Down These Mean Streets

Rating:
Summary: After Thirty Years...
Review: I remember reading this book for the first time in 1970. I was an eight grader at JHS 117 on 109th Street in East Harlem. Those were difficult times in El Barrio, especially for poor minority teenagers. Picking up this book up again and reading it was like experiencing it for the first time. You see it magnified once you have really lived life! There was so much that I really did not clearly understand as a 14-year-old as I do now. My heart mourns for all of our sisters and brothers who were lost in the struggle to grow and be what they could have become despite that terrible disease of man, Racism. Thank you Peri. I think that because of your book, you inspired many brothers and sisters to write about their experiences in New York as Puerto Ricans.

Rating:
Summary: After Thirty Years...
Review: I remember reading this book for the first time in 1970. I was an eight grader at JHS 117 on 109th Street in East Harlem. Those were difficult times in El Barrio, especially for poor minority teenagers. Picking up this book up again and reading it was like experiencing it for the first time. You see it magnified once you have really lived life! There was so much that I really did not clearly understand as a 14-year-old as I do now. My heart mourns for all of our sisters and brothers who were lost in the struggle to grow and be what they could have become despite that terrible disease of man, Racism. Thank you Peri. I think that because of your book, you inspired many brothers and sisters to write about their experiences in New York as Puerto Ricans.

Rating:
Summary: Puerto Rican experience life in the New York City
Review: I think that this book should be required for all Puerto Rican people who live in New York. This book talks about what it was like to grow up in New York in the 1940s and 1950s. I think that this book does a good job explaining the experiences of a family. Also it talks about what Piri Thomas does and what kind of problems he is involved with, like drugs, in gangs, and that's very similar of what is going on now. I think people who don't want to be in a real trouble should read this book. I enjoyed the when Piri Thomas was sleeping out of his house because I imaging what can happen to me if I do the same things. This is the best book for anyone who is interested in learning about what is like for a Puerto Rican family to live in New York City.

Rating:
Summary: a great book
Review: I thought that piri thomas wrote a great book. his life was very complicated not only with people but his own family. piri's Father was always hitting him and didn't treat him like his other brothers and sisters. Piri went through alot and he shared it in this book. I decided to read this book becuz my sister read this book in her english class and she said it was a good book. i decided to read it and i thought wow! this man has gone through alot. People treat people [in a disrespectful manner] sometimes but i mean this was too much. During his childhood people kept saying just becuz he is black it makes him black but he was pureto rican.i think people can be cold hearted sometimes for doing something like this. Piri is also sent to jail becuz of shooting a cop. he also loses his mother who was sick. his father threw him out of the house and piri didn't really care anymore. Piri also taking drugs which get way out of hand and he gets sick and stays at his friends house so he can get better. he also experiences sex with many woman. he even gets one pregnant and he doesn't love her he love another girl her name is trina. I think piri wrote this book for these reasons to show you he got involed with a wrong group and the way people can be to someone who is black. he was always wondering why couldn't he be like his brothers and sisters white not black. he wanted to be treated like every white person treated each other. he also started to get offended when people called him mean names and i know everyone would get mad if they called you watever he wrote in the book.i think this book was great and this book should be for kids a little older than my age becuz you have to understand this book about piri's life. I think kids in 10th grade like my sister should read it. you wouldn't want to put down this great book.

Rating:
Summary: A Book You Want To Talk Back To
Review: I was raised in New York and as I get older I love to read what people have written about their experiences living there. This is the first time I actually commented in the margins. I was very moved by the realities presented by Mr. Thomas and boy did I feel familiar with what he was saying. This would be a great book for young men trying to find themselves in this confused and hectic society.

Rating:
Summary: The "Basketball Diaries" of growing up in spanish harlem!
Review: If you liked the movie "Basketball Diaries" , or just enjoy well written biographies , written by genuine New Yorkers , this is it. Hits home with some of my experiences growing up in the 'not so nice' section of NY, or any inner city neighborhood for that matter. Buy it , read it, understand it , peroid!

Rating:
Summary: The barrio's answer to Manchild in the Promised Land
Review: If you've been looking for something really terrific as a follow-up to Claude Brown's "Manchild In the Promised Land" you're in luck: Piri Thomas is an awesome writer and "Down These Mean Streets" is a terrific book!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!!!
Review: Interesting look at growing up in Spanish Harlem In the 1940s through 1950s. Issues of race also interesting. I recommend this book!

Rating:
Summary: It's the best book ever written
Review: It caught my eye as soon as I started reading it. It's about a boy living in "El Barrio". It explains his life and how he deals with the streets. If you you read SpiderTown and thought it was good than you ain't seen nothing yet. It's garuanteed to make you want to read more and more.

Rating:
Summary: Glad I did it
Review: It's worth reading now AND again. This book reminds me of the stories my father used to tell me about growing up in the hood.