Joe Loya

I don't think I'd want to be alone in a room with this guy, but he tells a good yarn. It's evidence towards the proposition that simultaneously beating the living shit out of your kids and believing they're chosen by God to do something special is not going to end how you expect.

A searing story about the painful climb one man must make from a life of crime to one filled with honor

From Publishers Weekly
In this well-written, insightful memoir, reformed bank robber Loya provides a searing account of the physical and emotional scars he received growing up in East Los Angeles. After his mother's death, both Loya and his younger brother suffered horrible beatings from their father, a Protestant minister. While Loya avoids blaming his eventual career as a criminal on his father's brutality, the resulting feelings of helplessness clearly played a major role in transforming a show more bookish nerd into a violent thug. Pushed beyond his limits, Loya finally takes drastic steps to protect himself. His rapid descent into a life of crime leads to a demeaning and grueling prison stretch. Loya does a masterful job of conveying the survivalist ethos he's forced to adopt while incarcerated. His gradual rejection of that code, nurtured and sustained by a pen-pal relationship with poet Richard Rodriguez, is a little less well-developed, and his ending the narrative shortly after his release leaves unanswered some of the thoughtful questions he raises about rehabilitation and reintegration into society. Nonetheless, many readers will find Loya's honesty and self-awareness gripping and will root for him to transcend his inner demons.
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