Customer Reviews

Eve: A Novel

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Eve Panelli is a young hustler that backs down for no one. Since the loss of her parents at an early age, the only family Eve has is her crew the infamous Twenty gang. With two years of prison already under her belt, Eve is now eighteen and back on the streets of Harlem getting money the best way she knows how :strong-arm robbery. In the midst of all of this, she has some strong feelings for her longtime friend and hustler Felon that she doesn't know how to express. But things are not the same on the Harlem streets since Eve has been away. The number one drug supplier the dominant DeNardi family is trying to solidify its presence on these streets through Felon, his right hand man Butter and their crew. Felon and Butter are on top of the world and plan to stay there. But Butter's resentment toward the DeNardi family and his cowboy antics may lead them down a deadly and dangerous road. Things get ugly when Eve's best friend and crime partner Cassidy is killed in the crossfire of this drug war. Eve vows to get revenge and won't let anybody step in her way. She has to not only avenge the death of her best friend, but also the death of her own parents. When the smoke clears, will Eve succeed or will this be a deadly mistake?

Eve is an incredible novel by K'wan. K'wan once again brought a fast-paced storyline that showed the gritty violence of the hustling game. This author showed great creativity in developing the main character Eve and her crew Twenty gang. K'wan showed that even while doing dirt in the streets, Eve was still a woman that can have a softer side. What I liked most about this novel is that Eve was not the average sleep with men for money type female hustler. She was getting her money in the most dangerous way possible with strong-arm robbery. By tapping into the female psyche, K'wan made Eve a believable character which is a true testament to this author's talent. Eve is a riveting, chilling, page-turner that grabs you and won't let go. K'wan once again brought a widely entertaining novel that will satisfy his fans and will gain new ones. With Eve, K'wan proves why he is one of the best urban fiction authors of today and in the years to come.

Man, I read some of these customer reviews don't believe the Hype. man I read this book as well all other Kwan books. This book was hardly a work that shows K'wan's talent. It only showed me that he threw something together in order to keep his name fresh and drop something for '06. The story was extremely predictable. I mean come on K'wan you can do better than this. I don't reccomend you buy this book. I reccomend that you get from the library. It was a days worth of reading but it wasn't something that I would have a discussion about. REAL TALK.

K'wan is one of the best urban writers; one of the few whom I believe could step outside of the genre. He paints a believable picture of hood life, leaving the tired ghetto fabulousness to the many writers who lack creativity, and therefore use this same aspect repeatedly. K'wan has the skills and talent to tackle multiple points of view and perspectives. His characters are multi-faceted opposed to the once again tired ass hustler with limited thoughts, feelings and actions.

Despite all of that, he didn't impress with "Eve".

Like I said, K'wan tries to step outside the usual as far as street lit is concerned, but I noticed that his females are always light-skinned with long hair and hour glass shapes. I mention this because Eve is the single novel in which he focuses on the female as the main character - he even dedicates the book to the sisters. But this archetypal of the hood girl with video vixen looks and a biracial background is constant in K'wan's books, and that is contradicting when everything else he does is not repetitive. This is obviously the kind of woman he feels is the epitome of beautiful, but do we really need to read this description in every single book he writes? In Street Dreams, one of his best books in my opinion, the smutty girl with nappy hair is sheisty as hell while the red-bones are good as gold, but honestly I was glad the nappy headed biotch got her just deserts. Also, Street Dreams typically cute main female is sweet to death but meets a horrible fate. I just wondered why, out of all the other no-good female characters he writes about, K'wan had to do this one dirty. In Hoodlum the female character was nothing but a brain-dead tramp, but because she was the typical beauty her faults, though acknowledged, were not focused upon or really even deemed as bad. The main character, who was actually somewhat intelligent and should have wanted more in a woman, chased after this girl as if she had actually impressed him with something other than her "my lip gloss is poppin'" attitude and stripper body. It disappointed me to read about a decent young man who did not pursue a decent young woman. In Hoodrat, the two once again typically pretty girls have happy-enough endings while the less attractive ones do not (though I know one of them rightfully deserved what she got).

Again in "Eve", the girl who is not black as it is defined - as if a fully black female character is a horrendous thought for K'wan - has as close to a happy ending as is allowed in the game. (I must be fair though and mention that in this book, another of these typical, low-down but cute females met her demise, which was rare to read in a K'wan book). Eve's character was not quite right, I must say. She was meant to be hardcore (nearly dyke-y), but she was a virgin with an emotional side. The fact that she was only turning 18 in the middle of the book made me shake my head. So I was supposed to believe she was this hardcore when she was 12 years old? What is the rush to play commando? Actually, Eve's need to be in the streets robbing people as a little girl never made sense to me. Her parents were murdered but she had an uncle to take care of her, so she was another character who simply chose the streets. As a matter of fact at the beginning of the story she is just finishing up a bid in a correction facility for something she didn't do.

To finally cut to the chase, this story was scattered and it dragged on and on when nothing interesting was really even happening - and that's not like K'wan. Surely he does not rush his stories, but a faster pace would have done this one good. The climax, however, seemed a little TOO rushed, so he actually rushed in places he shouldn't have. Also, the climax of the story was dull in my opinion. Eve seemed incomplete in development, as if she were three different thrown-together people throughout the short time-span of the book. Her sides didn't seem to connect to me. I took me longer to read this book than any other K'wan book. Read "Eve" because the "star" is female, though an oddly put together female, is all I can say in the end.

This is the first book that I have read by Kwan. This turned out to be a awesome book and I would definitely read another one by him, especially if it's anything like this one. Kudos Kudos Kudos !

K'wan brings us the story of Evelyn Panelli. Eve is a young girl who has seen a lot in her short life. Her parents were brutally murdered, and the only family she has left is a wheel-chair bound uncle. Because of this, Eve's friends have become her surrogate family. Loyalty to her "family" has landed Eve in a bad situation as the book begins. Although, she didn't want any cookies, she takes the rap for having had her hand in the cookie jar.

As the story progresses, we meet the characters that Eve holds dear, Cassidy, Butter, Bullet, and Beast. And we meet the character who holds Eve's heart, Felon.

I don't get some of the reviews for this book. The story was bananas! The characters were well-developed, and three dimensional. I grew up in the city, so I know somebody like EVERY one of these characters (except for Beast). The story line was straight flawless, and the subplots were ingenious the way they connected the characters.

I LOVED this book. Eve was realistic, relatable and likeable in this story. I felt for her as I was reading. I wanted her to come out on top. K'wan did his thing. Eve was a really good, fast-paced novel.

When i start reading this book i can tell right off the back that this book was written by a man. It was all over the place, very scattered.I've read much better.

Evelyn Panneli had lived a lifetime, she was orphaned at the age of twelve and the streets of Harlem claimed her. Before her eighteenth birthday she had been incarcerated for almost two years. Eve took a rap for two of her homeboys, Felon and his partner Butter. It was a tough choice, but they were family and with 'family', it goes with the territory. Now back on the streets, she is ready to start slanging and banging with her crew.

Things changed the two years Eve was gone, Felon and Butter are on the come-up in Harlem's drug traffic. Butter is with Eve's girl, Cassidy and Eve is feeling Felon. Although Felon can always roll with any homie, Eve unknowingly has his heart. But both are to hard to trust the relationship game.

Life was chillin, and then out of nowhere their idyllic world begins to crack. The one person Eve loved unconditionally is killed and a crooked-cop, who worked for the mob, is murdered. Harlem becomes a battleground. Felon needs to clean things up before Eve, trying to avenge her friend's death and even a score from her past, goes after some heavy hitters in the mob.

EVE is raw, gripping, gritty, and authentic. K'WAN has captured scenes from street life that adds empathy to the perception of urban youth. Their code of honor will surprise and confound readers. I was impressed with how K'WAN was able to write this story from a bangers view and still maintain an almost eloquent style that juxtaposed readers into the lives of a man and a woman engulfed in a world that forces them to 'come with it'. The climatic ending is straight, no chaser.

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

K'wan will never let his reading audience down, once again K'wan takes you on a tour of Harlem, New York with the five star page turner that you can NOT! put down. You can call her Evelyn or Eve but she not just another around the way girl. "Eve" is urban fiction at it's best. Thanks for representing the sista's in the hood.

[...]

K'wan is my favorite author. All of his books are off the hook! Eve is no different. I can't wait until his next book! Don't keep me waiting too long!

this story is awesome...k'wan kept it gangsta from the beginning to the end....i never heard of this book until i went to walmart--lucky i did....i'm going to purchase the rest of his book....i already read gangsta and hoodlum....keep up the good work k'wan.