This is my essay on the book Street Pharm.
Nikolay 1/14/19
Street Pharm – Essay
“Day by day, year by year, the business took away anything good in my life.” (p.270) The Book Street Pharm by Allison van Diepen is a book about enemies, crime and happiness. The protagonist commonly know as Ty has taken over his father drug empire; because his dad went to prison. Running the business makes all of Ty’s big life decisions for him. The risk of him not following them is a life in prison or worst. The cost of running the business is that Ty can’t be happy, he risk’s a life of confinement and he can’t spend the thousands of dollars he’s pulling in. The books theme is happiness and how you shouldn’t let anything get in the way of your happiness.
Ty is the top dog in Brooklyn when faced with a rival drug dealer from Miami commonly know as Darkman or Kevin king. Ty is forced to stay on the top of his game and separate himself from his girlfriend he’s made for her own safety. Ty spends countless hours preparing and thinking on how to deal with Kevin in a humane way. His dad suggest to set up a hit on him but Ty know that’s no the way to go and tries to think it though with his dad breathing down his neck. With Kevin’s hit not turning out so well Kevin becomes more dangerous and angry about how things are turning out so Ty wonders is this turning into a game of who dies first. With his girlfriend on his mind he starts to think about if this is even worth it and if it is what is the best play he can make right now? Ty knows that people aren’t slaves to their dealer, their slaves to the drugs, but what Ty didn’t know was that drug dealers don’t just work for the business their slaves to the business.
Ty, being the face of the largest drug business in Brooklyn is faced with a lot of crime including murder, attempted murder and much more. But Ty isn’t always on the delivering end of things. Ty’s often on the receiving end and needs to know what to do under pressure in a life in death situation. When Ty figured out K Ron got Ty in trouble with the police him and Sonny acted fast disposing of anything that could implicate him in who sold K Ron his drugs. Ty knows the streets and knows when to be careful with deals and people. His best friend Sonny is always there to help but isn’t always the most clever when it comes to deals and people and some might say; “it’s going to get him killed one day.” Sonny is always there to help Ty even with the nasty parts of the business. Sonny isn’t that great with crime so Ty tries to keep Sonny out of nasty situations.
Ty is never truly happy in the book until he quits the business. Even when Ty gets close to happiness the business always takes it away, by bringing the cops and challengers his way. The business is like king of the hill with all of Ty’s rivals and with the cops trying to dismantle that hill. Ty himself doesn’t know that running the business means he won’t be able to have a girlfriend and enjoy life. Until he gets a taste of how great it feels to do those things. Ty always realized it, but he never knew about what he was missing out on. Ty started playing a risky game when he decided to have a girlfriend. Ty knew he was risking her life and his but he did it because he found out that he really want to be happy and have a normal life. When the business got in the way of his relationship Ty was heartbroken staring at his computer screen waiting for her to send a message. After she didn’t, a few days later his best friend died at the cold icy grip of the business, and that’s when Ty realized it’s not worth running the business with all the pain and suffering it causes.
In conclusion the book is about how you’re happiness is the most important thing and how you shouldn’t let anything get in the way of it. Ty has lots of enemy with Kevin at the top of the list for almost having Ty shot and sent to jail. Ty being soft and caring has to find a humane way to address his problems. With the police nosing around Ty’s operation and Kevin sending out hits on Ty there is a lot of crime Ty has to deal with. Ty can’t stand the thought of his girlfriend getting hurt from the business he tries to keep her in the dark and hidden from the public. In the end Ty finally realizes that his happiness should always be thought of when making a decision and not the business. He realizes that the business is just a monster taking swings at everything that Ty loves and he will no longer stand for this.