Dirty Little Angels [Paperback]

Chris Tusa (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2009

Set in the slums of New Orleans, among clusters of crack houses and abandoned buildings, Dirty Little Angels is the story of sixteen year old Hailey Trosclair. When the Trosclair family suffers a string of financial hardships and a miscarriage, Hailey finds herself looking to God to save her family. When her prayers go unanswered, Hailey puts her faith in Moses Watkins, a failed preacher and ex-con. Fascinated by Moses's lopsided view of religion, Hailey, and her brother Cyrus, begin spending time down at an abandoned bank that Moses plans to convert into a drive-through church. Gradually, though, Moses's twisted religious beliefs become increasingly more violent, and Hailey and Cyrus soon find themselves trapped in a world of danger and fear from which there may be no escape.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If I had a dollar for every sentence in Dirty Little Angels that blew my mind, I'd be able to buy a decent Chevy Nova outright. Christopher Tusa is a new and powerful voice in American fiction, and I truly believe that this raw and poetic first novel marks the beginning of a great and glorious career. --Donald Ray Pollock, author of Knockemstiff

"Dirty Little Angels is the To Kill a Mockingbird of 2009. Chris Tusa's novel marks the debut of a brave new voice in contemporary American literature." --Burl Barer, Edgar Award winning author of The Saint, Mom Said Kill, Body Count, Murder in the Family

Review

Listen up, folks: Chris Tusa has written a nasty little novel that somehow lifts close to grace its downtrodden and sometimes blackhearted inhabitants. They're fallen and broken, but like the New Orleans through which they stagger and flail, they are lovely ruins-and like New Orleans they are only one storm away from the End Times. Witness the storm, as told by Tusa: Dirty Little Angels.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 147 pages
• Publisher: Livingston Press (AL) (March 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604890304
• ISBN-13: 978-1604890303
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (211 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,194,593 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chris Tusa was born and raised in New Orleans. His work has appeared in Connecticut Review, Texas Review, Prairie Schooner, The New Delta Review, South Dakota Review, Southeast Review, Passages North, Spoon River, New York Quarterly, Louisiana Literature, Tar River, StorySouth, and others. He has studied under a number of notable writers, including Tim Gautreaux, Sidney Wade, and Debora Gregor. With the help of a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, he was able to complete his first chapbook of poetry, Inventing an End. His debut collection of poems, Haunted Bones, was published by Louisiana Literature Press in 2006. His debut novel, Dirty Little Angels, will be released by The University of West Alabama this April. He holds a B.A. in English, an M.A in English, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Florida. Aside from teaching in the English Department at LSU, he also acts as Managing Editor for Poetry Southeast.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Realistic and Down to Earth, January 8, 2011

By 

Arador (North Eastern USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dirty Little Angels (Paperback)

I enjoyed reading this book. Though it was dark and depressing it portrayed the harsh realities of inner city life. I felt that the author did a good job of writing from a 16 year old girl's perspective. The broken family and determination of the children to struggle through for something better had me rooting for them to succeed. The book was well paced and easy to read. Tulsa keeps the reader intrigued and wanting to find out what happens next.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling- but no happy endings here!, January 26, 2010

By 

Julia (East Coast) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Dirty Little Angels (Paperback)

Dirty Little Angels by Chris Tusa is not an ordinary novel, it is gritty and sends many messages to the reader. The story is told from the view point of a young girl in the American South. We have Hailey Trosclair, raised by a father who is burdened with unemployment and a mother who is too preoccupied with being miserable. Hailey is forced to endure real life lessons outside of the house- things as mundane as death and shallow as popularity.

Tusa's writing style is magnificent. It is confrontational and the metaphors are haunting. (After my Kindle charges I will have to come back and include some!) The characters will try to justify their actions, both good and bad, through God. I found myself constantly saying, "No! Don't do that!" and wishing that someone would take the narrator away from everything she had to deal with. I can't relate to the characters, they're needy and selfish. That being said, I still enjoyed them and their sad realities.

Talk about a dysfunctional family. Mom? Depressed. Dad? Alcoholic. Brother? Trouble maker. Geesh, where does that leave Hailey? No wonder she is engrossed with herself. Let me just say that this book really made me thankful for the environment I grew up in.

Some have compared this novel to classics such as "To Kill a Mocking Bird." I totally don't think this will be a classic by any means, but the author does tell a compelling story. I just wish he would have given his story more time- it's a little under 200 pages. This isn't a book I will be quick to forget. If you're looking for a happy ending, don't pick up this book... otherwise, go for it. It's a quick, solid read that will take you on one helluva ride.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, December 4, 2009

By 

debra niven "deb" (usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dirty Little Angels (Paperback)

I read this book with a bit of trepidation. From the description I was intrigued by the characters, but I had a feeling the story would not have a happy ending. As soon as I was done reading the book I thought to myself; "Well, I knew it wouldn't be pretty, I don't know why I read it". As I sat there pondering what I had just read, I realized how much I had come to care about the main character, a teen named Hailey. The author did a great job of drawing the reader into her life and into the thought processes going on in her head. I was drawn into her life through the first person telling of the story. Even though Hailey is fictional teen she represents many teens all over the country that have been basically forgotten in life's struggles. Families have difficulties, circumstances jack you around, and unless you want to always be a victim, you need to take your destiny into your own hands. This is what Hailey did at the end of the story.
While her choices of how to take control of her life may have been unusual, she finally understood she had to make those choices on her own. In spite of the sad circumstances and choices she may have made, she was finally taking what little control of her life that she could. In that respect I liked the ending, because she made that decision and acted on it, even though it was in a different way than you would have guessed.