Abraham Rodriguez

i described this to my wife as an urban Latino version of Sherman Alexie’s Absolutely true diary of a part-time indian. add very adult themes. some of them dark. very dark.

the story is tripartite and interwoven cleverly. the window into another culture and lifestyle is educational and absorbing (i am white and from the midwest). the characters are well-drawn; i care even about the ones that are on stage only briefly. no one is truly 2D in this.

the dynamic tensions played out between show more school, home, and “street” life feels natural. the prose conveys deep meaning in few words and sometimes feels like it’s going to slip into full-on beat poetry mode.

art is at the core of this book and is used simultaneously as rebellion to the status quo and pathway to stability and peace. the central hub around which this vehicle orbits fuzzes fantasy and reality, like walking the borderlands of the neighborhood full of drug dealing posses, diamond bracelet tagged girls, and .22s named Carlotta. the mystical destination Out is always there but not always with a clear path to it nor is it universally desired.

the book does really belong in the same category as Alexie’s book, the Outsiders, Perks of being a wallflower and the like except that it’s both more raw and polished. raw because some of the content is really messed up (like Gone girl or American psycho messed); polished because a lot of the writing is nearly lyrical, swollen with subtle metaphors and tropes. show less

The photographs included are quite nice and go with the poems. While I think the author has been through a terrible experience, as poetry this doesn’t entirely work for me, and he, once again, sounds like every other modern poet.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book.

Spidertown beschreibt das wahre Leben auf der Straße besser als jedes andere Buch. Die Aussichtslosigkeit der Kinder die in den Slums von Lateinamerika aufwachsen ist erdrückend, ein Abrutschen ins Kriminäle Milieu und in den Drogensumpf eine logische Schlussfolgerung. Rodriguez vermittelt die schlimmen Seiten eines derartigen Lebens, allerdings nutzt er die Liebesgeschichte zwischen Miguel und Christalena zum Anlass dem Leser zu zeigen, dass es immer Hoffnung im Leben gibt, und man show more niemals aufgeben sollte. show less