Customer Reviews

Locas: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book told a wonderful story of what it's really like for girls who live in the barrio and how they face problems. It realistically shows what two different girls choose to do and where they end up. This book gives you a palette of emotions changing throughout the story. It also gives you a lot to think about at the end. "Locas" changed my life by giving me a rude awakening of where I might end up if I continued with my gang activity.

Locas takes you on a wild ride through the cold heart of Lucia and the confused, yet caring heart of Cecilia. It is one of the best books I have ever read dealing with your environment's effect on you. in any other situations or in any other area of the US you would not be able to feel power and pain along with our heroines. The trip through Echo Park is a long one, and it leaves no stone in anyone's life unturned. Too many lives are interwoven, and too many people know who you are in Echo Park. The small community of Echo Park is made to be the center of the universe for these locas, and the book should be in your mind. The drama of the lives of Lucia and Cecilia are set to make you worry and care about the two girls through their turbulent life in the 'hood. I would recommend this book to anyone, either as a reality check or a way to spend quality time.

As a former Southern California high school teacher, I had the opportunity to know many gang girls. I visited their barrios, homes and families. Ms. Murray has truly captured not only the life of these girls but their outlook on life and way of thinking. It is another world

I REALLY LIKE THIS BOOK. I AM FROM LOS ANGELES AND HAVE VISITED "ECHO PARQUE". I FELT THE REPRESENTATION WAS AUTHENTIC. I RELATED THE CHARACTERS TO MY OWN FRIENDS, WHO ARE NOTORIOUS FOR THEIR OWN "CLIKA". I LOOK FORWARD TO HER YXTA'S UPCOMING NOVEL, AND WOULD LOVE TO KNOW WHERE SHE GOT HER INSPIRATION.

this book IS realistic no matter what other people r saying, it is one of the best books I have ever read.

It is rare that you get the viewpoint of a girl in the gang life but this book was hecka good at describing everyday life in the barrio. I wouldn't say it is realistic, more like if this ever happened, this is how it would happen in real life! If that makes sense.

You have to read this book. It is amazing.

xxx

Locas is at once a strong voice that shows us what life is all about when you live loca or a life on the take. It is tough, yet energetic enough to keep you interested and it is hard not to hear the clash of culture's undercurrents. Very good book, very lively.

This book is one of the best I have ever read. Having never read about inner-city life before -- and especially not about girl gangsters -- I was hyptnotized by a lifestyle so different from mine. The characters, although sometimes a little one-dimensional, are in-your-face and unforgettable and Murray skillfully lets you into their minds. The storyline and raw, curse-littered, yet beautiful prose sucked me in from beginning to end. It is not a story that strives to be touching, and is definitely not for the faint of heart. Lucia's cold ambition and cunning manipulations are sometimes shocking, yet I respect her for being a fighter and for her ability to scratch her way to the top and stay there. I do not admire Cecilia much, although she balances out the cast of characters by being the "good girl." The violence of gang life is brutally depicted -- there is no glamour -- but there are poetic moments. When I finished the book, I was breathless. I only wish there were other just as well-written books about girl gangbanging. Thanks, Ms. Murray.

I am reading this book now. I grew up in Echo Park and still live in the area. I didn't
know that Echo Park was in E.L.A. News to me. The author obviously doesn't know either.
She says that Echo Park is in E.L.A. yet the gang does business with ELA like it's a different area,
which it is. There is one part where Cecilia says that the "Baby girl made me glow all over like a
firefly". There are no fireflies in Los Angeles. How would she know how they glow? Obviously
these girls were not well educated, where did they get all the metaphors?

Not all the cholas and cholos I knew from the neighborhood were stupid. (And, I knew a few generations).
They were not book smart, but street smart. None that I knew spoke as eloquently as these ladies do.
My college educated friends don't speak as eloquently as they do.

This story is more fiction than the author wanted it to be. It's a fairytale.

This novel does not depict the reality of the mean streets. What was Murray thinking when she wrote this in a first person voice? Murray herself states that she had no real experience of the gangster life. She wrote what she imagined was a girl's life as a gangster. How much research did she do before she wrote this novel?! None, if you ask me. Her attempts to present the daily life of someone caught up in this world are cute.

Reading this book took me back to my days of the street and living in the projects. Life was one big beating; your parents beat you, the gangs beat you and even the nuns of school beat you. I hated it all and knew there was a better world out there and I would get out to see and live it. All of my family made it out of the barrio by working hard and staying focused BUT not by taking advantage of others. It made me sick to read Lucia and her pitiful gang robbing those poor young mothers of the money they need to raise and feed their families and selves. Shame on you! Parasites! So much smarts but plain stupid. Drugs are something to stay away from, not take nor sell no matter what the profit. My brother OD'ed like so many other kids stupid and weak enough to let drugs and gangs rule their life. It is necessary that Hispanics present more positive images to the world other than drugs, gangs and violence. We will never get ahead as a class until we stop using and hurting others like us. Use your brains to get out of the slums and make a better life for your family, and yourself. We need positive role models badly. Learn to help others even if it is just one person. All four of us daughters worked and went to college at the same time; our parents DID NOT PAY A PENNY for any of us. Then we all got well-paying jobs and worked hard, striving for even better jobs all the time. Two sisters are on their second career, one was in the A.F. and retired and the other was a police officer and retired. Both still work, one in the sheriff's office as a profiler and the other is a teacher. I am very proud of my three sisters, who could easily have been prostitutes, whores, druggies, users, dropouts or on welfare. But not one of us ever had to do these things nor would we allow ourselves to do those things. We still faced violence, rape, muggings, shootings and robbery around us every day. HARD WORK and DETERMINATION are wonderful motivators.