Bronx Masquerade

I just finished reading Bronx Masquerade and I loved it. At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like the book at all. I'm not a huge fan of poetry and it seemed like the use of multiple voices was going to be confusing, but after I starting reading, I couldn't put it down. I literally read the entire book in one sitting.
Surprisingly, one of my favorite elements of the book was the use of multiple voices. At times, it was hard to remember who was who and what details went with each voice, but the more I read, the more I liked the challege. It was like a piecing together a puzzle while figuring out who was friends with who and who had a crush on who--it made me an active reader. I was also very impressed how well each voice was developed into a unique character. Even with almost 17 different voices, I really felt like each one was unique and reflected each characters' personal experiences. The wide vareity poetic styles also portrayed the uniqueness of each voices' character.
My favorite voice was definetly Tyrone. Acting as a narractor, Tyrone's voice occured the most throughout the book. I found myself looking forward to his commentary after each piece of poetry. He was honest and supportive of his fellow peers in ways I didn't always expect. A compliment from Tyrone was quite the honor. Throughout his commentaries, he voiced several very poignant thoughts and opinions. His voice seemed to reaffirm the issue the previous voice had just shared in narration and then poetry. For example, when Janelle shared her poem, inside, Tyrone responded saying, "You never think other folks got feelings. Like Janelle. I must've cracked a wise a hundred times about her weight, Never even thought about it. It was just something I did for a laugh. Listening to her now, it don't seem all that funny."
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Bronx Masqurade. I look forward to discussion on Wednesday to talk about this piece of literature and hear other people's opinions and thoughts about this piece of literature.