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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Living Up the Street, December 7, 2000
This review is from: Living Up The Street (Paperback)
Living Up the Street is one of the many books published by Gary Soto. Many of the books that he writes are about some childhood past experiences. It tells about his ups and downs that he went through as a child. Not all of the situations are from his childhood, but many are. Knowing the beginning of the book, a few events, and what I thought of the book will give you a better understanding of the book and how interesting it is. The book begins by introducing three children that will be the main characters throughout the book. These children are Rick 6, Chango 5, who is also the narrator in the book, and Debra 4. Basically the beginning the book tells about how the family struggles in life and how their mom, when angry, takes a belt to the children when they did inappropriate things. The first event that takes place is when their mom has to leave to go somewhere and someone else was supposed to watch the three children. The children thinking they could manage on their own got to stay home by themselves. The children liked to play with fire so they did make a fire and ended up burning some items in the house and they also had a tomato fight which made the house a complete mess. When their mom came home she was very angered by what they did. Another event that took place at the beginning deals with their father. Their father was a good man and a hard working one too. Their father was going to start to do some work on the house so he and his family could have better living conditions. One day their father got a head injury at work and he had to be taken to the hospital. There he stayed and two days later he ended up dying from the head injury. The whole family was sad to see him die. One thing that he was doing before he died was putting up a fence at home. The family did was got together and put the fence up themselves. They knew the father would have loved this. Those are just a few events that happen in this book. I do not want to tell the rest because then you would not have to read the book to see what happens. Basically the idea of the book to me is that the family starts out struggling, going through hard times and later they get everything together and become a good family who is doing very well compared to what they had been doing before. This book should be read by many people that like to know about how families are, what they do in bad situations, and how they make it through the bad times. Now that you know the beginning of the book, a few events that took place, and what I thought of the book you might just want to go read the book. It is one that is definitely should be read. You will enjoy it. It is not a very difficult book to read. There are not very many pages
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Book Review, March 9, 2006
This review is from: Living Up The Street (Paperback)
Living Up the Street is one of many autobiographies written by Gary Soto. It tells of the ups and downs throughout his childhood, adolescence, and even adult life. This realistic book is enjoyable to read because many people can relate to one of his experiences one way or another. Though the book it without plot, sequence, or continuity, it is interesting from the very first chapter you read. This autobiography is mainly about Gary Soto, and his poor Mexican family, growing up in Fresno, California, in the 60's and 70s'. It is fun to read because it is as if you are reading and viewing someone as they grow up and mature. Through Gary's mistakes, he's learns valuable lessons for life on his own. To give you a better understanding of the book, knowing some events that occurred in the beginning will help you know how interesting it is. In the introduction, the three main characters are presents, who also happen to be all siblings. Rick, who is 6, Gary 5, and Debra 4. Most of the beginning shows the everyday family struggles they had growing up and how when the Mom, when she was angry enough, hit them with a belt after they acted up. One of the first events which happened, is when the Mom had somewhere to go and left the children home alone unattended accidentally. Since the kids loved playing with fire, they managed to burn a few items on fire inside the house and have fun with a tomato fight also, ruining the entire living room and kitchen. This is just one of many events that took place in this novel.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down~, November 12, 2002
This review is from: Living Up The Street (Paperback)
When I picked up the book to read for the first time, I was pleased with the sequence of things, but as I read further I became more and more frustrated with the book. I like Gary Soto's work and in general loved the book, but it would have been better kept in essay format rather than clumped up in a novel that had no order other than Gary's age.
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