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The Street by Ann Petry

This is a great book if you have the patience to appreciate it. Petry's imagery through rich description is unlike any book I've read before. Her opening scene alone makes the book worthy of reading. An omniscient perspective allows the reader to understand the motivations of many different characters, but it's Lutie Johnson - the book's protagonist - whose voice is the most captivating. A young, beautiful, black single mother trying desperately to save her young son from a life that has been designated to most of the black population: an endless circle of poverty and the weight of white oppression. Unfortunately, the reader is well aware that Lutie's fight against the street will not end in victory.