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Summary: Still Running
Review: So much has been written about this powerful, truthful and inspiring memoir by Luis J. Rodriguez that I doubt that I could offer anything to add to the book's understanding and appreciation. But of all the professional reviews, the most telling critiques come from the high school students and teachers some of which are printed in the first two pages of the most recent edition of "Always Running." One student, Johnny Mendez, offers the chilling but hope-filled words: "History repeats itself and we must make some changes." These words are chilling because Rodriguez writes of events from the 60s and 70s yet a high school student of today sees the same despair, neglect and fear that existed a generation earlier. The hope we see is in the high school student's resolve: "[W]e must make some changes." Rodriguez has just opened a bookstore in Sylmar, California, named after his wonderful and misunderstood aunt, Tia Chucha, where he hopes to reach out to Latino youth to help them find a path towards full and productive lives. The fight continues. And this book still speaks the truth, eloquently and to all.
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Summary: SOCIAL FAILURE IN EAST LOS ANGELES
Review: Always Running is a touching and often horrifying first-hand account of la vida loca in the hills of South San Gabriel, L.A. Luis Rodriguez illustrates the incompetence of families and academics for the barrio youth. He explains clearly and eloquently the void left and subsequently filled by gangs drugs and violence. Rodriguez gives the outside world an intimate look at the allure of the gang. Each anecdote is entertaining and engaging. He has written an easy-to-read gripping memoir which serves also as social and political commentary.
Rodriguez learned after years of prison stints, murder, and frustration, that the gang is a dead-end. Unfortunately, it took losing a great deal of friends. Rodriguez adds an articulate and unusual book to a genre that often is too predictable. Always Running is not only relevant to Chicanos of East Los Angeles, but also serves as a criticism of racial inequalities, and social alienation existing across the United States. This book is an excellent book that all socially conscious and frustrated Americans should read.
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Summary: Loved it!
Review: I bought this book for my husband who usually doesn't read books (he prefers magazines) and he finished it in three days!
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Summary: Reality TV ain't got nothing on this!
Review: On the Strength: If Rodriguez's memoir Always Running sounds raw and intense, that's because it is. A lucid, in your face account of a young man's journey from the darkest depths of barrio life-to a yearning soul, striving for the light that glimmers at the end of a tunnel. Chin (Rodriguez) a young vato loco from the mean streets of Los Angeles Califas, would do just about anything for his click, even commit murder. Living foul was all he knew, castigated by society, the revolving door from the hood' to correctional institutions swirled so fast and frequent it left young Chin feeling bitter and more hateful toward authority, and rival gangs. Drugs and violence would be his refuge-but eventually education and community involvement would become his salvation. Rodriguez delivers a compelling look at gang life, and what it takes to break free from its deadly shackles. What makes this book particularly appealing is the unique poetic voice, which combines English and Spanish, and a whole-lot-of Slanglish (no comprende? Don't trip, there's a phat glossary in the back of the book for those who do not understand the Latin lingo that is spread throughout). Rodriguez also takes you for a lyrical cruise through the Boulevard, "Fancy "shorts" danced on the asphalt with only the eyes and beany caps of the drivers visible through the windshield. Music blared out of a multitude of speakers as a river of headlights streamed toward the silhouette of downtown skyscrapers and back." Reality TV ain't got nothing on this! Always Running is a must read. Very highly recommended. -Michael Perry, OLM Entertainment Watch.
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Summary: an honest look at la vida loca
Review: In this book Rodriguez takes us into a world too many of us know only from driving though, when necessary, with windows up and doors locked. He provides a brutally honest look at Latino gang life, vividly detailed to make all the situations described easily imagineable. As someone who always likes to look at teh larger picture, I liked Rodriguez expanding on the past 60 years of the history of Mexican gang life in southern California, although I would have been interested in more exploration of the topic of Mexican immigration in America as a whole. He briefly touches on some areas, such as talking about his parents' experiences, their initial hope and optimism and responses to all the hardships they faced, but a little more would have been interesting. I suppose the book is about the gang experience though, and in this area, it's a great account. He's honest about what he did and what he was surrounded by, and how difficult it was to separate from the life, which he talks about as a means of "collective suicide," a thought provoking concept. He does emerge though, and his messages are heartening; it is possible to escape, a group in the right and taking little steps towards a goal can make great progress, and leaving the crazy life behind and becoming a success does not mean giving up who you are. The fact that this book is written for the authors own son, in an attempt to prevent him from falling into the same traps, makes the story even more heartfelt and effective.
This is a great book, and I highly recommend it. If you're interested in these kinds of experiences, read it along with Down These Mean Streets.
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Summary: living in the real world
Review: This book was called "Always Running" by Luis J Rodriguez. In this book you really learn what the real world is about. I really liked it because in a way it relates to me and How he has the guts to get out of that world is something very important. He recognized his problem a little too late but still solved it.When he finally realizes that he is in the wrong is when Three of his homies try to kill him but give him a chance to leave before really killing him and that was his wake up call.I liked this book because it really describes the way is out there and not the way they pain it to be. For example when he describes the way the rasist police officers treated him and were always trying to find something wrong with them so that they can get busted for something. This was something that happend for real in the past but this also happends around us
and sometimes we just don't want to see it or admit that it is there and that it is happening.
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Summary: ...
Review: I loved this book. It is one of the best books i have ever read. READ IT!
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Summary: Can't Relate
Review: I may not know exactly what Luis Rodriguez is taling about or how he feels, but he gives a true and vivid picture of what gang life is like in California. I trully enjoyed reading this book and hearing of all the struggles of gang warfare. Rodriguez's vivid details of drugs, rape, and violence came to life as you read. I can not relate to this book, but reading it made me feel like I was there.This is a great book and a fast read, if you don't enjoy reading books this is the book to read, and it is a page turner. Don't be left in the dark turn on the lights and read about Luis Rodriguez story of life in the barrio's and how sex, drugs, and violence where apart of his life until he was eighteen.
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Summary: Running out of words for this book...
Review: Rodriguez' book is one of the most impressive contemporary American novels I've read. He doesn't gloss over the acts of violence he participated in, but he does provide a framework for those terrible experiences that make his involvement in the LA gang scene almost inevitable. However, I was amazed that throughout the book, he never excuses himself or tries to romanticize his life. Instead, through a realist but still very readable style, Rodriguez shows that young men can change, that people without resources can make BIG differences in their communities, and that we only really see one side of the ongoing battle between the authority system and the street folk through most media. Rodriguez' story is esp. powerful b/c it's true. He lived through all this, and yet he was able not only to survive, but he inspired so many other young people from his neighborhood, and made countless positive changes in his local high school. Rodriguez sets an incredible example for young readers, giving lost kids hope, showing the public how much more can be done to fix all the injustice, and all the while giving voice to a remarkable and memorable story. I've taught this book in college writing courses, and the students (many of whom had not read a novel b/4 this) responded as enthusiastically as any students I've seen with any material. it's worth reading, and it's worth teaching. It was definitely worth writing, and I thank Luis Rodriguez for taking the time to do so!
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Summary: Always Running
Review: Reluctantly, I started Always Running. It was for a class project and since it was issued by a teacher it was going to incredibly boring, right? Wrong. The preface drew me in, explaining the author, Luis Rodriguez's, current problem with his son being in a gang. I couldn't put the book down when Luis took me inside the disturbing life of a member of the East Los Angeles gang, Los Lomas. I was on the edge of my seat when he was struggling to escape from the deathtrap that is gang life. This book is an excellent example of nonfiction that is scary, because the events in the book are so horrendous that you wish it wasn't true. This quote regarding PCP, "Angel Dust," struck me as upsetting: "Whole neighborhoods became like ghost towns as increasing numbers of young people were hooked into this overpowering narcotic, easily manufactured in back-room laboratories and distributed widely and cheaply." This book will hook you and won't let go until you turn the last page.
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