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Available
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Publication
Pyramid, Paperback, 270 pages
Description
Fiction. African American Fiction. Literature. HTML: WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR TAYARI JONES "How can a novel's social criticism be so unflinching and clear, yet its plot moves like a house on fire? I am tempted to describe Petry as a magician for the many ways that The Street amazes, but this description cheapens her talent . . . Petry is a gifted artist." � Tayari Jones, from the Introduction The Street follows the spirited Lutie Johnson, a newly single mother whose efforts to claim a share of the American Dream for herself and her young son meet frustration at every turn in 1940s Harlem. Opening a fresh perspective on the realities and challenges of black, female, working-class life, The Street became the first novel by an African American woman to sell more than a million copies..… (more)
Media reviews
Ann Petry beschrijft de schrijnende situatie van een zwarte vrouw in het Harlem van de jaren veertig van de vorige eeuw. Een situatie waarin gedurende de afgelopen tachtig jaar niet veel verbetering lijkt te zijn gekomen, gezien alle initiatieven rondom Black Lives Matter van dit moment. Bovendien
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doet ze dit op een indringende, spannende en zeer stijlvolle wijze waardoor de roman, ondanks de schrijnende inhoud, toch een groot genoegen is om te lezen. Wat goed dat dit meesterwerk uit de Afro-Amerikaanse literatuur nu in Nederlandse vertaling beschikbaar is…lees verder Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
Petry's novel is rich in detail of life in Harlem in the 1940s. Most of that detail is gritty, if not downright gruesome, and Petry spares us nothing of the physical and emotional desolation of being poor, black and untethered in that place and time. The writing is often superb, but occasionally
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repetitious, and tends toward preachiness in places. We spend a lot of time inside the heads of Lutie Johnson, Jones the Super, and Jones's current woman, Min. Lutie is a young single mother, struggling to keep her son safe and fed, always hoping for an opportunity to do just a little better, and get him away from "the street" (116th St) and its evil influences. Jones is a man who has spent most of his life in cellars, tending furnaces, fixing ancient plumbing, and lusting after attractive women like Lutie while living with a succession of "wives" who soon tire of his peculiarities. Min has found Jones to be a good enough meal and rent ticket for a couple years, has even tried to make his life better with her domestic touches, but sees no future with him once his obsession with Lutie Johnson takes hold. These are all strong interesting characters, and in each case their narratives took me to unexpected places and unpredictable outcomes. Except. I just don't buy Lutie's final scene. No spoilers...I saw one development coming, but its aftermath did not play out in a way I found totally believable given what I knew of Lutie's character by that time. Granted her options were less than limited, I thought the novel's ending failed to come up to the creative standard set by the rest of it. That, combined with a little too much telling (and re-telling) in place of showing, subtracted a star from my rating. Still, I found this an incredibly powerful read. Show Less
LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
A phenomenal story. "The street" itself is actually one of the novel's main characters, taking on a life of its own throughout the story. As noted on page 323 in Lutie Johnson's thoughts, referring to her Harlem ghetto neighborhood,
"Streets like the one she lived on were no accident. They were the
Not only that, but "and while you were out working to pay the rent on this stinking, rotten place, why, the street outside played nursemaid to your kid. It became both mother and father and trained your kid for you, and it was an evil father and a vicious mother..." (407).
I won't go through the plot here, because it is so eloquently summarized by others here and elsewhere on the internet, but throughout the book, the street took on a life of its own, providing the impetus for Lutie's actions. All she wanted was her little slice of the American dream for herself and her son, but the more she attempted to leave the street behind her, the more it hemmed her in. And outside the street existed factors that put and kept people in the street: unemployment, racism and distrust, economic oppression. This book is a very gritty and unapologetic look at the Harlem ghetto of the 1940s, and I think one of the most revealing scenes (meaning one that really struck me) in this novel was that in which the Harlem schoolteacher's thoughts were laid bare. You kind of have to wonder how far we've actually come from the world portrayed in this book -- the issues here are largely still relevant.
The Street is not a happy, feel-good type of novel, so if that's what you want, then skip it. This book really got under my skin and I know it's one I'll think about for some time. It's also one I'd recommend to anyone, and would list under the "don't miss this book" category. The writing is most excellent; the reader can actually envision the streets filled with rubbish, the squalidness of the apartments, and can feel the total anguish that Lutie felt throughout the story. The characterizations are excellent as well.
Highly recommended.
"Streets like the one she lived on were no accident. They were the
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North's lynch mobs...the methods the big cities used to keep Negroes in their place." (323) Not only that, but "and while you were out working to pay the rent on this stinking, rotten place, why, the street outside played nursemaid to your kid. It became both mother and father and trained your kid for you, and it was an evil father and a vicious mother..." (407).
I won't go through the plot here, because it is so eloquently summarized by others here and elsewhere on the internet, but throughout the book, the street took on a life of its own, providing the impetus for Lutie's actions. All she wanted was her little slice of the American dream for herself and her son, but the more she attempted to leave the street behind her, the more it hemmed her in. And outside the street existed factors that put and kept people in the street: unemployment, racism and distrust, economic oppression. This book is a very gritty and unapologetic look at the Harlem ghetto of the 1940s, and I think one of the most revealing scenes (meaning one that really struck me) in this novel was that in which the Harlem schoolteacher's thoughts were laid bare. You kind of have to wonder how far we've actually come from the world portrayed in this book -- the issues here are largely still relevant.
The Street is not a happy, feel-good type of novel, so if that's what you want, then skip it. This book really got under my skin and I know it's one I'll think about for some time. It's also one I'd recommend to anyone, and would list under the "don't miss this book" category. The writing is most excellent; the reader can actually envision the streets filled with rubbish, the squalidness of the apartments, and can feel the total anguish that Lutie felt throughout the story. The characterizations are excellent as well.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member chrisblocker
Ann Petry's The Street bears considerable resemblance to Wright's Native Son or Ellison's Invisible Man. All three tell a tale of a young black person and their struggle to achieve more. All three were written in the same era. All three are heartbreaking and haunting. I've loved all three, but each
The Street is the story of Lutie Johnson. Lutie worries about money and image, she worries about her young son and dreams about her full potential. Lutie's struggles are ones many of us face, even today. Lutie's very insightful and intelligent, but otherwise she's not much different than your average person struggling to make ends meet. Her tale is tragic not so much because of the complexion of her skin, but because of “the street” and all it entails. Petry had ample opportunity to deride capitalism and make this a political book, but unlike Wright she let the story speak for itself, let the reader decide what is right and wrong with the picture.
Petry wrote wonderfully, and her characters were phenomenal. She expertly developed them, handing out unique voices to each, capturing accurate portrayals regardless of age or gender. Though this is the story of Lutie, Petry rotated through many perspectives, delving into the struggles of others while propelling the primary plot further.
Unfortunately, compared to her contemporaries, Petry is largely unknown today. Both Ellison and Wright are widely taught in high schools and universities, but Petry is not. Her talents did not outweigh her male counterparts, but they certainly rivaled them. And given the more universal message of The Street, I would think it must have more appeal to instructors of young people. I anticipate a Petry renaissance in the coming years; I'd love to read more of her work.
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stands out for its own reason. The Street stands apart from the other two because Petry's story is so much more than a story of ethnicity; it's equally a tale about the struggles of women, and more so it's the sad plight of anyone who lives in poverty. Ellison wrote masterful scenes and Wright created a voice impossible to forget, but Petry succeeded writing a story that was immensely universal.The Street is the story of Lutie Johnson. Lutie worries about money and image, she worries about her young son and dreams about her full potential. Lutie's struggles are ones many of us face, even today. Lutie's very insightful and intelligent, but otherwise she's not much different than your average person struggling to make ends meet. Her tale is tragic not so much because of the complexion of her skin, but because of “the street” and all it entails. Petry had ample opportunity to deride capitalism and make this a political book, but unlike Wright she let the story speak for itself, let the reader decide what is right and wrong with the picture.
Petry wrote wonderfully, and her characters were phenomenal. She expertly developed them, handing out unique voices to each, capturing accurate portrayals regardless of age or gender. Though this is the story of Lutie, Petry rotated through many perspectives, delving into the struggles of others while propelling the primary plot further.
Unfortunately, compared to her contemporaries, Petry is largely unknown today. Both Ellison and Wright are widely taught in high schools and universities, but Petry is not. Her talents did not outweigh her male counterparts, but they certainly rivaled them. And given the more universal message of The Street, I would think it must have more appeal to instructors of young people. I anticipate a Petry renaissance in the coming years; I'd love to read more of her work.
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LibraryThing member jayne_charles
This book does for the black experience in pre-civil rights America what 'The Grapes of Wrath' did for the migrants of the depression - which is to relentlessly pummel the reader with suffering and injustice page after page. Each time it seems a chink of light has appeared, it is quickly
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extinguished. Written with bleak eloquence, it is at times long winded (I'm still not sure what the character Min added to the story), but it is very good at immersing the reader in her characters' world and demonstrating the ways in which their hopes are frustrated. This is not a book coasting towards a happy ending: quite the opposite, though I had not anticipated how heartwrenching it was ultimately going to be. Show Less
LibraryThing member etxgardener
This is another book I never would have read if it weren't for my book group. Ann Petry wrote this book as a Houghton Mifflin Literary fellow and, apparently, when it was published sold over a million copies. It's the story of a Lutie Johnson, a young black woman in Harlem in the 1940's who is
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struggling to make a better life for herslef and her young son, but is thwarted t every turn by the prejudice of the day and the violence and poverty that surrounds her in her Harlem neighborhood. For every step she makes forward, she seems to make two steps back until she succombs to the fate of too many African-Americans. This is a heartbreaking story that, sadly, is still too relevant today. Show Less
LibraryThing member kylekatz
1946. A haunting story of life in Harlem. Kind of heavy handed with the idea that the street itself is evil. But an understandable portrait of how a decent human being can be driven to murder. Pretty Lutie Johnson is nearly raped by the building superintendent, constantly invited to become a whore
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by the building madame, and eventually hounded and bribed by the local slum lord to become his woman. (She refuses.) Meanwhile her 8-year-old son, Bub, is left too much to his own devices and Lutie worries he'll come to no good. She ends up going off and killing a man who is about to rape her and fleeing to Chicago, abandoning her son. Tragic. Show Less
LibraryThing member MM_Jones
Originally published in 1946, this heart breaking story of poverty and the inability to legally break away. This novel speaks to the black experience in New York, but a common story told well. Compare it to experiences Mary Lavin writes of female poverty in Ireland or Etaf Rum's immigrant version.
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Future selection for the "Now Read This" PBS/NYT book club, a new edition introduced by author Tayari Jones Show Less
LibraryThing member streamsong
1944. Harlem. Lutie is hardworking and talented. She is also trapped: poor, female, black, wanting the best as a single mother for her 9 year old son and wanting to help her alcoholic father …. Lutie struggles to make a decent life for herself and her son, but the ghetto, and the street itself
Beautifully written and, unfortunately, one could imagine a fairly similar scenario today, 75 years later.
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fight back. No happy endings here, although it was a twist I wasn’t expecting.Beautifully written and, unfortunately, one could imagine a fairly similar scenario today, 75 years later.
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LibraryThing member teunduynstee
What a heart breaking and beautiful story. I have a bit of a weak spot for stories of poverty and adverse circumstance. Of heroes struggling and eventually overcoming those adversities. Only this heroine doesn't stand a fighting chance. Because she's black, because she's a woman, because she's poor
Style: I was very surprised by how modern this novel feels. The ever shifting perspective, sometimes changing main character halfway a scene, painting a kaleidoscopic portrait of the street and its inhabitants. The Street itself as the main character, always there, looming.
The Street reminded me of several of my favourite novels, all of which are more recent and may have been inspired by The Street. For example the Egyptian novel The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswani or the Dutch novel Dubbelspel by Frank Martinus Arion. I hadn't heard of Ann Petry or The Street before and am very happy that I got introduced to it via my book club.
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and because of The Street. The world has changed a lot since, but I'm afraid that much of the story is very relevant today...Style: I was very surprised by how modern this novel feels. The ever shifting perspective, sometimes changing main character halfway a scene, painting a kaleidoscopic portrait of the street and its inhabitants. The Street itself as the main character, always there, looming.
The Street reminded me of several of my favourite novels, all of which are more recent and may have been inspired by The Street. For example the Egyptian novel The Yacoubian Building by Alaa Al Aswani or the Dutch novel Dubbelspel by Frank Martinus Arion. I hadn't heard of Ann Petry or The Street before and am very happy that I got introduced to it via my book club.
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LibraryThing member burritapal
This book will break your heart.
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original publication date
1946
Physical description
448 p.; 8.22 inches
ISBN
0395901499 / 9780395901496
Local notes
GONE