Streets of Rage is a coming-of-age novel by Easy Waters, the literary pen name of William Eric Waters. Set primarily in 1970s Brooklyn, the novel explores race, family, community, violence, friendship, identity, and the pressures shaping young Black life.
About the Novel
The novel follows Cedric Carpenter as he attempts to understand himself and the world around him. Personal development unfolds within a wider environment shaped by neighborhood life, racial identity, family expectations, social pressure, violence, and competing ideas about belonging and manhood.
Within Waters’s larger body of work, Streets of Rage brings recurring concerns into fiction: the relationship between individual choice and social environment, the effects of violence on families and communities, and the possibility of growth amid difficult circumstances.
Major Themes
- Coming of age and identity
- Race and young Black life
- Family, community, friendship, and belonging
- Violence and its consequences
- Choice, environment, and personal growth
- Brooklyn as social landscape
Reviews and Author Commentary
Ezwwaters.com preserves both contemporary reception and the author’s later reflections on the novel. Read Isa Rock’s review of Streets of Rage, the author’s early reflections on the novel, and Streets of Rage Redux.
Publication Details
Author: Easy Waters
Genre: Novel / coming-of-age fiction
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication: February 2015
Paperback: 180 pages
ISBN-10: 1496968271
ISBN-13: 9781496968272
Also known as: William Eric Waters
William Eric Waters, aka Easy Waters 