I finished the Linda Scarpa book, and my she is a delusional little snot. I understand she loved her father and brother, it's only natural. She talks them being great guys, her brother Joey would give ya the shirt off his back! He killed his best friend, he killed another teenager on church steps for nothing. She acted like he was a shy little boy, but he abused his position being a made mans son. His only job was selling jobs and robbing other drug dealers. There is nothing one can do to justify the actions of he father, but she does, it was the AIDS. Scarpa was just a regular family man before he got AIDS. It was a sad book, and shows how messed up that life is.