Paloverde [Import] [Hardcover]

Jacqueline Briskin (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Hart-Davis (April 19, 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0246111232
• ISBN-13: 978-0246111234
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Multi-generational California epic, January 17, 2004

By 

Karen Potts (Lake Jackson, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paloverde (Paperback)

I began to read this book 2 days ago and could not put it down. It is the story of the birth of a city, Los Angeles, which coincides with the settling of the area by two prominent families, the Deanes and the Van Vliets. Through marriage, these two families merge and produce adventurous men who gamble everything on risky business ventures and beautiful women. The Van Vliets take center stage, and the story follows the lives of two brothers, Bud and V3 (short for Vincente.) The older brother Bud is a confident, take-charge sort who intimidates his more introverted younger brother, V3. The younger man always feels that he is in his brother's shadow and so he constantly strives to match Bud in business and in love. This inevitably pits the two brothers against one another, and their sibling rivalry results in rash actions which have consequences on each succeeding generation of the family. The background setting of early Los Angeles is the perfect one for this epic novel, and the well-developed plot and characters make this 25-year-old book one which deserves to be rediscovered by today's readers.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent tale of Los Angeles and early Hollywood, August 3, 2008

By 

Deborah (Kent, UK) - See all my reviews

This book wins on two fronts: it gives a fascinating insight into the development of Los Angeles at the end of the 19th Century, and the emergence of that brash new town, Hollywood; and it is also a great love story, centering first of all around the love of brothers Bud and Vincent van Vliet for Amelie Deane and then of Vincent's son Kingdon for Bud's daughter Tess. I read this book thirty years ago and still love it and re-read it. It is very well-written, the characters are all three-dimensional and I love the history of El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porcunciula (Los Angeles for short), with its railroads, its oil fields, its Santa Ana winds, and its developing movie industry.

It hasn't dated one bit, and if you can get hold of a copy, grab it.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hazy in Memory, but Clear-Cut In Influence, February 20, 2003

By 

Lauren Jurgensen "Connoisseur" (Washington, D.C.) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Paloverde (Hardcover)

It was actually several years ago I read this book - a friend of mine had just finished it and recommended it to me.

Prior to telling me about the context of the novel, she had noted several times: "I just finished reading this book the other day, and it has done nothing but perturb me ever since. For some reason I cannot stop thinking about it." It is books like the one she was then rather abstractly describing that pique my interest, so I asked if I could borrow her copy of it, for my own enjoyment (and judgment). I began reading it that afternoon while trying to pass the time at a local theatre rehearsal. Needless to say I was absorbed - the prose was stunning! Poignant, written without regret; magnificently and sharply outlined by the dolorous contemplations of each character.

The plot of the book is vague in my mind. I remember some of the subplots very specifically, however, down to even the most intimate details. It is a love story, but one far too literary to be deemed simply a 'romance'. The novel itself takes place over the course of about three generations in the life of a California family. There is much tenderness and brilliance present - it is ultimately a clever book with a tragic ending. I would like to read it once again, and feel what I did the first time. It did not "perturb" me afterward like it did my friend, but it did leave a weighty impact.