Leon Bing

Do or Die is the first insider account of teenage gangs--the lives, loves, and battles of children who kill--from the only journalist ever allowed inside this closed and dangerous world. This is no West Side Story. Welcome to a world where teenagers wear colostomy bags and have scrapbooks filled with funeral invitations; where a young man, after being shot in the chest, drives himself to the hospital; where another youngster, caught in crossfire, uses his girlfriend as a human shield; where show more teenage gangsters are kidnapped, tortured, and held for six-figure ransoms; where kids hum the latest movie's theme music while killing people. It's a world of clickheads, sherms, bangers, ballers, and mummyheads; a world where the strongest feelings of family come from other gang members; a world where the most potent feelings of self-worth come from murder. show less

I found Leon Bing's memoir to be a quick, entertaining read. I had never heard of Bing, but I now want to read her other books. Her writing style is fluid, and she transitions from one memory to the next without leaving the reader asking "What the heck just happened?" One of the better memoirs I have read in several years.

I was hooked immediately when I started reading "Swans and Pistols". The writing style is very fluid and engaging. I read each chapter in anticipation of the next.

Then something started to change towards the end of the book. Somehow the charm had lessened. After starting with such a great energy, it slowed and left me unfulfilled at the end.

I enjoyed the stories involving Bing's mother, but I always felt like there was something that was always intentionally left unsaid. That "something" show more could have delivered more depth and insight. I was waiting to discover it, but it never materialized.

I felt that Bing stuck to a limited scope and outline of what she wanted to write. As a reader I would have liked more detail and expansion.

Bing is a very interesting woman with an interesting life. If she wasn't I wouldn't care about reading more about her. So I feel that it is a compliment to her and her writing style when I say that I wish there had been more to read. show less

I received this book as an Early Reviewer and when I saw it I was turned off. I didn't like the cover and since I had never heard of Leon Bing, either as a model or as a writer, I couldn't remember why I had requested a copy.
So, I put off reading it for a while. But one day I picked it up and started reading and it kind of grabbed me. Ms. Bing is a good writer and her life has been very interesting. She certainly has met many well known people whose names she drops into the work. Her style show more is journalistic. She mostly narrates a successful life as a high fashion runway model and then a non-fiction writer. There is something missing that would make this a literary work. For example, she often writes that her daughter Lisa is distant, or at another time very close, but it's not explained so you never know why. I think she just glides over her life and its events and we never get much below the surface.
Somehow though, I stayed with it and am glad I read it. show less