Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Street

I started this book for a class but found that I really enjoyed finishing it outside of the classroom setting. It offers great commentary on racism, survival, capitalism, and the darker side of the American Dream. This book had some very enlightening points about the oppression of POC and impoverished people, as well as how those two points correlate. It's a book that still holds relevance in our society today and is worth reading.

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caseythereader's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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cerilouisereads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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_inge_'s review against another edition

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challenging tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This book is both technically well written and packs an emotional punch as well. The number of ways that our main character Lutie is taken advantage of and being kept back is astounding. It makes the ending somewhat understandable - although also quite abrupt. But maybe that's just me being brainwashed in needing / expecting happy endings all around. Life doesn't always have happy endings.

The men in this book are all utter crap, except Bub. Talk about preying on women and seeing them as objects to be manipulated and obtained at will. The women only seem to be able to survive in some sort of comfort when they lend themselves to play along in the games the men play, even if it means oppressing other women. It's eat or be eaten it seems.

Essential reading.

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mariaviola's review

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“from the time she was born, she had been hemmed into an ever-narrowing space, until now she was very nearly walled in and the wall had been built up brick by brick by eager white hands.”

after finishing the street, all i can say is that this was a heartbreaking read, and what made it so heartbreaking was all of its honesty. there is no sugarcoating here—here is the story of a poor black single mother living in the 1940s and the things she goes through in trying to build a better life for her and her son. it’s raw and painful and some characters you will just want to hug and others you will want to beat the sh*t out of. it’s not very fast-paced but it’s a must-read in my opinion.

→ my rating ♡ 4.5/5 stars ←

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bjdarby's review

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

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ohlhauc's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I really, really enjoyed reading this book and can see why it's revered as a American classic.

First off, it is gorgeously written. The melody and structure of the writing flows smooth until there are moments of tension or violence, whereby the writing shifts to reflect the terror and trauma. The dialogue also felt natural. I liked how the author did use first- and second-person when she was sharing the inner thoughts of the protagonist, showing how Lutie was thinking of herself in those moments.

And then the story itself is well-constructed and the build-up to the climax is a slow-burn. You can see characters and forces creeping closer to a collision, and that tension compels you to read forward. The specific moments and the underlying themes and ideas showing racism, sexism, and classism - their separate moments but also how they're an interconnected web that feeds each other into a never-ending cycle of oppression was haunting and head on. You could feel the weight on the protagonist's shoulders - as well as the other characters - and how their society, and the street they lived on, were moulding their destinies.

The ending was heartbreaking but also made the most sense even if it's probably not the one you would want.

If you care about reading great classics, you have to pick this up. I also highly recommend it for anyone who's interested in the Harlem Renaissance, stories about poverty and intersectional oppression (racism, sexism, classism), or even if you're into a story with lots of tension, twists, and brutal hard facts.

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