I was amused by a comment Rechy made about the writing of the novel: revised 12+ times to make it appear spontaneous. That reworking created a tight structure in what otherwise could be a string of episodes. Each episode has tension building, building, then resolution, as does the whole. The resolution of the whole is appropriate to the narrator, who is also the main character, the hustler. Rechy creates vivid characters, most of whom readers can care about, even readers who might not normally care about hustlers and their scores.

Symbols and themes are introduced early and carried throughout, along with the narrator's changing reflections on various encounters. (That character through line worked better, i.e., more fully, when I could remember the scene where a character had first appeared.) The wind, dust, child gazing out a window at life, cages, and death functioned in a cumulative way toward the narrator's resolution. 

The novel deserves its place as a classic.