This memoir, written by Luis J. Rodriguez, tells of his childhood and adolescence growing up in Los Angeles. I had read a specific excerpt multiple times in professional development settings, which detailed Luis's first days in elementary school. He arrived in his class speaking and understanding Spanish and was quickly relegated to sitting at the back of the room playing by himself during class time with little interaction with the teacher. In fact, he was so cut off that he was unable to ask to use the restroom and thus had days that he returned home with soiled clothes. While Rodriguez has said that part of his motivation for writing this was to show his son the dangers of "la vida loca," this memoir is much more than a cautionary tale. Rodriguez documents the systemic racism and oppression he and others in his community experienced. He tells of the resistance and Chicano power movement, including the Chicano Moratorium. This book includes violence, sex (and sexual violence), and drug use. It also includes action, leadership, resilience, and resistance by youth in a community that is systemically oppressed and unsupported. This book spurs thoughtful conversations about racism, oppression, activism, leadership, and social justice. ( )

A fascinating memoir of growing up in a Latino neighborhood the San Gabriel Valley in the 1960s. With few jobs for teens, schools that channeled the Latino and Filipino students into the trades and the white into college-prep classes, parents that worked a lot--the predictable result was neighborhood gangs, fights, murder, jail time. Rodriguez managed to find his way out, with the encouragement of a few teachers, a few friends, a community center director, and his family's support. He is honest with how it was a battle--his wants versus community expectations, gang expectations, peer and friend pressure, and real danger--his disappointments (in himself and others), his fear, his hope.

1960s San Gabriel Valley is a place/time I know very little about. ( )

I took special note of a single sentence in the Prologue and pretty much the entire Epilogue. Everything in between, I could have done without—they are graphic. [We could have greater discussion on the point of this, but not right now.]

The parts I mention expose inequity and lack of social justice. The rest was a brutal account of the author's life, which is, after all, what one expects in a memoir. I'm not into memoirs, typically, and it wasn't why I was interested in this book. ( )

This is a brutal depiction of life in the barrios of Los Angeles. Luis Rodriguez managed to pull himself up out of the mess of poverty and get away from gangs and drugs into which he was so deep that he barely escaped death more than once. Several adults saw a spark in him and went out of their way to support and encourage his artistic and literary talents. He wrote this book for his son in the hope that he would find a different path than his father.

Students in my school have made this one of our most popular books. I am finally getting around to reading it. While conscious of the violent life of gangs, I had no idea that so much could be inflicted on one person before they even reach adulthood. It was a real eye opener. ( )

It's graphic and it's intense, but it's effective in portraying the reality of L.A. cholo gang life in the 1960s. One concern is that the author appears unaware of his own sexism, but overall it's a well-written, moving piece.