@layman,
Some of your writing reminded me of it, stylistically.
Parks is a sophisticated and lucid writer who nonetheless, ironically or because it is a part of him (or a little of both), sometimes resorts to a certain "streetwise" idiom (sometimes for humorous effect).
Your icon and your northeast references suggest similarities of age and cultural background. Parks also had some rough early experiences and is something of a self-made man. I found the book to be a highly readable portrait of Black urban experience in the northeast United States in the era of the Great Depression, that eschews both the "see no evil" tendencies of some Black conservatives, but also avoids the identity politics of some Black liberals.
I seldom read books of that sort, so it says something for his skills as a writer that I found it worth buying when I wasn't even particularly in the mood for it. (The fact that it was bargain priced helped, but I enjoyed it and am pleased to have it in my personal library.)