Tattoos on the Heart

Twenty years working at the Dolores Mission in the ganglands of Los Angeles have made Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle a keen observer and philosopher. His collection of parables and observations of the members of the community he serves creates a memorable audiobook. Boyle is not a polished narrator, but his evident compassion and commitment will win over listeners. He becomes more comfortable with the audio medium as the program goes along, and a most relaxed storyteller's style evolves. Boyle's stories of the creation of Homeboy Bakery and Homeboy Industries are by turns heartrending and hopeful. The many triumphs small and large of the gang members and the community and, of course, the tragedies make you want to tattoo Boyle's message on your heart. R.F.W. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine

Starred review from February 8, 2010
In this artful, disquieting, yet surprisingly jubilant memoir, Jesuit priest Boyle recounts his two decades of working with “homies” in Los Angeles County, which contains 1,100 gangs with nearly 86,000 members. Boyle’s Homeboy Industries is the largest gang intervention program in the country, offering job training, tattoo removal, and employment to members of enemy gangs. Effectively straddling the debate regarding where the responsibility for urban violence lies, Boyle both recounts the despair of watching “the kids you love cooperate in their own demise” and levels the challenge to readers to “stand in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than stand in judgment at how they carry it.” From moving vignettes about gangsters breaking into tears or finding themselves worthy of love and affirmation, to moments of spiritual reflection and sidesplittingly funny banter between him and the homies, Boyle creates a convincing and even joyful treatise on the sacredness of every life. Considering that he has buried more than 150 young people from gang-related violence, the joyful tenor of the book remains an astounding literary and spiritual feat.