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

Product Details

By age twelve, Luis Rodriguez was a veteran of East L.A. gang warfare. Lured by a seemingly invincible gang culture, he witnessed countless shootings, beatings, and arrests, then watched with increasing fear as drugs, murder, suicide, and senseless acts of street crime claimed friends and family members. 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 young 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-earned lesson for the next generation.

Customer Reviews ::

Don't do drugs. Stay no to gangs. - Ruben Quinones - Concord, CA USA
I can see why this book is so popular among high school students: it provides a graphic, unflinching look at LA gang life in the 1960s, and it ends happily, with Mr. Rodriguez living to tell the tale. Unfortunately, the second half of the story contains too many things that make me question the reliability of its teller. I hope this book helps to keep kids out of gangs and in schools, even if its veracity is suspect.


And yet... the more I think about this, the more I see in it. I think this is actually a depiction of the violence inherent in people, rather than a specific comment on a time and place. The author's main excuse for gangs is unemployment. However, Mr. Rodriguez ends up portraying the police forces as little more than a rival gang with an unslakable bloodlust, though they obviously have jobs. The problem therefore can't be unemployment, unless all positions of power are necessarily corrupt, or the LA sheriffs are abnormally violent people. Other notable instances of violence are when young Luis gets pushed off his roof by his older brother, when a riot erupts at a peace rally, and when Luis upholds the tradition of a yearly brawl at a football. I guess this is the main problem I have with this book. The blame is misplaced. Mr. Rodriguez's gang involvement started before he was in junior high, so his own unemployment couldn't have been a factor. Since his father was well educated and employed, I have to lay the blame at his feet for failing to protect his son and teach him the right way to live. This sad family failure is then repeated between the author and his own son, Ramiro. The whole attitude of "learn from my mistakes; don't do what I did, son" just isn't enough for me.