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The Street Audiobook
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(4.00) - 1,670 listener ratings
Publisher Description
With a new introduction from New York Times best-selling author Tayari Jones, The Street was Ann Petry's first novel, originally published in 1946 and hailed by critics as a masterwork.
The Street tells the poignant, often heartbreaking story of Lutie Johnson, a young black woman, and her spirited struggle to raise her son amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of Harlem in the late 1940s.
Lutie is confronted by racism, sexism, and classism on a daily basis in her pursuit of the American dream for herself and her son, Bub. Lutie fully subscribes to the belief that if she follows the adages of Benjamin Franklin by working hard and saving wisely, she will be able to achieve the dream of being financially independent.
The first novel by an African-American woman to sell more than a million copies, its haunting tale still resonates today.
“Petry is the writer we have been waiting for; hers are the stories we need to fully illuminate the questions of our moment, while also offering a page-turning good time. Ann Petry, the woman, had it all, and so does her insightful, prescient and unputdownable prose.”—Tayari Jones, New York Times Book Review
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"This book definitely has some problems--there's a sort of repetition of the same details over and over without giving them any new meaning that drove me crazy for a while--but it's also pretty devastating and made me cry, which is really the criterion by which I judge most books. And the social criticism as nearly as applicable today as it was when Petry wrote the book 60 years ago. Scary."
— Matt (4 out of 5 stars)
The Street Listener Reviews
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" Completely undervalued work. Petry is comparable to Virginia Wolfe in detail, and a master of emotion. "
— Regina, 2/17/2014 -
" All I have to say is this - if at any time you feel the need to stop reading this book - keep reading! The end of the book was sooo sad, I just didn't see it turning out that way. That's all I'm saying... "
— Angela, 2/14/2014 -
" I really liked this book about a black woman with a son trying to make it on her own. "
— Mary, 2/1/2014 -
" A vivid and quite depressing view into what it was like to live as a single African American mother in 1940s New York. "
— Jamie, 1/24/2014 -
" The rawness of Richard Wright, the wisdom of Toni Morrison. First read in 1970s and never Ann Petry. "
— Rosemari, 1/21/2014 -
" A product that is really a reflective piece on the Harlem Renaissance coming in the 1950s. Really liked the female perspective on the race problem as well as underlying gender issues that came along with that. "
— Kristin, 1/18/2014 -
" I just couldn't stay with this one. I'm over half done and it's just so dark with so many grotesque characters it was way too depressing to finish. I probably wouldn't have read as much as I did, but didn't have anything else new in the house to read. "
— Cheryl, 1/1/2014 -
" Deeply moving, tragic portrayal of one woman's life in Harlem in the 1940s as she attempts to rise from poverty and oppression to make a better life for herself and her son. "
— Phoebe, 12/18/2013 -
" Seriously...one of the GREATEST books I have ever read. So tragic, and RELEVANT to all Blacks living in all great metropolis of America. I definitely will revisit this novel again in the future. Highly recommend to all! "
— Jacq, 12/9/2013 -
" This book really infiltrated my psyche while I was reading it. Very compelling. "
— Rachel, 11/12/2013 -
" Great book. Depressing along the lines of An American Tragedy. Put me in a bleak mood, but still a very worthwhile read. "
— April, 11/9/2013 -
" This book's amazing! A black woman's struggle to survive racism and sexism in 1960's Harlem... "
— Veronica, 9/22/2013 -
" Haunting and heartbreaking because it all could have happened, has happened, and is happening...everywhere. Why must there be for so many people so much drudgery, pain, poverty, judgment, despair, hate, hopelessness, and the muted horror of confronting the deceptively simple act of existing? "
— Ruthie, 8/14/2013 -
" Read this book in college--harrowing, bleak, emotional. And amazing. "
— Arnold, 7/26/2013 -
" *LFPC read for April 2012. 3.75 stars "
— Dream, 7/25/2013 -
" This story just overtook my emotions. I cannot think of anything critical to say about the structure or even the content, as I was just swept away by the plot and the characters. "
— Karli, 7/3/2013 -
" Really good, all about a single black woman trying to provide for her son in NY in the late 40s. "
— Katie, 6/6/2013 -
" The ending ruined the whole book. Moreover, I had a hard time connecting with the protagonist- Lutie Johnson. She was too prissy for my taste. "
— Michelle, 5/29/2013 -
" I'd be interested in what other people think of this. It is a 1946 tale of a single mother raising a son in Harlem. So of it is cumbersome, but some of the imagery is great. "
— Joyce, 5/22/2013 -
" I loved this book; it felt raw and real. "
— Wendy, 4/29/2013 -
" Social Realist slice of life as a single mother tries to keep it all together. Excellent novel. "
— Ryan, 3/14/2013 -
" Equal parts horribly discouraging and irrepressibly wonderful. "
— Eve, 2/11/2013
About the Authors
Ann Petry (1908–1997), a black novelist and short-story writer, was one of America’s most distinguished authors. Her first published story appeared in 1943 in Crisis, a magazine published monthly by the NAACP. Her first novel, The Street, was published in 1946 and earned her the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship. She wrote two more novels as well as numerous short stories, articles, and children’s books.
Tayari Jones is the author of the novels Silver Sparrow, Leaving Atlanta, The Untelling, and An American Marriage, a New York TImes bestseller. Silver Sparrow was named a #1 Indie Next Pick by booksellers in 2011, and the NEA added it to its Big Read Library of classics in 2016. Her writing has appeared in Tin House, the Believer, the New York Times, and Callaloo. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, she has also been a recipient of the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, Lifetime Achievement Award in Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, United States Artist Fellowship, NEA Fellowship, and Radcliffe Institute Bunting Fellowship. She is a graduate of Spelman College, the University of Iowa, and Arizona State University. She is an associate professor in the MFA program at Rutgers-Newark University.
About Danielle Deadwyler
Danielle Deadwyler is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.