I found this book to be interesting. It was sad to see how this man never received love as a child and in turn didn't know what love really was. He was a puppet for his gang who only gave him "respect" if he did what he was told. This man's life was out of control from day one. I finished this book in no time as it was interesting to see what happened to him next. I can't wait to read the unmaking of a Latin King.

I read all three of "Reymundo's" books. From page one, this book had me hooked. It's unimaginable the horror "Reymundo" faced as a child. It's hard to believe he's actually alive today, but I'm glad he is because he made an incredible book that deserves to be read.

I'll keep this short: My Bloody Life was not a very thoughtful book. I don't want to disparage the efforts of the author, who clearly had a fantastic story to tell. But I got the sense from reading the book that the story was told because he felt that someone needed to tell it, not because he felt he understood it in some greater sense. There are moments of clarity where he states or alludes to some grand narrative of life that the events fit into, but those moments clash with each other indicating that he's not really sure what that narrative is.

I read this book along with classmates in a teacher education course, and we discussed whether we thought it was educationally valuable to read this book as opposed to some other one. We decided that it was probably beneficial for what I termed the "oh crap" factor of surprising folks that didn't know what gang life could be like. At the same time though, the class agreed that reading this book might give readers the impression that every gang is like this one and that every kid in a rough neighborhood is gang-affiliated. Please don't walk away with that understanding.

A great book! Once you start reading the book you can't stop. Open your eyes to reality and helps you not to judge people and see what they act like that and why is the reason behind the life style they had taken.

I was definitely interested in reading this book, but the fact that the "spanish" written in the book was more like spanglish, incorrect grammar, with spanish definitions completely inaccurate made me believe that this was not truly an autobiographical memoir. But when the author proceeds to state that Puerto Ricans were being deported back the island during this time of his life in the book. That is when I finally said ENOUGH!!! Puerto Ricans are AMERICAN CITIZENS BORN TO A COMMOM WEALTH NATION THAT BELONGS TO THE USA!! Before an author begins to write a "true autobiographical/memoir" get your facts straight! A proud Puerto Rican knows his/her facts! Interesting book to read, but please, take it with a grain of salt, and remember; all that you read is not always true!

This is one of the best books I've ever read. once you start reading, you just don't want to stop you want to find out what will happen in the next chapter. It's such a great real story.

For all of those people who ask -- Why gangs? This book exists. This boy who really didn't even want to be a gangster gets pulled into the undertow and becomes one of the most violent. If all teens could read this, gang activity might keep slowing down.

I enjoyed this book. It is look inside the gang sub-culture. This book talks about the Latin Kings. He gives a brief history of the gangs in his area as well as the problems they faced with other gangs. The one thing that I really liked about his message was when he explained the methods for getting respect and losing it. He did not live a very good life which he understood. That was his reason for getting out and making a change. At least he saw the light before it was too late. Unfortunately some people were hurt before he wised up. Again it is a great book to understand gang life and the mentally of the groups.

This is a great book. It'll let you feel the truth behind the "hard core" thug image. It will blow any preconceived notions of "gang banger" out! They are still kids, struggling to stay alive, this proves it. Not an easy read for anyone with any empathy for others, Reymundo Sanchez will force you to feel and experience some of what he did!! Extremely commmendable- I wish there were more books like this.

I hate to give bad reviews to anyone else's hard work because one's relationship to art is essentially subjective. I just feel compelled to give an honest review in the case of this book. This story is not very well written. It is really difficult to find anything satisfying about this story and charcters at all. I was looking for a book to use for an adult literacy class. Sadly, this book is not it. The descriptions given by the narrator are lifeless retellings of horrible violence in strictly temporal terms. It was somewhat boring in that the characters were superficial and difficult to care about and the actions lacked purpose. Perhaps reviewers here viewed the story through a different lense than mine. Like I said, art is subjective. Unfortunately, I live and work with the horrible distruction described in the book, and the narrator does little than describe and profit from the destruction. Again, I'm sorry for writing anything negative. I just want to recommend that anyone looking to use this book for educational purposes should think about trying another book.

I hate to give bad reviews to anyone else's hard work because one's relationship to art is essentially subjective. I just feel compelled to give an honest review in the case of this book. This story is not very well written. It is really difficult to find anything satisfying about this story and charcters at all. I was looking for a book to use for an adult literacy class. Sadly, this book is not it. The descriptions given by the narrator are lifeless retellings of horrible violence in strictly temporal terms. It was somewhat boring in that the characters were superficial and difficult to care about and the actions lacked purpose. Perhaps reviewers here viewed the story through a different lense than mine. Like I said, art is subjective. Unfortunately, I live and work with the horrible distruction described in the book, and the narrator does little than describe and profit from the destruction. Again, I'm sorry for writing anything negative. I just want to recommend that anyone looking to use this book for educational purposes should think about trying another book.

This is a well-written book that deserves to be well-read. Told in autobiographical style, it helped me understand gang culture much more deeply than I did before.

This is an extremely graphic story, but we can't shield our youth from a reality that many already experience in some form or another. I would definitely consider using selections from this book with my high school students during our study of gangs. Although the author in no way intends to glorify gang-life I can't help but wonder if some younger readers might walk away from this book without fully absorbing the dangers associated with all of the author's activities--not just his explicitly violent acts.

The author doesn't provide any easy answers but if you read between the lines the implications are clear: Urban areas need job programs, expanded youth activities leagues, increased education funding and community policing/anti-police brutality programs. Rather than clipping at the branches, we need to deal with the roots of gangs and gang violence.