Book Review

Jennifer Rios

Book Review

Luis Rodriguez’s account of his life in Always Running La Vida Loca: Gang days in L.A focuses on themes of despair, hope, escape, with an undertone of angst towards the lifestyle he once had to endure. Always Running has the double meaning of stating what the author had to do to physically survive, but also what many other Chicanos and minorities are faced with due to the impossibility of success by staying in the same place and succeeding in life. Rodriguez’s message, in part, can be seen as STOP running. By repeating the cycle of running, we get nowhere, and by addressing the core problem(s) we can achieve actual solutions.

Rodriguez’s work is layered with statements of concern for why problems in the barrios occur. From the body of text Rodriguez writes, “There is an aspect of suicide in young people whose options have been cut off. They stand on the street corners, flashing hand signs, inviting the bullets.” (p. 9) Because of this it is clear why Rodriguez feels young people should be given a “complete literacy” so that they can “have the ability to participate completely and confidently in any level of society one chooses.” (p.9)

A surprising point of the book is the level of police brutality that the author faced in the 70’s and how it evolved to the Rodney King attacks in the 90’s. That along with actually reading of the troubles of many immigrants as the Arizona law comes in effect makes reading this book more personal in some levels.

In connecting this work to the topics from class, with regards especially to gender spaces and Private vs Public space(s), some examples in Rodriguez’s account are: how boys and girls can both be in school, and by junior high shape identities and roles. On page 44, in connection with gender spaces, Rodriguez writes, most if the Mexican girls weren’t cholas; their families still had strong reins on many of them.” (p. 45). This shows how the roles of girls were limited by family members and what was thought to be a females role. It was common for boys to be the majority when it came to being on the streets and getting involved with violence showing that boys were not controlled as much as females.

With regard to public versus private space, while gang life can arguably be said to be purely private, with initiations and secret meetings, publicly this form of social expression manifested itself violently several times in the book. On page 57 and 58 Rodriguez shares a clear account of how public the vida loca could get, “Automatic gunfire followed them as they rolled in the dirt…Windows flung upward. Doors were pushed aside. People bolted out of their homes. Mothers cursed in Spanish from behind weather-beaten picket fences.”

In summation, Always Running La Vida Loca: Gang days in L.A expresses a clear sample of urban life in the 20^th and 21^st centuries through the themes discussed in class.