Reviews - The Street | The StoryGraph

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

636 reviews for:

The Street

Ann Petry

4.34 AVERAGE

tyaneka's review against another edition

5.0

dark reflective tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

meghaha's review against another edition

5.0

I think this is the best social commentary novel I've read in recent years. It's just that with the social commentary books I've read, I almost always encounter one (or more of the following) problems that make it impossible for me to rate the book highly: 1) The integrity of the characters is destroyed by the fact the author values delivering the message more highly than maintaining the aliveness of the characters 2) The message and observations are now quite dated, even if they might have been poignant at the time of publication 3) The author is commenting from a place of privilege; i.e. rich straight white man railing about the injustice of society (well, yes, but should we be amplifying their voice over others?)

The Street managed to avoid all of these traps. The characters are real living breathing people; published in the 1940's, the themes are as relevant as ever today; and Ann Petry was a black woman writer who lived in Harlem writing about a young black woman's life in Harlem. Perfect!

The Street is just a really skillfully written book, beautifully composed, and it adeptly finds the right balance between elaborating the "message" and telling the story of the characters. You really get a feeling for the absolute hopelessness that comes from living in a impoverished black inner-city neighborhood, and the ironclad barriers white society has erected, making it basically impossible for a young black poor single mother to stay afloat or to find any dignity or way to improve her lot in life. The Street is vivid, alive, and compelling. The ending was perfect.

Really, it's a brilliant book and should be more widely read and praised.