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A review by coreyarch9
Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption, and Hollywood by Danny Trejo
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
"I was proud as fuck. It was an adventure [...] I was seven, and had just completed my first drug deal."
Trejo tells the story of how Danny Trejo went from a life on the streets to life "in the hole" to sobriety, to fame, and finally, to life as a restaurateur. As he describes, "I was a kid who'd fallen through the cracks in the crack." From a young age, drugs, guns, and incarceration were something of a given in Danny Trejo's life. After time in prisons like San Quentin, Folsom, and Soledad, he finally found the resources, support, faith, and self-motivation to get clean and stay sober, and he dedicated his life to helping others in recovery.
I'm a huge Danny Trejo fan. Like any good millennial, Uncle Machete was my favorite character in Spy Kids, and ever since, I've loved seeing him on film as Machete and in all of his roles - big or small, hero or villain. Speaking on Spy Kids, Danny Trejo says, "[Overnight,] I'd gone from being the bad guy, a Mexican stereotype, to someone kids could look up to."
Of course, I loved the parts of the book that referenced Danny Trejo, the iconic movie star. But they were such a minor part of his story. His vulnerability shone through while talking about gang violence, addiction, crime, PTSD, hepatitus, machismo, cancer, experiences with family that fostered his own addiction as well as his experiences as a father of children struggling with addiction, and so much more. It was an honor to be introduced to that Danny Trejo through this book.
Trejo tells the story of how Danny Trejo went from a life on the streets to life "in the hole" to sobriety, to fame, and finally, to life as a restaurateur. As he describes, "I was a kid who'd fallen through the cracks in the crack." From a young age, drugs, guns, and incarceration were something of a given in Danny Trejo's life. After time in prisons like San Quentin, Folsom, and Soledad, he finally found the resources, support, faith, and self-motivation to get clean and stay sober, and he dedicated his life to helping others in recovery.
I'm a huge Danny Trejo fan. Like any good millennial, Uncle Machete was my favorite character in Spy Kids, and ever since, I've loved seeing him on film as Machete and in all of his roles - big or small, hero or villain. Speaking on Spy Kids, Danny Trejo says, "[Overnight,] I'd gone from being the bad guy, a Mexican stereotype, to someone kids could look up to."
Of course, I loved the parts of the book that referenced Danny Trejo, the iconic movie star. But they were such a minor part of his story. His vulnerability shone through while talking about gang violence, addiction, crime, PTSD, hepatitus, machismo, cancer, experiences with family that fostered his own addiction as well as his experiences as a father of children struggling with addiction, and so much more. It was an honor to be introduced to that Danny Trejo through this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence, and Drug use
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Death, and Death of parent