The book that i read was called, "East Side Dreams" by Art Rodriguez. It was a biography of Art's life in little chapter stories. Most of the stories were about Art growing up in San Jose and hanging out with his friends, who were always no good. Theres stories of his family, you can tell they are very close. Always getting in trouble, Art finds himself locked up in jail. He tells alot of stories about his jail time. Some of the things he talks about arent really laughing matters, but the way that Art Rodriguez writes, he is able to make everything into a joke. Thats whats great about this book. Even though he regrets alot of things he once did, he eventually grows up and matures and it makes a great story to read.
Reading this book, i think the main point the author was trying to get across was, mistakes you make or things you don't do when your younger, will eventually follow you into your adult life. He sort of tries to persuade the reader to not make the same mistakes he made by telling you the consequences in short stories. Most of the beggining stories in Arts book are about him getting into trouble with his friends. He used to party alot and drink and do drugs. Art and his friends ended up getting into lots of fights because of this. One particular night when they decided to get into a fight with another group of guys at a party, It ended in two guys dying and Art being accused of the killing. the later half of the book is about his jail time. I think he also had alot of fun growing up and had some of the craziest, unbelievable things happen to him. I think he wrote this book because of these stories and he wanted to share them. I think he made his point pretty clear, i know there is a couple things that i will not be ever trying, just by reading this book.
I would reccomend this book to all audiences, its great reading material in general. It's has very simple diolauge without alot of big words. Spanish being Art's first language, he did not know how to read and write in english until he took classes as an adult. I think that it was intended for younger people because alot of the things he talks about and the stories he tells, i feel younger people would be able to relate and learn more from them. Also, he tries to teach alot of lessons that probably only teenagers would need to learn. I did not find alot of flaws or weaknesses in this book, except in some parts where he would drag on and on about a story when the end was already predictable enough. Another flaw i found was one about his father. He mentions his father towards the end, he says he used to be abusive, then says they're growing way more close now. The little he does say about his father, makes it seem like he was a very influental and important figure in Arts life despite there differences when he was younger. I think this story could have been stronger if he let the reader know more about how his father affected him growing up throughout the story because he makes it clear at the end that he did influence alot of his decisions. I don't think that i can really point out any other flaws because it was the story of his life, and i can't really wish he talked about something different. It was a great book.
Ive read alot of biography and memoir type books and i think that this book was one of the best ive read so far. The author makes you feel like your reslly there. Arts writing is very descriptive and when hes describing his surroundings in the stories it feels very realistic and you can almost picture everything. I think his writing is amazing for someone who had to learn to read and write as an adult. Art Rodriguez has an amazing talent.
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