The Street by Ann Petry

 

Title: The Street

Author:  Ann Petry

Narrated by:  Danielle Deadwyler

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Length: Approximately 13 hours and 25 minutes

Source: Audiobook Purchased from Audible

Have you “discovered” any new authors lately through Instagram?  I recently discovered Ann Petry through various Instagram posts and being a part of the Classics Buddy Read in February with @deesreads.  The Street was published in 1946 and I can’t believe I had never heard of this book or author until recently.

Lutie Johnson is a young black woman struggling to raise her son as a single mother in Harlem in the 1940s.  She wants a better life for her son Bub.  She believed in her marriage until her husband Jim couldn’t get a job.  Rather than lose their home, Lutie became a life in housekeeper for a rich family.  She could only go home to visit for four days a month.  Jim found a new woman who moved into their home while Lutie was gone.  This leads Lutie to move to a dumpy apartment on the street.  Will Lutie and Bub be able to make a better life for themselves?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This novel had well developed, complex characters.  It is told through many points of view which I found compelling.

·       It captures the trials and tribulations of poor African Americans in New York City during the 1940s.  Trying to get by was very hard and the oppression of hunger and no available jobs weighs them down.

·       I was confused for a bit in the novel when Lutie would go to Jamica to visit.  I was like – why, she sure is traveling a long way all the time.  I ended up looking it up and it’s a neighborhood in New York City.

·       The building supervisor, Jones, and his lust for Lutie was so scary.  It was built up through the novel and very suspenseful.

·       My favorite character was Mrs. Hedges.  She watched the neighborhood and knew everything that was going on.  She had a will to succeed and helped people out.  She was a madame to make money off of other women, so she was a complicated person.

·       Lutie kept struggling to make a living for her and Bub, but racially, sexually, and economically, the world was working against her.  Instead of helping her out, people just kept trying to take advantage of her.

·       This novel had quite the ending, I can’t stop thinking about it.  Lutie was caught in an impossible situation with no good solution.

·       I want to read more books by this author.  Have you read any other her other books?  If so, what do you recommend?

Overall, The Street by Ann Petry was an excellent, well-crafted novel with compelling characters and storyline.  It has kept me thinking and prompted a good discussion in the Classics Buddy Read.