Perspective

The book is written in first person from Luis's perspective. The point of view is greatly limited and may leave the reader wanting details that simply aren't included. For example, Luis points out that he's seeing a girl who claims to have been pregnant. The reader doesn't learn what happened to her because Luis doesn't know.

The majority of the book is written in past tense, but the author lapses occasionally into present tense. For example, in chapter three Luis talks about being in jail at the Temple City sheriff's office. In this brief scene, he describes the fact that officers openly say that they pick up any seventeen-year-old male in the neighborhood so that by the time they're in any real trouble, they have a record and will face tougher sentences. Louis says that the police are nothing more than a gang, that the gangs have given...