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Apr 15, 2008

Elizabeth rated it:

"Bodega Dreams" is one of those books that don't have a catchy cover, however as you start reading the first pages the book drives you into wanting to read more and more. It cought my attention due to the fact that it talks bout how it all started back in high school when sapo and chino became friends,which I'm in right now it shows how high school memories were meanful to both . Throughout the book the character(chino) grows into a complete different character. From a imature teen i More...

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Oct 05, 2008

Kate rated it:

This is a wonderful story -- and great to use in the NYC classroom, as students many students will be able to relate to the cultural issues of East Harlem. Allusions to THE GREAT GATSBY made me a bit weary at first, but this novel questions what we assume about crime and justice continually, hitting on some of the same pivotal issues that Fitzgerald captured. It has great colloquial language and pushes the reader to consider the central question: "You may be able to take the man out of East More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 26, 2011

Billy rated it:

Speaking from a fan's perspective, Bodega dreams' urban cast of first generation Puerto Rican Americans kept me on the edge of seat. I couldn't put this book down it read more like behind the scenes documentary on the underbelly of urban crime and romance than the norm of an unaffected young adult drama. The plight of unrequited love borrows more from Gabriel García Márquez in substance than what I'd expect from a book recommended to me by my sister.

As Quinonez commonly refers to site More...

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Mar 15, 2011

Brian rated it:

Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez, romance, drugs, crime, infidelity. Chino, the protagonist of the book, has trouble with paying bills and with a child coming soon, he needs more room. Willie Bodega, has the answers to that, though there are consequences. Spanish Harlem is where all the crime is taking place. Chino is insecure, uses lies to cover up, and Sapo, his best friend, takes advantage of him, by making him carry drugs for him, and ultimately Bodega. Blanca is Chino's wife, and every guy More...

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Nov 13, 2009

Keith L rated it:

The book that I am currently going to talk about is possibly one of the books I will read in my high school years. As a sophomore, I have to learn how to expand my reading and this book is a benchmark of my expansion.
This book is about a young man named Julio, living in Spanish Harlem. He tells reminiscent stories as background towards the real climax of the book. After he finds a woman and an apartment, he still needs to help to lifetime buddy, Sapo. Sapo was always a negative influence More...

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Feb 04, 2010

Abraham rated it:

When it comes to trying to get up in the world, and being behind all of the illegal business that goes on in our local communities, Bodega Dreams deals with that issue. The major issues are being powerful, having rights, and being successful in life. The big theme is if you want to succeed in life it's up to you to make that dream into a reality.This book reminds me of The Great Gatsby only in Bodega Dreams its based in the Spanish Harlem Neighborhood.I really like this book because its not one More...

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Nov 26, 2008

LisaRose rated it:

I am trying so hard to figure out Bodega Dreams. Oscar Quinonez created a work with multiple layers and textures but I am unsure if it is all smoke and mirrors. Ranging from, "Yeah, I know guys like that," to characters who are caricatures, Quinonez populates his first novel with peeps from the hood with dubious motivations and labyrinthine connections. These characters develop unevenly through the course of the novel and as the convoluted plot line unravels, they make choices that More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 05, 2009

Indigo rated it:

This is a really great book. It's definately meant for adults, because it can be kind of vulgar at times, but it's well written and interesting. It's about a Willie Bodega, a man who is using drug money to "rebuild" Spanish Harlem. He has dreams of uplifting the people of Spanish Harlem and making it a better place. It's also a love story about him and a woman named Vera who he fell in love with when he was young, but she moved to Miami and he just had to push his love aside and de More...

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Dec 16, 2011

Carol rated it:

This a beautifully written story about Spanish Harlem, that has been compared to Great Gatsby. The story is told by a young man, Chino, who was married to a cousin of Vera, the woman Willie had been in love with for 20 years, since he was in high school. Vera could be compared to Daisy, Gatsby's love and like Jay Gatsby Willie Bodega was a self made man. He came from the barrio and earned his money the old way, with drugs and gambling, but dreamed big and was very generous with the people in hi More...

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May 20, 2010

Corin rated it:

Chino, an ordinary resident of El Barrio and a Hunter College student, gets tangled in the aspirations of a small time East Harlem mob. Some interesting things about the book are: 1) masculine criminal characters always seem to have a sentimental side, 2) the national struggle, deferred dreams and pride of Puerto Ricans/American immigrants are played out in the neighborhood politics; 3) the author has an excellent ear for dialogue of the streets and Spanglish mixed together. Add to that the way More...

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Apr 25, 2011

Coralie added it

A quick and easy read. Chino is newly married, with a baby on the way, when his best friend pulls him into a relationship with a Puerto Rican mobster named "Bodega". Although Bodega finances his enterprises selling drugs and running numbers rackets, he uses his ill acquired gains to help other Puerto Ricans in Spanish Harlem, helping them go to college and renovating apartments to give them good places to live. Chino's wife, Blanca, doesn't approve of Chino's association with Bodega More...

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Aug 30, 2011

Oriana rated it:

I can honestly say I really enjoyed Bodega Dreams. Not only was I so interested that i wasn't burdened to read it, but I found myself relating to many themes within the book. It was a light read and the characters were engaging. I found myself really identifying with their desires to come out of the stereotypical standards set for minorities in certain communities. The name struck me as funny in the beginning, but towards the end I found its dynamic symbolism very satisfying. Quinonez did a wond More...

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Feb 08, 2011

Heather rated it:

This is a brilliantly crafted, character driven novel that moves at a break neck speed, crashing into a completely unexpected ending. Protagonist Chino recounts his experience with Willie Bodega, the neighborhood savior with a whole lot of dirty business. Quinonez presents us with multiple experiences of life in the barrio, from the streets to school, from interpersonal relationships to the larger community. Street crime and cultural love intertwine here, with a novel that looks at the immigrant More...

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Jun 14, 2011

Aaron rated it:

I personally thought that this was a great book, it was able to express a twisted crime - love lifestyle that seemed quite simple. This book can interest anybody to be honest, it seems like it would be a "typical" power struggle in the neighborhood of Harlem, but it ends up being about love which is weird... in my opinion because it leaves out a few things (everything comes together only in the end). The book is not too difficult, it has a few spanish words here and there but it'll be More...

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Feb 01, 2010

David rated it:

Quiñonez creates a place in this novel that is so real, so vivid, that I just keep turning it over in my hands and touching it as I read. The description is marvelous, but even more than that his characters flesh out the place further by being the people who could only be in that place. The novel is worth reading for that alone, though the story is a good one as well. I'm almost reminded of Gatsby in a strange sort of way. This story has the same music of human hope, though it's own notes and More...

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Jan 08, 2008

Nicole rated it:

This was a pretty good read. It is the story of a young Latino growing up in East Harlem. He is able (or perhaps forced) to walking the fine line between getting ahead through his education and the life he is building with his very religious wife or through his involvement in the shadier sides of neighborhood business where success comes quicker but with more moral dilemmas.

The story was interesting and the writer's writing style was easy to read, even though it was heavily laced w More...

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Oct 27, 2011

Maria rated it:

Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez was a very interesting book . Bodega Dreams is told in Chino's point of view about the things that happen when he meets and becomes acquainted with a drug lord Bodega .Chino tells how Bodega is trying to fix up Spanish Harlem by renovating buildings and giving jobs to the community .Bodega always says that he was doing it for the community but it wasn't for the community at all . I loved this book because there was a lot of dialogue and also because it has and e More...

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Mar 31, 2009

Julie rated it:

This is a gritty novel about a young couple trying to go straight in East Harlem. The hero of the title, Bodega, is a Robin Hood type character who uses money from his drug dealing to renovate housing, pay tuition and healthcare for needy folks in the neighborhood. He is duped by his sleazy attorney and accomplice and he and many others are dead at the end of the tale. This is a rather simple tale and except for the protaganist the characters are two dimensional and predictable.

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Apr 05, 2011

Franchesca rated it:

This is about a young man, chino, who is trying live up to multiple roles at once, the college student, the friend who is always there, a good husband to a very religious woman, Blanca, all while maintaining his sanity through all the ups and downs the characters in the book take him. I thought this book to be funny, real and full of possible scenarios such as his friend who defended him as a kid so he would not get beat up and how his friend always reminds him what he did for him to get him to More...

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Mar 04, 2011

Meg rated it:

I grabbed this book off of my classroom bookshelf. I don't know how it got there, but it was and it had an intriguing title. Grabbed it for the plane ride to SF and enjoyed it immensely when I got home (spent too much time reading magazines!)

Story is of a young man and his life in Spanish Harlem. There is a drug lord, a best friend who is messed up in selling drugs, a Pentecostal wife, baby on the way, crazy sister-in-law....and a love affair. With a shock...this would be perfect for More...

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May 09, 2010

Demetri rated it:

I thought the book was very good. It kept me very intrested that i couldnt put the book down. I liked discussig the book because it always left me guessing on what was going to happen next which I kind of got right but not completley. It was sad in the end when Bodega died because he was so important to his people but he left good examples for others to replace him. This book is probably one of my favorites because it was so good.

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May 09, 2010

Emmanuel rated it:

Bodega dreams. Man this book going through going through the life of a man named Julio Marcado (if I spelled it right) with a man named Willie Bodega who chaned his life. After I finished reading this book I thought to myself man what a great book. I thought twothings when it finished, 1: is it a true story and 2: THIS WOULD MAKE AN AWESOME MOVIE. I really liked this book even if some characters talk too much.

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Apr 21, 2009

David rated it:

This book takes place in spanish harlem. chino the main character is a thug he has a lot of respect in the streets. most people are careful to pick a fight with him. He mostly likes to be around trouble until this girl comes around to change his lifestyle. this book is split into 2 parts the first part is boring but important. But the second part is really good the end left me in shock. In my top 3 books.

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Nov 04, 2009

Keyeara rated it:

This book was completly amazing. Coming in to 11th grade i was happy that this was the book that Kim choose for the whole class reading. Each charcter is in important in thier onw way. Chino and Bodega were the main characters. The main thing we focused on in theis book is empowerment and expolting. It opend my eyes and shoed me who other people action can affect their universe of obligation.

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Apr 29, 2009

Devin added it

Is empowering one's self by exploiting a few members of the community justifiable? If, so this is a book for you. Willie Bodega seeks to reach his dream of boosting the social class of the Hispanic community in East Harlem. He does so by giving jobs and providing housin & education to people in the struggle. However, he makes all this money to finance these favors by being a major drug lord.

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May 05, 2010

Kristy rated it:

I THOUGHT THE BOOK WAS FUN TO READ! It was easy to get into especially if your familiar with the area in which the book takes place. Although the book is a novel I can totally see this happening in real life, like the way the characters struggle on a daily basis they struggle among themselevs and dealing with the neighborhood. Over all a very good book I would recommend it to anyone.

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Jun 16, 2009

Michael rated it:

Growing up in NYC in 70's & 80's. i related to this book. I did not grow up in spanish harlem like the main character, but grew up in the park slope/ sunset park sections of brooklyn which at the the time was mainly hispanic.for those fortunate to remember those long hot summer days of hangin on the stoop,playing handball & fistfights in the street, this will be a good read.

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Oct 02, 2011

Kimberly is currently reading it

i like this book so far its interesting about how life for hispanics in spanish harlem was back then , i like how theres no holding back and its so real . enrique (sapo) is a very interesting character he doesn't care about anything and dropped out of school , julio (chino) is his best friend unlike sapo he did graduate got married and is now waiting on a baby , but even though chino is successful he didn't forget about sapo and i believe thats a good friend right there .

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May 09, 2010

Ciara rated it:

I really loved this book i though the characters were very intresting, there was alot to explore with the hiostoric truth and also the culture of the book was rich also it had alot of twists and turns in it that plot so much more intresting and the book really captures you and you get intangled in the characters decisions and you freel lik ur there with him.

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Oct 10, 2009

Sarah rated it:

When I read Shirley, by Charlotte Bronte, in college we discussed the big problem with the industrial novel: the "problem of the working class" aspect of the novel is always tied to some sort of romantic plot and inevitably, come the end, the romance is resolved (marriage!) and the problem of the worker, not so surprisingly, remains unsolved. Thus do industrial novels always tend to be artistically not so satisfying.

Bodega Dreams, however, is a novel with a social conscienc More...

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