strive so hard for such vapidness.

If you're looking for something different and aren't going to be triggered by the protagonist being proud of himself for having beaten a woman with an unraveled coathanger, you might give this a go. It's by no means a great use of your time, but at the very least you'll pick up some cool pimp lingo.… (mere)