Lady Q: The Rise and Fall of a Latin Queen

by Sonia Rodríguez and Reymundo Sánchez

Book Overview

Offering a rarely seen female perspective on gang life, this raw and powerful memoir tells not only of one woman's struggle to survive the streets but also of her ascent to the top ranks of the new mafia, where the only people more dangerous than rival gangs were members of her own. At age 5 Sonia Rodriguez's stepfather began to abuse her; at 10 she was molested by her uncle and beaten by her mother when she told on him; and by 13 her home had...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569762856
• ISBN13: 9781569762851
• Release Date: July 2010
• Publisher: Chicago Review Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Loved it

Read it for yourselves!!!

inspiring story for tough kids

I bought this book as a gift for a fifteen year olg girl who struggles to keep gangs out of her life. She loved it and says it reminds her stay strong and keep her goals in front of her. I would recommend it as a gift for junio high or high school girls.

Great book on female gangs.

One of the best true life female gang books I have read. It was one of the few books I couldn't put down until it was completed!

Why Do Children Join Gangs?

I was less than halfway through the book when I realized a sad fact; I was no longer shocked! The terrible things happening to the protagonist were becoming too common in the story. It seems as though her life couldn't be anything BUT abusive. This isn't a story of the "downward spiral"; it's someone born into the "spiral." This girl is sexually abused by her uncle, then her cousin, and when she tells her mother about the molestation, she gets beaten. When that happened, I was no longer shocked that she got involved in gangs. This was a child who had no advocate, no supportive parent, and nobody really cared. If she'd told her teachers what was going on, what would they have done? This was an era when child molestation wasn't taken as seriously as it is now. This girl had nowhere to turn to but the gangs. "Lady Q" is not terribly well-written, but it doesn't need to be. This is a story that all teachers and social workers should read, if you want to understand why kids get involved in gangs from an early age. Gangs aren't anything like the ones portrayed in "West Side Story." Kids don't join gangs because of racism and poverty; they join because it's a substitute for family and it gives them a sense of power.

Jacqueline's Review of Lady Q

"As they passed Juan, he pulled off his belt and began swinging. The girls dropped the bags of laundry and took off running. Sonia unfortunately, tripped over the bags which Jasmin had been carrying and fell. Juan towered over her and began to whip her with his belt. Sonia's screams where so loud they could be heard blocks away, and a crowd soon gathered. Both children and adults witnessed this public whipping, but no one called the police." In this great easy to read book, you run into a character named Sonia. Since before the age of six Sonia was physically abused by her stepfather and mother and sexually abused by both her uncle and cousin before the age of ten. Sonia tried to tell her mother, but every time she said anything she would get closed fist punches in her face and was called a liar. Sonia was not a bad child; she always did what her mother told her. She suffered from years of unreasonable beatings from both stepfather and mother, and never had friends to count on. The only people close to her age were her sisters. There was one in particular though, her name was Vivian. Vivian always hung out with the wrong crowd, the very famous Latin Kings. They where always at Sonia's house, so she had no other choice but to socialize with them. At first she would just help another gang known as the Ylo-d's with their dance moves. She had good taste for music and was very good at creating dance moves for particular songs. Later she began to be very well known to the other people that had gang affiliation. So Sonia began to make friends with the very powerful Latin Kings. Sonia was really tough when it came to taking insults from others, so when it came to taking beatings it wouldn't be such a big deal. When Sonia was finally initiated into the gang, her life begins to take a turn for the worst, but not to her. Sonia begins to grow within the gang. She begins to take parts in big hits on rebel gangs, and when it comes to beating someone up, it's all up to her. The anger towards her parents is what made her seem so tough and a really good fighter. After Sonia becomes the queen of all Kings, she gets invited by a friend to attend a TV show and she decides to go and let herself be known by allowing her real and gang name appear on the screen. That's something that the gang did not approve of. The events that took place during the show force Sonia to run away from the only real home she had, the streets. Then Sonia decides to leave to Pennsylvania to live with her mom's sister. There she meets her second cousin named Pedro, and they become intimately involved, which results into her getting pregnant. After the baby is born, her life takes a turn for the worst. Nobody would expect such a powerful gangbanger to end up the way she does. The thing that surprises me the most is that she always finds a way to pick herself up without anybodies help. That's why I loved reading t

Incredible book, chilling, will bring tears to your eyes, sonia's story must be read!!

Never could i imagined being in Sonia's shoes. The pain she endured during her life was painful and hard to believe. I can't believe she lived a life like that. While she told her story of being an abused child, unloved and unwanted, I just wanted to reach through the pages in the book, give her a hug, and rescue her from her painful life. This book is definitley a must read for anyone who is thinking about gang-life. And even if your not thinking about gang life, it's an incredible, heartbreaking story that people must read.