****The Mars Room, by Rachel Kushner

A disturbing fictionalized look at what often happens to those raised on the "wrong side of the tracks". Where poverty, lack of education, imprisoned family members, crime, addiction, violence and sexual abuse are as commonplace as dance and music lessons, after-school sports, theater and educational vacations for the upper middle-class.  It doesn't always work this way, but the odds are stacked against one born into a family with generational poverty.  An engrossing and intuitive story.