American Street (book post)

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 I know how late this blog post is considering that I wrote the first paper on this book. Honestly as I sit here and write this at the end of the semester, this was my one of my favorites, if not my favorite book, that we've read the entire semester.

It looks like it's long when you look at the physical book, but it feels like a quick read. Especially the last 100-150 pages or so. Fabiola wasn't my favorite narrator from the other books we've read, but she was realistic and I liked that. She knew (mostly) what her priorities were (to herself) and although not all of her decisions were the best, she stuck to her views and how she saw the world. Mostly, when Fab was feeling a certain type of emotion during the book, I was right there with her. She was smart, strong when she needed to be, and was one of the most loyal characters I've ever read about.

When I was in the middle of reading American Street, I wasn't sure how I felt about the small chapters about each characters that were spread out through the novel. But the more that I think about it, I really like the idea and I think Zoboi was genius for doing it. The reader would have to guess about each character's motives and thoughts as we learned more and more about them. And then just when we were uncertain and needed more, Zoboi would insert the small chapter about their past or thoughts or feelings. It was so clever. We as the reader were on the edge of our seats and when reading the small snipits, we could finally see what made the character behave and think the way they did. It helped put things into perspective and it honestly changed the way I saw each character after their little chapter.

I definitely enjoyed this book so much. I will have to read this again and if a friend is ever looking for a new thing to read, I will be sure to recommend it. I'd give it an 8.5/10 ( it's rare for me to give a 10 :) ). I would love to see an adapted movie version, but I don't know if I want a movie crew to touch this great story because I love it exactly the way it is.

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