Customer Reviews

Playing the Bones

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I purchased this book after reading an interview with Louise Redd in the Austin Chronicle. I finished the book within hours. I just couldn't put it down. I immediately called all my girlfriends and my sister and told them to go buy it. They all loved it just as much as I did. The characters are so complex and real. Readers are truly share their heartbreaks, internal conflicts, and moments of rejoicing. An absolutely fabulous book

Like a literary spice cake hot from the oven, Louise Redd¹s brilliant first novel, Playing the Bones, is both sweet and pungent, lusciously rich, and comforting at its conclusion. Lacy Springs, a well-educated daughter of snobby Dallas society, teaches eighth-grade English in Houston. She is engaged to be married to kind and stable Ellis, but can¹t abandon her desire for sultry and volatile blues star, Black Jesus. When the Black Jesus passion demons come and get her, she feels the skin of her throat flush, and a knotting and unknotting between her hip bones. ³I feel something like industrial-strength cleaning fluid in my stomach when I think of his hands cradling his harmonica. I feel my naturally red hair perspiring a secret shine.² Lacy is daring, honest, clever, whimsical, amusing, and most of all completely genuine. As I read, I kept wanting to meet her. I wanted to pick up the phone and invite her over for a beer, or better yet, dinner. Confused and pondering her direction in love (should she marry Ellis?), and trying to overcome a childhood trauma (at age seven she was raped by her baby-sitter, plump and ugly Donny), Lacy seeks the advice of a wacko therapist, Eva, a grad student clad in Velcro-turban who is working on her PhD in psychology. The Eva chapters are replete with fascinating observations and non-clichéd, extraordinarily funny psycho babble. It is here in Eva¹s office that Lacy confesses items on her mind-list, those numbers all-spiced and tangy as cinnamon throughout the book: ³Number 17 on my list: I write a hit blues song and Ray Charles sings it at the Grammys . . .² ³Number 22 on my list: I want something to accidentally interfere with my wedding . . .² ³On my list of One Hundred Things I want Out of Life, hearing a certain man say Œhey my baby¹ is Number 2.² She refers, in wish-list Number 2, to Black Jesus. We learn, too, that Lacy is turned on by e.e. cummings, blues, Shakespeare, and men named after gods. Like the chapter titles which Redd no-nonsensely ! and meaningfully assembled, the reader will find Lacy Springs a no-excuse, take-responsibility, overtly honest-to-herself woman. She faces her obstacles and makes no apologies for her mistakes. Redd has crafted the recovery part of the book without all the sugary-sweet syrup one might expect to find in a recovery book, which this novel is only in part. Playing the Bones is a strong-as-steel novel with a strong-as-steel protagonist who admits she can¹t know all the answers. What could be more human?

An obvious "workshop" product, this book has all the proper elements and no soul. The characters are one dimensional, the conflict stays on a superficial level, and the plot tries too hard to be hip. Even worse, the voice is thoroughly inauthentic. Some interesting issues are raised, but the characters can't seem to dig deeply into themselves to find genuine answers. Ultimately, I just didn't care what happened to them. The packaging - great cover and enticing dust jacket notes - are the best thing about this book. I can only assume the author coerced her friends into sending in the rest of the reviews on this page

Wow. Playing the Bones is a spectacular read. Lacy is engaged to the nicest guy ever, but seemingly obsessed with Black Jesus, a blues star, and at first the reader doesn't like her very much. It's when she begins to examine her upbringing that Louise Redd's writing really shines. Lacy's mother is a worse character than Mommy Dearest; her sister Irene is a peach, too. Nacho the yard man is her salvation, and reminds Lacy of her worth when Mama is wreaking her worst on the children. What I loved about this book was its unflinching look at one of the most dysfunctional childhoods ever, and how through it all Lacy emerges as a whole person separate from all the men she's loved. It's kind of a coming-of-age woman's story, but also the story of what it means to survive hardship and learn the true meaning of love. A wonderful story, with some sharp-edged moments where I wanted to look away, but ended up glad I didn't.

Lacy Springs is a woman with whom I would love to share a case of good beer and to discuss life. Her story is at turns sad and funny and the voice so vivid it is almost like sitting in a room with her. Louise Redd has written a story that is at turns both sad and funny and after reading it, one can't decide whether to laugh with joy over just living or weep over what screwed up relationships we endure. Her voice as a writer is so strong that I question whether or not the story I read is really a group of people I've known all my life. As my quickie review says, if you haven't already read this book, drop everything, get it right now, and cuddle up in your favorite place and enjoy one of the best books by a young author I have read to date

Lacy Springs is the best fictional company to come down the line in a long time. I listened to her in line at the bank, when my boss wasn't looking at work, during meals -- the only place she wasn't such great company was in bed, because a narrator this interesting could never put me to sleep! Funny, honest, and never predictible, Lacy left me wishing my real life friends were as fun to hang out with as she was. Now I finally understand what my second grade teacher meant when she said, "Books are you

Lacy Springs is one of those characters who gets under your skin, who you can't help but think about, even though you know she's only a fictional character, even though it feels kind of silly to think about a girl from a novel. Like a good friend, she's funny, smart, sometimes a mess, but always great company. I've found myself wondering what she'd do in a given situation, what she'd say. I've sat in a movie theater thinking, "I'd rather be home reading about Lacy."

I must have been a very good girl this year, because among the clothes that didn't fit from Grandma, the not so subtle how-to-plan-a-wedding books from my parents (I'm not engaged) and the smoked ham from my boss (I'm vegetarian) under my Christmas tree was a wonderful novel -- Playing the Bones! I started reading it on Christmas night, and it made me laugh and cry so much that I forgot to have my usual holiday stress-out session. I need a book like this one every Christmas. .

I LOVED "Playing the Bones"! Sometimes my insidesfelt twisted and disturbed while reading it--which is what made it socompelling. I guess I related on some level to the abuse the main character takes as a child and how she came to be the way she did. I stayed up all night to finish it (til 2 a.m. on a weeknight!) because I couldn't put it down. I adore the way "Playing the Bones" non-chalantly delves into a white, educated woman's psyche, her love of the blues, her sexual obsession of a dangerous black musician, her double-life, and her dedication and courage to grow into a whole woman. It was gritty yet inspiring. I'll read all of Louise Redd's books!

I devoured Ms. Redd's books ("Playing the Bones" and "Hangover Soup") several years ago and fell instantly in love with her characters, her writing and her unique, compelling plots. I told everyone I knew to read her books....I couldn't put the books down and have eagerly awaited her next book. And waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Ms. Redd, it's been 9 long years. Have you quit writing? Are you perhaps writing under another name? Can you please let your readers know if you EVER plan to write another novel? You truly are a gifted writer and I hope you are eagerly at work on your next novel.

Please let us know, okay?