Ivan Sanchez : Next Stop Growing up WildStyle in the Bronx - official book release party

Next Stop: Growing Up Wild-Style in the Bronx.

Sanchez, Ivan (Author)

Oct 2008. 240 p. Touchstone, paperback, $14.00. (9781416562672). 974.7.

"There was no room for a conscience in the streets. Only the strong survived." Growing up in a Puerto

Rican neighborhood in the Bronx in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Sanchez attended Catholic high school

While narrowly escaping prison and death in street wars with drug dealers, killers, graffiti artists, car

Thieves and stickup kids. Now a college graduate, he works a computer job in Virginia Beach and

Is devoted to his wife and two daughters. But this memoir is not about how he made it out; it's about

What happened while he was there. Each chapter portrays an episode of brutal neighborhood violence, such

As when his "Godfather" is assassinated. Fans of the Mafia movie and of the TV series The Sopranos will

Recognize the matter-of-fact violence laced with sweetness and heartbreak. Occasional photos show the

Roofs and alleyways where Sanchez and his gang hung out in the "wild wild west of New York City."

Readers will want a sequel, not about more fights, but about the struggle to break free.

- Hazel Rochman

I look forward to celebrating this occasion with all of you on October, 11, 2008. Please RSVP no later than September 19, 2008 by clicking here: ivan@isanchez.com Or call & leave a message at 757.271.6555 with your name and number of guests. Please limit guests to + 1 or 2 as we are expecting a packed house.

- Ivan Sanchez