After finding such a novel as, Always Running, by Luis J. Rodriguez, I can definitely say that I felt a sense of 'relief.' It is usually very difficult for me to find a book that I can relate to and identify myself with. When I look for books by Chicano authors, my results are slim to none. So when I heard of Always Running, I was skeptical to believe that this book would be realistic to what really goes on in the Chicano environment- good and bad. But after I read the first few pages of its epilogue in which he wrote about his motive for writing the novel, his son's involvement in a gang and his worries, I immediately felt a connection, and could not put the book down. I read it in less than a day, and it automatically became my favorite book.
             This story is an autobiography and transcends from Luis Rodriguez being a young boy to a troubled teenager. Throughout the beginning, he is faced with overwhelming problems, discrimination against himself and his family, and also poverty. He was a shy kid who wasn't defensive, until one day some older kids ganged up on him. It was that day that changed him for good, because he then learned about how to defend himself, and how good it made him feel to win. After that, no one wanted to mess with him, and he began to gain respect in his neighborhood.
             Time then passed by, and by the tender age of 18, he was already a tough young adult that had gone through experiences that most people three times his age had never even imagined. He had been in a gang as early as age 11, he had also witnessed police murders, homicides, suicides, drug overdoses, violence, and lust. He himself had become a drug addict, and was one step away from dying of an overdose. He was slowly becoming the stereo-typical 'Chicano gangster.'
             When it came to his education, he was kicked out of schools in numerous occasions. It was not because of lack of intelligence, bec
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