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4.34 AVERAGE
4.34 AVERAGE
This book gutted me. It was uncomfortable and unpleasant to read. But it was also one of the clearest depictions I have ever read of the pain and rage that racism, poverty and sexism cause. It was written in 1946 but it is completely relevant today.
Ann Petry is a phenomenal writer. She was a way of creating scenes that take their time to unfold and allows the reader to view the world through the eyes of her characters. She is remarkable in the way which she demonstrates how a novel can capture skewed worldviews and portray disordered thinking. Now, I am all for painful and poignant writing.... This was absolutely relentless and heavy handed. Honestly, it was a bit forcefully hateful. It was simply an overly depressing and borderline hateful novel about the lives of people who are too poor or oppressed to make it in a world that hates them.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Woah this story felt too real! I had to put it down for a while before I could finish it. Lutie’s circumstances are absolutely heartbreaking and all encompassing. I could physically feel the heartbreak and loneliness.
Ann Petry was able to tackle racism, classism, colorism, socialism, etc. She navigated flawlessly and her writing left no crumbs. This book is a perfect example of allowing the reader to discuss and think about these topics without having the narrator spoon feed the topic to us. This book is a must read. I will definitely read more from her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Classism
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Infidelity, Grief, Abandonment
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault
DNF.
Very interesting, with very descriptive language and a lovely sense of time and place.
Still, it's a tough read due to sexual harassment & racism, and I chose to stop before things got more graphic.
Very interesting, with very descriptive language and a lovely sense of time and place.
Still, it's a tough read due to sexual harassment & racism, and I chose to stop before things got more graphic.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
The Street is a harrowing tale of oppression, poverty, discrimination and inequality. Set in Harlem in the 1940s, it follows the main character, Lutie, a black single mother who is desperately striving for a better life for herself and her 8-year-old son whilst grappling with the never-ending injustice and discriminaton she faces as someone who is both black and female. The exploration of race was insightful and heart-wrenching, and Ann Petry was able to convey the complexities of racial discrimination succinctly.
Petry holds nothing back when digging into these complex themes, and as a result, this book isn't one for the faint hearted. The descriptions of poverty, crime, violence and sex were explicit and unrelenting. I found it particularly difficult to read the chapters from the perspective of the Super, who was a mentally disturbed, obsessive, sexist, terrifying sexual predator whose only thoughts were about raping or harming women.
Whilst I appreciate the value of this book as a piece of social commentary and its depiction of sexism, classism and racism, I didn't connect to the characters or the story. I believe this is because Petry was driven by didacticism; her primary goal was to illustrate her beliefs about the injustices of sexism, classicm and racism. Ultimately, this was its downfall for me because it caused the plot and characters to feel like an after thought. The plot was slow moving, although the dramatic twist at the end redeemed it slightly. The characters were for the most part awful, morally questionable people who were difficult to sympathise with. Bud, Lutie's 8-year-old son was the most sympathetic character, and the one that I felt most for at the end of the book. In addition to the issues I had with the plot and characters, I found Petry's writing to be a tad repetitive and circuitous. There were a lot of unnecessarily long descriptions of the setting and inner monologues from the characters, which led me to skim read more and more as I progressed through the book.
Overall, The Street is an influencial book in black literature. It's a valuable contribution to discourse around race and gender, and for those that are less exposed or knowledgable on these themes, it can function as an eye-opening and educational read. Unfortunately, it didn't have the impact on me that I expected or hoped it would and whilst I appreciate the work Ann Petry did here, the story itself didn't suit my personal tastes.
"If you looked at them from inside the framework of a fat weekly salary, and you thought of colored people as naturally criminal, then you didn’t really see what any Negro looked like. You couldn’t, because the Negro was never an individual. He was a threat, or an animal, or a curse, or a blight, or a joke."
Petry holds nothing back when digging into these complex themes, and as a result, this book isn't one for the faint hearted. The descriptions of poverty, crime, violence and sex were explicit and unrelenting. I found it particularly difficult to read the chapters from the perspective of the Super, who was a mentally disturbed, obsessive, sexist, terrifying sexual predator whose only thoughts were about raping or harming women.
Whilst I appreciate the value of this book as a piece of social commentary and its depiction of sexism, classism and racism, I didn't connect to the characters or the story. I believe this is because Petry was driven by didacticism; her primary goal was to illustrate her beliefs about the injustices of sexism, classicm and racism. Ultimately, this was its downfall for me because it caused the plot and characters to feel like an after thought. The plot was slow moving, although the dramatic twist at the end redeemed it slightly. The characters were for the most part awful, morally questionable people who were difficult to sympathise with. Bud, Lutie's 8-year-old son was the most sympathetic character, and the one that I felt most for at the end of the book. In addition to the issues I had with the plot and characters, I found Petry's writing to be a tad repetitive and circuitous. There were a lot of unnecessarily long descriptions of the setting and inner monologues from the characters, which led me to skim read more and more as I progressed through the book.
Overall, The Street is an influencial book in black literature. It's a valuable contribution to discourse around race and gender, and for those that are less exposed or knowledgable on these themes, it can function as an eye-opening and educational read. Unfortunately, it didn't have the impact on me that I expected or hoped it would and whilst I appreciate the work Ann Petry did here, the story itself didn't suit my personal tastes.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism