The Street Audiobook By Ann Petry, Tayari Jones - introduction cover art

The Street

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The Street

By: Ann Petry, Tayari Jones - introduction
Narrated by: Danielle Deadwyler
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The classic urban tale of a young Black woman's struggle to raise her son alone amid the violence, poverty, and racial dissonance of 1940s Harlem.

©2020 Ann Petry, Tayari Jones (P)2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt African American Classics Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Emotionally Gripping African American Literature Fiction

Featured Article: Classic Literature from Black Writers, Performed by Black Narrators


Despite the many great works of literature by great Black writers, Black voices have had a hard time entering "the canon." Worse, there have been times when Black words were miscast and read by narrators who didn't connect with the spirit of the authors. To help rectify this, we offer our careful selection of classics by Black authors performed by gifted Black actors that truly deserve to be recognized, celebrated, and savored.

Featured Article Classic Literature from Black Writers Performed by Black Narrators
Beautiful Writing • Engaging Storyline • Excellent Narration • Vivid Descriptions • Relevant Social Commentary
Highly rated for:
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Most relevant  
I was surprised at how the themes and experiences of the characters are still relevant and so many today. Particularly in the inner city.

Still relevant

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Powerful novel which unfortunately articulates the terrible and unjust life of a black women just trying to make it in Harlem NY. One wonders if it Is the street that causes the problems or are the people of 116th street the cause of the torments.

The story is excellent the characters are memorable

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Ann Petry was a true literary artist. The word pictures, emotions, and history she relays and crafts are incredibly felt in every moment of this masterpiece. Her writing style is art. Even though this is a tragic story, you can't help but appreciate the importance and gravity of every bit of anguish. And even in the face of defeat you are rooting for their future survival and success.

fantastically written tragic history

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A well written story detecting the life of a black person who is struggling to make a living for herself and her son.

Life as a poor person

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I love how descriptive the author was. the character building and scene description was superb 👌.

Character building excellent

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Classic story, super engaging, with commentary about poverty still relevant today. Ann Pertry’s artistry, though, is what shines most. Performance by Danielle Deadwiler is about as close to perfect as you’ll find. A great listen.

Engaging and well performed.

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Best audiobook that I have listened to. Incredibly written and beautifully performed. What a wonderful find

Beautiful

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First of all, Danielle Deadwyler is an incredible actress and she holds nothing back in this reading. That said, the book itself is pure genius and walks the line between finding a heroic and tragic heroine and ending. Instead, we are shown an incredible look through the fictional experiences of these characters who embody so much of the struggles that a single African American mother living in the 1940’s experienced. Her writing is just pure joy to read/listen to, and shows her to be an under appreciated powerhouse author who writes in 3 dimensional fiction that while being enjoyable on its own, is even more incredible when you see her talent in bringing in a novel idea which simultaneously gives the reader a glimpse into a struggle that is still going on to this day.

Phenomenal

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I throughly enjoyed this book. The unsettling part about this book is that African Americans continue to have the same struggles Ms.Petry wrote about in 1946. It's like the black man and woman continue to be at odds with each other in order to survive in America.

This is Amerikka

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My heart aches for Luttie and Bub Johnson. She tried to do her best while raising her son as a black single mother. Until a series of misfodtunate events took place. I was not prepared for the ending.

A riveting story about a black single mom

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