Chapter 8

This chapter is mostly about MacDonalds older brother Frankie, who happens to be my favorite character in the book. Frankie is a “Stand up guy” as the chapter is called, and that description is spot on. He looks out for everyone and really tries to do the right thing all the time. He never dabbles in drugs, he is always working out in the gym trying to better himself, and he tries to keep everyone in his family safe, he’s the neighborhood hero and he doesn’t have one enemy. He’s also one of the only siblings pulling in some money in an honest way, by boxing. He even got closer to his drug dealing brother Kevin just to keep an eye on him.

Later on in the chapter, Frankie is killed. He is involved in a robbery that takes place and is murdered. Ma is heartbroken, so is all of Southie. Apparently Frankie had gotten into cocaine for a short time, and he was coked out while doing the robbery. Frankie’s wake was the biggest Southie had ever seen, everyone attended. Eventually Ma is getting involved in trying to figure out Frankie’s murder, she wants the people of Southie to speak up but no one will.

Kevin, early on in the chapter, gets a girlfriend later in the chapter, she gets pregnant and they’re married, he is on the straight and narrow and everyone is proud of him. Toward the end of the chapter, Kevin starts coming around back to Southie more often and leaving his wife and kid at home, it becomes obvious that he is struggling with Frankie’s death. Not too long after he starts hanging around, Kevin is arrested for robbing a store. He goes to a prison for the criminally insane and at one point MacDonald is saying a prayer for him, about filling Kevin with a white light and healing him forever. Almost immediately Ma receives a letter from Kevin saying exactly that. That he had seen a white light and was beginning to feel okay about Frankie’s death.

The craziest part about this chapter comes at the end. Kevin is found three months later hanging from a bed sheet from the prison bathroom, and the last person to visit him was a detective that was friends with Whitey Bulger, and there had been a rumor going around that Kevin was a tattle tale. The police said it was very strange that an officer would visit so late at night, and it leaves the reader questioning if Kevin was murdered, or if he actually hung himself. It’s hard to believe he hung himself, given the letters he had been writing about how he was healing emotionally, but at this point in the story nothing is even shocking anymore. The entire story is almost unbelievable, so this just adds to the madness.

The Strongest Soul

I think Ma deserves a post dedicated solely to her. She is the glue that keeps the family together, and while she's less than perfect (actually pretty far from it), her strength is undeniable. This woman has dealt with it all; abusive husbands, living in poverty in the projects, losing four children to tragic causes. The list could go on. But throughout the story, Michael paints his mother as the most colorful and feisty character of the book.

She's always doing everything in her power to support her ten children, even if that requires a little bit of scheming. She works hard singing and playing her accordion in bars to make money, but is known to 'trick the system' for her children. Early on in the book, Michael tells of how a government official used to have to come visit their home to make sure they were really eligible for food stamps. While they were no doubt living in poverty, they did have things like old furniture they found and a TV. When the government official would come they'd have to hide all the things that made them look like they had "too much" money. They would put a cloth over the television to make it look like a small end table.

It's very clear how dedicated she is to her children. When Frankie is killed she stops at nothing to find out the truth behind his murder. The things she does and the people she harasses for answers show she nothing if not brave. And every time one of her children dies, you feel your heart breaking along with hers.

Although she's been through the most horrific of things, she never loses her humor. That's what she's certainly the most interesting character of the book. She's such a complex character but you find yourself rooting for her in all situations. The woman has got guts and she's willing to do just about anything for her children. It's amazing to read about.

Chapter 11: Where it All Ends

Turns out, the last sentence of my previous blog post was false. MacDonald moved back to Southie. Since moving back, people around Southie think that MacDonald is just a ‘yuppy’ until he recognizes them and reminds them that he is a MacDonald. MacDonald is also organizing a group of mother’s (mostly those who have lost children) who are against violence in Southie. This group of mother’s that Michael organized made strides towards reducing violence in Southie by supporting a gun buyback project. In the final part of this chapter, All Souls brings the reader back to where it began, All Souls Night.  This time, instead of saying ‘the kids’ Michael says their names (Davey, Frankie, Kevin, and Patrick). 

Chapter 10: Tommy's Suicide

After Ma moves to Colorado, she let’s Michael have the apartment. Although he now has his own apartment, he continues to stay at his friends houses. Michael’s brother, Johnnie also returns from the Navy and stays with Michael. Since Johnnie just got back from the Navy, he was in possession of guns (remember that for later in the post).

            Meanwhile, in Colorado, Ma writes, and calls Michael and tells him that she is enjoying Colorado; however his brothers, Seamus and Stevie tell Michael that they hate it. Since they both hated it in Colorado, Michael’s brothers visited Southie.

            During the boys visit to Southie, Steve’s close friend Tommy is shot while with him. This caused a great amount of turmoil, because Steve was then accused of killing Tommy when in reality, Tommy found one of Johnnie’s guns and killed himself. Steve was found guilty of murder, and was then sent to the Department of Youth Services (DYS). Although, it was later revealed that some key information was missing from the trial. For one, in the 911 transcript it says that Steve says that he shot Tommy, however when Michael listens to the actual tape, Steve never says that. There is also ballistic evidence that proves that Steve did not pull the trigger, however the courts ruled that the evidence was not solid enough. Michael recommends that the police wanted to convict Steve so that they had a scapegoat, and would look good for solving a murder. Eventually, after Steve gets out of DYS the case is reviewed by lawyers (with all legitimate evidence considered) and Steve is proven innocent. Having read all of this, it gives me the sense that maybe the residents of Southie weren’t wrong for not trusting the police. This is just further evidence of the level of distrust between Southie and the government. Once all of this happens, Michael decides to move away, vowing to never return to Southie.  

Chapter 9: Life After the Kids

            In an attempt to get over the death of her children, Ma went to hairdressing school. She would travel to homeless shelters to cut hair, and give anyone she knew a makeover. Eventually while doing this, Ma became friends with other mothers who lost their children. Michael also stopped hanging around Southie, doing everything he could to stay away from the violence. This is a stark contrast from earlier in the book, when the MacDonald’s lived in Jamaica Plain and the kids were trying to create chaos in the neighborhood.

            MacDonald still praises Whitey for trying to keep the streets of Southie clean. The way that Michael writes, it hints that Southie is starting to find out some of the things that Whitey has been doing.

            Kathy (who moved to New Hampshire) moves back home in this chapter as well. The reason for this is that she burned her house down and going insane, saying things like “Have you ever heard of North America?”. After moving back, Kathy disappeared for a while, then came back pregnant with a girl, later to be named Fatima Maria.

            Michael also added in a line that was somewhat surprising to me, he said “Jesus, this is a great place to grow up”. I thought it was weird that after everything that happened, MacDonald still thinks that growing up in Southie was great. Although Michael felt this way his mother was not a fan of the Southie way of life after the kid’s death, so she decided to move to Colorado with Maria, Seamus, and Stevie.

            One idea that MacDonald shares several times is before someone dies, someone has a dream about it. In the case of Kevin, Ma had a dream about him dying so she went out and bought a new black dress for his funeral before he even died. In this chapter, Michael has a dream about a boy named Timmy dying, and a few days later he was killed. I don’t know if these are weird coincidences, but I thought it was worth mentioning. 

The Fate of Young Southie

So I've reached the chapter in which yet another tragedy befalls our main guy, Michael Patrick, and his family. Thus far we've heard of the death of his mother's baby, Patrick Michael, who Michael Patrick was named after. We've also read about Michael's older, mentally unstable brother, Davey committing suicide. And just about every other page of the book held other terrible things. In the chapter I just read, entitled 'Holy Water', it appears as if Michael's sister, Kathy, is following in Davey's footsteps. She appears to have "thrown herself" off of a building, but the family has doubts and believes she was really pushed off of the building during a fight over drugs. She survives the fall but is worse for wear.
This chapter was particular memorable for me because Michael talks about all of the people, mostly Kathy's young friends, who visit her in the hospital. However not only does Michael simply say they visited her, he goes on to describe how in the near future each of them met their fate in some sad, tragic way. Timmy Baldwin, who Kathy dated, was shot twice in front of a bar. Julie Meaney, a friend of Kathy's, walked into the waters at a beach and drown. Tommy Dooley was murdered by his own girlfriend's family. This chapter just reinforced the depressing and desolate feelings the beginning of the book incited. It's a reminder (as if you could forget while reading) how dangerous and corrupt certain areas of Boston were. It's crazy reading how all these people visited Kathy, unaware that they'd be following in her footsteps (so to speak) and end up in the hospital as well, or even worse, the morgue.

Chapter 8: Frankie and Kevin

Much to my surprise, chapter 8 was rather depressing (please sense the sarcasm). Michael starts off by with a brief article touting his Frankie’s success as a boxer. Because he was such a good boxer, Frankie became a huge role model in the Southie community. Michael pointed out how serious Frankie was about being someone that the Southie kids could look up to. Frankie was never caught drinking or doing drugs, and made a point to not hang around individuals who did. Although Frankie was coached by many of Whitey’s ‘people’ Michael says he was never owed by Whitey. Although Frankie was such an important figure in the Southie community, he was still a family man, trying to help Kevin get away from his druggy lifestyle, and driving Ma around in his fancy car. So, you can imagine my surprise when Frankie while he was performing a bank robbery. The way Michael made Frankie out, it seemed like nothing bad was going to happen to him. But at some point, a few months before his death, Michael says he got into drugs. Apparently it was all downhill from there.

            Despite all of Frankie’s help, Kevin life was still going downhill. Unlike Frankie, Kevin was involved with Whitey and his gang. Kevin had been to jail for possession of counterfeit money, and had been visited by a few of Whitey’s people (too keep him from telling where he got the money from). Kevin got out of jail, only to end up back in there for robbing a jewelry store. While in jail, Kevin apparently tried to kill himself which resulted in him getting sent to (get this) Bridgewater State Hospital….I’ve heard of that place before! A little while after he arrives, Kevin ends up successfully committing suicide. The way that Michael described Kevin’s death was really intriguing to me. He makes a point of saying that the night of Kevin’s death (around11:30) someone came to visit him, and then about an hour-an hour and a half later, Kevin was found dead. Keep in mind, Kevin was involved with Whitey. I don’t think MacDonald was adding this bit of information in for shits and gigs. I think it’s interesting that, if what Michael is recommending is true, it shows how well Whitey ran his operation. Oh, and did I mention that Whitey was Kevin’s best man at his wedding?

            So yes, this chapter was slightly depressing with two of the kids dying, but I thought it was SO cool that there was a little connection to Bridgewater. When we think of Whitey Bulger, we mostly think Boston, but to think that there were mobsters paying visits in Bridgewater is, like I said before SO COOL.