Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A.

Before long, Rodriguez saw a way out of the barrio through education and the power of words and successfully broke free from years of violence and desperation. Achieving success as an award-winning Chicano poet, he was sure the streets would haunt him no more -- until his son joined a gang. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in Always Running, a vivid memoir that explores the motivations of gang life and cautions against the death and destruction that inevitably claim its participants. At times heartbreakingly sad and brutal, Always Running is ultimately an uplifting true story, filled with hope, insight, and a hard-learned lesson for the next generation.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

One of My Most Stolen Books, 2008-09-17
As a teacher I used this book in a Continuation High School to get students to read and write and draw out their experiences. In a classroom where students wanted only to "kick it" until the bell rang vignettes from this book made for a powerful draw for learning. Originally I bought 20 hardback copies. At the end of teaching there I had lost count of how many copies I had purchased. It was one of my most stolen books. I always wanted to meet him at Martinez' Bookstore In Santa Ana, California, but I never knew he was coming until he'd left. Many of us are grateful to him .


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Interesting story!!!, 2008-09-16
It is a very interesting book. It makes me feel I don't want to stop reading it.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Great book but is the author for real?!, 2008-08-29
This book is a great book, very eye opening and wonderfully written.

I have to wondering though, throughout the book, what is going through the author's mind...

He complains that the police treated them poorly. They were CRIMINALS. If they weren't up to no good at that SPECIFIC point in time, they were ABOUT to do something terrible or definitely had already DONE something terrible.

I don't understand how the author calls the police... "rioting police... in a murderous frenzy..." HELLO, you were doing illegal drugs in a public place, your friends stole something from a liquor store, then a mob started banging on the doors of the liquor store to let them in - am I missing something? Can you really blame the police for acting as they did? You just committed several crimes! The police were doing there job and acting defensively when KNOWN gang members committed crimes...

Then the author complains that he was thrown into an adult jail cell, with murderers and rapists, despite being a juvenile and too young to be in that specific jail. OK, fine, but earlier in the book, he was talking about hanging OUT with FRIENDS of his while they were RAPING UNCONSCIOUS WOMEN. He had SHOT people before, held guns to innocent peoples' heads during robberies. WHY IS BEING SURROUNDED BY MURDERERS AND RAPISTS *SUDDENLY* SO offensive to him? He wasn't old enough to be in an adult facility, but he was old enough to do drugs, drive illegally, drink illegally, commit robberies at gun point. Who is the author kidding? He acts like the police somehow treated him so badly but he DESERVED it. He was a criminal! The worst kind of criminal.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A different world, 2008-08-25
i was intrigued by this book when i saw it in the store so i bought it. it was very educational for me as i never knew how bad things would really get in gang life. i grew up in the burbs and this was all very shocking to me. it was truthful, sad and awakening.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Empowering and Emotional, 2008-03-24
I had no choice when it came to reading this book. It was after all, required in my college english class in order to survive the masses of quizzes and essays. But I will say that although I did not want to read this book at first, once I read the first couple pages I was hooked. I no longer wanted to read it just because it was required, now I was reading it for pleasure. Although the book is strongly graphic especially on the sex parts, it is done in a most tasteful manner. As a young latina born and raised in America, I was very touched by what my people had gone through in the past, and it is knowledge I had ignored taking the liberty I have now for granted. I really recommend this book if you're up to take a good dose of eye opener.

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