Durango Street
by Frank Bonham
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Book Summary Information
Author: Frank BonhamEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-01-01
ISBN: 0141303093
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Puffin
Book Reviews of Durango Street
Book Review: Durango Street Provides Life Lessons
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm 42 and read this book some time around 1978 in the 7th grade when I was 12 maybe. I think it was the most influential book on me as a young male adolescent and I'm a white surbanite from a relatively peaceful town. I could still relate to the desperation of Rufus to change the path he was on. The book also helps you understand how oppressive society or peer pressure can be on determining who you turn out to be.
Yes, Durango Street is a story about an African-American juvenile deliquent who lives in the ghetto, Rufus Henry, who, although he makes bad choices and rises to become a gang leader, he still is the protagonist in the story. He comes from a single parent family and his Mom loves him but is so busy making ends meet that Rufus is really on an emotional island, forced to grow up fast. Mom seems helpless in stopping Rufus's demise. Although Rufus gets into serious trouble, even a younger reader understands that he does it mostly out of sense of necessity for his own survival. And, you empathize with him.
The story also shocks you if you're not someone who even remotely grew up in a ghetto environment where there are serious gang problems. You learn to appreciate that environment for what it is or what it must be like living in it. What I liked most about the story is Rufus's intermittent longings for a relationship with his absent father, a supposed football star, who left his mother. He idolizes his father as I recall and his near mythic stature seems to give Rufus some strand of hope to get himself out of the place he's stuck in.
The real lesson I think the story provides is that despite a bad hand you're dealt, it's still possible to get out. Rufus, doesn't necessarily make it, but you root for him to and his actions become the makeup for what you'd say is a reverse role model. More importantly, the book tells the story of a tragic character you empathize with despite his notorious status.
This book should be mandatory reading for kids by 8th grade and for deadbeat Dads. Your kids, especially your sons, need you.
Summary of Durango Street
When Rufus Henry gets out of work camp for Grand Theft Auto, he has only one place to go? back to Durango Street. Almost right away, he gets on the wrong side of the Gassers, has to join the rival Moors? and starts running for his life. Years ahead of its time, Durango Street, like The Outsiders, shows that gang violence is, sadly, nothing new? and nothing glamorous. "A starkly realistic, convincing, well-written teen novel." ? School Library Journal
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