Customer Reviews

Lita: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this sequel to Dead Above Ground, we revisit the dysfunctional Du Champ family. Lita Du Champ has relocated with her family to Los Angeles. Following the death of her mother at the hands of her sister Adele's killer, Lita has assumed responsibility for her younger twin siblings, Ana and Ava. All is well until the twins seem to grow up overnight...with Ava displaying a more mature and womanly body than her twin. What follows is a rift between the girls, as Lita struggles to maintain control over her seemingly unmanageable younger sister. When Ava elopes at the age of 17 to escape the rigid household that sister Lita runs, it is just the beginning of an entire series of difficult events. Lita's husband Winston has become intolerable--for no reason at all---and it is all Lita can do to keep from physically harming him. Then the call comes that Lita's hated father Doc is in his last days.....and her mother, dead for years, is said to still be inhabiting the old family home.
With actions bordering on unbelievable and a whole host of unlikeable characters, this sequel is no happier than its predecessor. However, there is just enough going on in this tale to keep the reader turning pages to reach the unbelievable conclusion.


DYB

this book was just o-kay. i read dead above ground some time ago so when raeding this sequel, the family's story was not as fresh in my mind as it could have been. i reccommend that if this book is read that one should read both books shortly afterwards each other.

I eagerly awaited the sequel to dead above ground and I am more pleased than when I read Dead Above Ground. Lita is the story of Lita Duchamp. After leaving New Orleans, Lita and husband Winnston moved to L.A. in hope of a dream life. Her twin sisters were her burden to bear, until Ava, the big busted dream woman than attracted men like flies to spoiled milk, ran off and married, and Ana, the flat chested boyish twin was taken off by Lita's aunt. Lita was summoned back to New Orleans by her Aunt Dot and her dead mother Helen, and the saga begins. The story takes a lot of twists and unexpected turns and will be sure to entertain you. The writing is like prose, beautiful and heart-warming and you will want to jump inside the book to experience the sights and sounds of N'awlins. This is a MUST READ!!! Get it now!!!

In Dead Above Ground, Jervey Tervalon introduced us to Lita Du Champ, and his latest novel, LITA, is a continuance of her story. After Lita and her husband Winston move from New Orleans with their two children and her twin sisters Ava and Ana, they reside in Los Angeles. Ava and Ana are a handful at seventeen, especially Ava. She has blossomed into a young woman, complete with the Coke bottle shape and know-it-all attitude. Lita tries to be patient with her and the rest of the family, but she finds herself becoming more and more like her deceased mother everyday, and less and less satisfied with her circumstances. She isn't infinitely happy with her situation in Los Angeles, but the alternative - going back to Louisiana, her abusive father, and the house where her mother burned to death - seems much less attractive to her.

LITA is a novel of supernatural and natural powers, revealing both ghosts of the past and forces of nature in the present. It's a book that holds on to you from the first page, and there certainly are no lulls. Like the other Tervalon novels I have read, I enjoyed the story immensely and implore him to continue the Du Champ legacy.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I can't believe I enjoyed Lita even more than Dead Above Ground. I couldn't put it down. I love the strong, in your face, make no excuses female character (Lita). The story line kept me interested from begining to end. I'm hoping for a sequil. Haven't had anything this interesting to read in a long time.

Fans who have waited for Jervey Tervalon's continuation of the Du Champ sisters will be reacquainted in LITA, the eagerly awaited sequel to "Dead Above Ground." Lita is feisty and hot-headed, until she receives an unexpected call from her malevolent Aunt Dot, that her father is on his deathbed in New Orleans. Lita's demeanor will take a back seat when her return to the dirty south causes her to confront her family's past and make amends with the remaining Du Champs - her sisters.

The saga begins as Lita briefly narrates her family's exodus from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Husband Winston, their two children and her twin sisters Ana and Ava are often the recipients of Lita's vexation with open palmed slaps and her tossing the first object in sight-with them as her target. Quickly Lita's family unravels when Ava runs off and marries; Ana heads back to New Orleans with Aunt Odie; and Lita asks Winston for a divorce. Just when things are bad they become worse when Lita returns to New Orleans and encounters more than a dying father. Lita's homecoming is filled with unpleasant memories, sightings of her deceased mother and gruesome ploys of someone or "something" opposed to Lita inheriting the Du Champ family home. As Lita, Ana and Ava reconnect, unresolved family issues bubble to the surface. Filled with trepidation, the Du Champ women (with the help of Aunt Odie) must return to this troubled house to set free their mother's restless spirit and to destroy the curse that has plagued this family for centuries.

LITA is a wonderful tale of family, its dysfunctions and a ferocious heroine! Jervey Tervalon combines laughter and suspense with unpretentious dialogue and just the right amount of narrative. At times the story is muddled due to its many characters, sub-plots, and toggling between past and present which may confuse readers. Not having read "Dead Above Ground" served as a major disservice for this reviewer and readers are forewarned to familiarize themselves with the debut beforehand as Tervalon provides very little background. This oversight causes LITA to fall short in some areas. Put that aside and LITA is undoubtedly an entertaining read and reminds us that we can pick our friends but not our family members. Sometimes in Lita's case, she can pick neither.

Reviewed by Nicki Lancaster
APOOO BookClub