Review: Muchacho

Title: Muchacho
Author: Louanne Johnson
Publication date: September 8th, 2009

Summary:
Eddie Corazon is angry. He’s also very smart. But he’s working pretty hard at being a juvenile delinquent. He blows off school, even though he’s a secret reader. He hangs with his cousins, who will always back him up—when they aren’t in jail. T

Then along comes Lupe, who makes his blood race. She sees something in Eddie he doesn’t even see in himself. A heart, and a mind, and something more: a poet. But in Eddie’s world, it’s a thin line between tragedy and glory. And what goes down is entirely in Eddie’s hands.

Gripping, thought-provoking, and hopeful, Muchacho is a rare and inspiring story about one teen’s determination to fight his circumstances and shape his own destiny.

Review:
*I reviewed this book for BookDivas.com, so the review I'm posting here is the exact one I posted there.*

Though it wouldn't have been a book I'd buy, I liked this book and I'm glad I got the chance to read it. It was written almost like a journal entry, or like it was directly to the reader from Eddie. It had a raw kind of writing that made it seem as if I were reading a memoir of someone's rough life instead of a fiction book. I loved the glimpse that I got into Eddie's tough world of struggling and delinquency. This is one of those books that, while you might not necessarily love it, it's worth reading for the experience it puts you through.

Characters: 6/10
Plot: 6/10
Originality: 7/10
Writing: 8/10
Overall grade: C