 "Living Up the Street" | 2006-10-20 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Living Up the Street is one of the many books published by Gary Soto. Many of the books that he writes are about some childhood past experiences. It tells about his ups and downs that he went through as a child. Not all of the situations are from his childhood, but many are. Knowing the beginning of the book, a few events, and what I thought of the book will give you a better understanding of the book and how interesting it is. The book begins by introducing three children that will be the main characters throughout the book. These children are Rick 6, Chango 5, who is also the narrator in the book, and Debra 4. Basically the beginning the book tells about how the family struggles in life and how their mom, when angry, takes a belt to the children when they did inappropriate things. The first event that takes place is when their mom has to leave to go somewhere and someone else was supposed to watch the three children. The children thinking they could manage on their own got to stay home by themselves. The children liked to play with fire so they did make a fire and ended up burning some items in the house and they also had a tomato fight which made the house a complete mess. When their mom came home she was very angered by what they did. Another event that took place at the beginning deals with their father. Their father was a good man and a hard working one too. Their father was going to start to do some work on the house so he and his family could have better living conditions. One day their father got a head injury at work and he had to be taken to the hospital. There he stayed and two days later he ended up dying from the head injury. The whole family was sad to see him die. One thing that he was doing before he died was putting up a fence at home. The family did was got together and put the fence up themselves. They knew the father would have loved this. Those are just a few events that happen in this book. I do not want to tell the rest because then you would not have to read the book to see what happens. Basically the idea of the book to me is that the family starts out struggling, going through hard times and later they get everything together and become a good family who is doing very well compared to what they had been doing before. This book should be read by many people that like to know about how families are, what they do in bad situations, and how they make it through the bad times. Now that you know the beginning of the book, a few events that took place, and what I thought of the book you might just want to go read the book. It is one that is definitely should be read. You will enjoy it. It is not a very difficult book to read. There are not very many pages |
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 "Book Review" | 2006-03-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1D6TNAIKUX190 |
| Living Up the Street is one of many autobiographies written by Gary Soto. It tells of the ups and downs throughout his childhood, adolescence, and even adult life. This realistic book is enjoyable to read because many people can relate to one of his experiences one way or another. Though the book it without plot, sequence, or continuity, it is interesting from the very first chapter you read. This autobiography is mainly about Gary Soto, and his poor Mexican family, growing up in Fresno, California, in the 60's and 70s'. It is fun to read because it is as if you are reading and viewing someone as they grow up and mature. Through Gary's mistakes, he's learns valuable lessons for life on his own. To give you a better understanding of the book, knowing some events that occurred in the beginning will help you know how interesting it is. In the introduction, the three main characters are presents, who also happen to be all siblings. Rick, who is 6, Gary 5, and Debra 4. Most of the beginning shows the everyday family struggles they had growing up and how when the Mom, when she was angry enough, hit them with a belt after they acted up. One of the first events which happened, is when the Mom had somewhere to go and left the children home alone unattended accidentally. Since the kids loved playing with fire, they managed to burn a few items on fire inside the house and have fun with a tomato fight also, ruining the entire living room and kitchen. This is just one of many events that took place in this novel. |
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| "Don't judge a book by it's cover, fools!" | 2005-11-02 |
| - Reviewed By cominar |
| I had to read this nutjob of a book with the class as a freshman this year and the cover and plot review on the back of the book made it look like bird scratch but right when you start reading you'd notice it's pretty damn good. This is on of those rare books that start o be interesting from the very beginning chapter and have small chapters so you feel optimistic about reading alot of sections of the book and feel a sense of almost finished. |
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| "Living up the Sreet" | 2005-09-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A26EZKSOYESJ6W |
Living up the Street
by Gary Soto
Peer Review
Living up the Street is an autobiography by Gary Soto. Those who love autobiographies will love this novel. One of the reasons I liked this book is because Gary has some very interesting events that occur in his life. Sometimes those events can be quite hilarious, and other times he makes you wonder why he was doing the crazy things he did. Gary not only learns from his mistakes, he also applies what he learns to other problems he encounters throughout his life.
I generally like reading autobiographies because I get to see what another person's life was like and I get to see what problems they faced in life. Then I try to figure out how I can use their problem and solution to make my life better. Another thing I like about reading autobiographies is that it can be fun learning what happened on another person's life. For those of you who hate autobiographies, I think you will still like this novel because Gary's life is very interesting.
The difficulty level was not very high at all because he rarely used highly sophisticated words in his writing. He randomly used Spanish words throughout the book. That increased the length of the book for me because there were some words I did not know the meaning to. Overall, I would say that the novel is not very long and it is very intriguing.
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 "A Really Great Book" | 2005-09-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2EBMDJ4V7AVUX |
Hey peoples, the name of this story that I am going to explain to you is called Living up the Street by Gary Soto. This story is an auto - biography about Gary who grows up on the streets near Fresno, California. The story starts when he is five years old until he is married and is visiting Mexico City. This book is funny and cool because there is one part where Gary, Ronnie, and his friend Scott, decide to steal from his sister. Scott's sister went on vacation to Yosemite National Park. That is why they decided to steal at that time. What I thought was funny is that his Scott's sister works for the government. Well after they stole everything, they went back to their apartment. Gary and Scott decided to leave town taking a train to San Francisco because they were all freaked out. Ronnie just stayed at the apartment and started freaking out. Gary and Scott bought tickets for the train ride to San Francisco and when they were in the train, they decided to return their tickets because they were broke and that's when they were certain to return all the stuff they stolen. Anyways, there is a lot of drama in the book, so you should read this masterpiece.
This book has 167 pages, which is great because this story is not that boring. The thickness of this story is somewhat small, buts it is not that hard to read, so do not worry. If you like to read high and low reading level books then you will like this book because it is probably just right for you. If you also like reading auto - biography books like this one then you will definitely like this book. Once you start reading this story, you will not put it down unless you have to because it is compelling. Before I started to read the book, I was thinking that it was going to be the worse auto - biography book I have ever read because of the way the book looks and the thickness of the book. Actually, this story turned out to be better then I thought. Do not judge a book by its cover. Those are the reasons why I like to read Living up the Street. As a whole, this book is not going to take a long time to read, but make sure you read the book slowly so you will not miss out important information.
The rest of the story, I do not want to ruin it for you. Well I hope that you would like reading the book Living up the Street by Gary Soto. See you later!
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| "Good one for teen summer reading" | 2005-08-30 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Its a good book for teens to read if they can't find any other good book on their list but this book. I think that basically covers the idea. |
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| "Street Review" | 2004-06-02 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Living Up the Street is a great book. If you like to read about people and how their everyday lives affect them this book is for you. When I picked up the book it did not sound that interesting. But when I finished the first chapter I knew the book was going to be good. It is interesting to read about the main character, Gary, a Mexican boy, and how he grows up and deals with life living in Fresno. The book is based back in the 60's and 70's. It was interesting to read about how different life was for people back then and how hard it was for Gary and his family. Gary grows up learning valuable lessons throughout the book. Living Up the Street is an interesting way to look at someone's life as they grow up and mature. |
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| "A Must For A Teen...." | 1998-06-28 |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| I purchased this book about two weeks ago and it's probably the only book that I've enjoyed reading. While most stories are either too grim of too happy, this book offers both. This book tells about Gary Soto's ups and downs throughout his childhood, adolescence and even adult life. A book that anyone can relate to in one way or another, I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read something that is realistic yet a joy to read. |
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 "Don't Bother" | |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| Being one of the hundreds of students who have grown up in Fresno and been made to read the "works" of Gary Soto, I am not unfamiliar with his work nor with Fresno in general. The book is without plot, sequence, or continuity. In one chapter he is at one school, then a different, then back to the first. Further more it is inconsistent. He tells the story of his poor Mexican family in Fresno, and yet many times he writes of drinking Kool-Aid, watching Father Knows Best, and engaging in other activities not characteristic of the underprivileged. Full of awkward analogies and metaphors it is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who possesses the ability to walk and breath at the same time. For a more exciting read, I suggest browsing words in the dictionary, "Monotonous" is a great one. |
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| "Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down~" | |
| - Reviewed By Anonymous |
| When I picked up the book to read for the first time, I was pleased with the sequence of things, but as I read further I became more and more frustrated with the book. I like Gary Soto's work and in general loved the book, but it would have been better kept in essay format rather than clumped up in a novel that had no order other than Gary's age. |
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