The Street
Ratings5
Average rating4.4
The Street tells the poignant, often heartbreaking story of Lutie Johnson, a young black woman, and her spirited struggle to raise her son amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of Harlem in the late 1940s.
Lutie is confronted by racism, sexism, and classism on a daily basis in her pursuit of the American dream for herself and her son, Bub. Lutie fully subscribes to the belief that if she follows the adages of Benjamin Franklin by working hard and saving wisely, she will be able to achieve the dream of being financially independent.
The first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies, its haunting tale still resonates today.
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3.5 I resented having to read through the chapters that presumably were to humanise the superintendent. We learn that he's never had the capacity to socialise with other men, has lived in cellars too long, but at the same time he has absorbed the misogyny of our culture just fine. Although there is less of a perceptive voice about male entitlement and gendered violence, The Street is importantly incisive and angry about the economic genocide of anti-Blackness.
This was absolutely beautifully written, great job going into each characters POV. Everyone felt so real. I want to know what happens but have a feeling we can guess. I loved this mother and her son. A really great novel.
