Empty Heads, Full Borrles - E-book - ePub

Those Were the Days, or Maybe NotGrowing up in Oakland, California, in the 1950s and 1960s, Walter Serpa, the narrator of Empty Heads, Full Bottles, learned early on that the postwar prosperity, stable nuclear family, and safe, welcoming neighborhoods leaders of the era touted were, for many people coming of age during these decades, little more than myths. Though these years did in many ways mark simpler times for him, they were also shadowed by abuse, addiction, and the looming threat of poverty.
Walt goes from playing with his friends in the street to running with a gang of ruthless, unpredictable, and violent criminals, whose attraction to money, drugs, and weapons results in all manner of mayhem. Among the cast of ragtag renegades, there's handsome Mack, sadistic Cole, contemplative Cousin Mel, and many others. At the precipice of self-destruction, Walter has a choice to make: take accountability and turn his life around, or hurl himself into the void?