Free PDF Down These Mean Streets, by Piri Thomas

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Down These Mean Streets, by Piri Thomas

Free PDF Down These Mean Streets, by Piri Thomas

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Amazon.com Review

The 30th anniversary edition of this classic memoir about growing up in Spanish Harlem includes an afterword reminding us that its streets are even meaner now, thanks to crack cocaine and the dismantling of government poverty programs. As a dark-skinned Puerto Rican, born in 1928, Piri Thomas faced with painful immediacy the absurd contradictions of America's racial attitudes (among people of all colors) in a time of wrenching social change. Three decades have not dimmed the luster of his jazzy prose, rich in Hispanic rhythms and beat-generation slang.

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From School Library Journal

The 30th anniversary edition of Thomas's classic is as relevant today as when it was originally published in 1967. The lyrical memoir follows the coming-of-age on the streets of Spanish Harlem of a Puerto Rican in English-speaking America—a dark-skinned morenito in a family that refused to acknowledge its African blood. Drugs, street fighting, and armed robbery eventually land the 22-year-old Piri in prison for shooting a cop. An eye-opening account of one young man's journey of identity, marginalization, survival, and transcendence.

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Product details

Paperback: 352 pages

Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (November 25, 1997)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0679781420

ISBN-13: 978-0679781424

Product Dimensions:

5.2 x 0.7 x 8 inches

Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.6 out of 5 stars

118 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#60,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Pretty good autobiography set in New York's Spanish Harlem in the 40's. Piri Thomas is our guide through his tough upbringing to his jail time for shooting a plainclothes cop -- during an armed robbery -- through his release. Piri, a Puerto Rican, is confused about his identity. He doesn't look like the rest of his lighter skinned family and, as such, feels like an outsider. His anger boils over and affects all around him, especially his family. During his incarceration he was introduced to Islam and the Muslim faith which changed him insomuch as his inner anger was dissipated.Priri's writing is crisp and full of colloquialisms of the times as well as the setting. Very matter-of-factly Piri describes to us what he and his gang would get up to in their youth. I have to admit, I was taken aback by his recounting of one story involving gay men. Strikes me that any story like that would be taken closed mouth to the grave. If a young man, or any man, is willing to share that story then honesty is not in question.In summary, this is a great story of one man's upbringing that is worlds apart from most people. Very tough life in a tough world where you just had to be strong at all times. Weakness wasn't tolerated. Piri is engaging and entertaining as he takes us on his journey. It's a story of a boy's evolution into manhood and finding his way.Very enjoyable.

This is an underrated classic that's up there with Manchild in a Promised Land and other coming-of-age narratives that capture the adversities and incredible richness of America’s urban afro-american experience. Yet Piri's world is also multi-dimensioned by the latino context of Spanish Harlem’s transition from borínquen to nuevayolk, and the emerging new identities that were driven by that dynamic tension. The child transits to adult in an ambience of machismo initiation, everpresent drugs, the cult of mamacita and the glorious smells of arroz y habichuelas and ham hocks (a.k.a patitas). The core experiences narrated in this book are literary bij mantras that set the stage for the suburban escapades of the Junot Diaz’s personajes. At times, the young Piri falls into stream-of-conciousness reflections that call to mind the broodings of an expansive Eldridge Cleaver in Soul on Ice. I guess it’s clear that I really liked this book. Plus: I first read it when I was 14 and have just finished the re-read – at 61. This book still rocks and is relevant as ever. Coño que buen libro! Thank you Piri Thomas.

Down These Mean StreetsEven though the language Piri Thomas uses throughout most of this book is dated, it doesn't matter. We know we're reading about a young gangster who grew up in Spanish Harlem in the 40's and 50's. He also grew up as a Morenito, a black Puero Rican. He got his racial identity from his father, a Moreno, although all of his other siblings resembled their mother who was clearly a white Puerto Rican. Thus, the book tells a lot about racial prejudice, a young man whose parents seemed to have almost no control over him and who is looking for where he belongs in this country of his. The book is so powerful and it deals not only with the issues of race, but also drug addiction, infidelity, death, prison, and the gangster life. It also deals with redemption, great loss, and learning the hard way, but still learning. I wanted to write to Piri Thomas to let him know that I loved his book so much, but I was reading about him on Amazon and found out that he had passed away only a month before I finished his book. I cried throughout the book, but I also cried when I read that he had passed away after what was a very hard life. I ended up giving this book to one of my students who had fought with an alcohol addiction and a hard life for many years and is black and a recovering alcoholic now. I hope he gets something out of it. This book could easily be made into a movie and I think it should be and now is the time if ever.

Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas is a story of struggles, heart and identity. Speaking from his own experiences, Piri Thomas writes of his life as a teenager growing up in El Barrio--Spanish Harlem. He faces many battles as he fights to find his true identity and place in this racial society. Thomas explains the life of a lower-class Puerto Rican kid who tried to fit-in in a world where gang fighting, doing drugs, sex and stealing was as natural as breathing. In his fight to fit in, he loses his true personality. Piri Thomas creates the perfect picture of this kind of society for readers through this book. He tries to teach people about the Harlem community using his life alone to prove that no race was better than the rest. Although this book should not be recommended for people of all ages, it teaches its readers well-known morals in a different way. It opens people's minds to show them that the concept of being prejudice is shown in all races. Piri Thomas shows his view of the world by telling readers his life story, including everything from drug addictions to living on the mean streets of Harlem. Down These Mean Streets can be life-changing if it is appreciated in the right way.

I really liked the way he described how he felt, trying to figure if he is black or Puerto Rican. When you are brown and in the muddle, it be hard to figure out what you are even if your birth certificate says white. At one point in the book, he went for an interview with his white Puerto Rican friend. Piri didn't land t h e job but his white friend did. I found the book interesting and enlighting.

Being Puerto Rican and raised in the Bronx this book described a lot of what I've felt growing up. The main character was described as a flawed man who made some poor choices in life and paid the price while he was in jail. An excellent read!

If you enjoy lying back with a great book this is the one you want, no other.

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