Customer Reviews

Southland

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Revoyr's Southland was one of those books that as soon as your eyes absorbed the final sentence, you felt a particular sorrow and a small shred of guilt for being voracious in your reading. For the time spent between it's covers, the reader is locked in the roller coaster ride of it's characters - the ebb and flow of emotions, the tiring yet exhilirating journey of self discovery and awareness of family. Racial tensions, family secrets, the sheer horror that could be trapped within the human soul - all made for the backdrop of this novel, and all manage to draw the reader further into the juxtaposition of Los Angeles in the sixties and early nineties. Each central figure becomes real and vivid, breathing and weaving his or her own story of sorrow and triumph, love and hardship. Each is familiar, and therefore the reader follows the untangling of the central intrigue of Southland with intense interest and concern. The L.A. painted within it's pages is painfully reproduced, harsh and yet with promises struggling to come to fruition. In sum total, at it's end, Southland emerges a beautiful story heralding the lives of it's beautiful and none-too-fictitious people.

I started reading this the day after I visited the Watts Towers in south central LA. As a rather nervous visitor to the area (not without reason - there was a drive by killing of an 11 year old outside a church the same day) I was absolutely glued to this book.

I love the LA noir genre of detective fiction. This is very different, and offers far more insight into WHY LA is as it is. It takes us to other parts of LA - the more middleclass areas of West LA (where I was staying), for example.

This book is a riveting story, and it deftly juggles the historical context and so achieves so much 'explanation' and 'history' in a naturalistic way.

It also, most importantly of all, offers hope (which, by contrast, noir fiction rarely does)

My wife found a reference to this novel in one of her Japanese language newspapers and suggested that I buy and read it. Am I ever happy that I did! Nina Revoyr has written a wonderful, gripping novel about some very tough times in our country, and has done so with understanding, compassion and feeling. Readers who lived through the era following World War Two will recall the ugly racial tensions of the era with all its denial, and the firestorms that erupted in Watts and other places as a result. Those who didn't live through it will get a harsh dose of reality as the protagonist searches for the killer of four black young men during the Watts riots, and the unexpected outcome as she discovers who the killer was.

I like Nina Revoyr's writing, I do not at all understand those who brush it off with comments like "trite," "mediocre" and "unrealistic." Having lived through that particular period in our history, I found the book very realistic. I hope Nina Revoyr keeps writing so that I can enjoy more of what she does. I couldn't put this book down.

George Polley
Seattle

I agree with a prior reviewer- perhaps this book speaks most poignantly to those Angelinos who can know and feel the reality of Los Angeles depicted in its pages. I loved this book both for the natural beauty of LA which is sometimes lost in our daily lives - and way that it blended the Watts unrest through today to U.S. history of war and occupation. The characters are not cliche- they are very real and very familiar. As a 2nd gen Korean who grew up here the descriptions of JA characters as well as U.S. military in Korea and complicated Black/Asian relationships all resonated with me. As a community organizer working with low-income women of color and other immigrant workers - I found the same strange familiarity when "meeting" the social workers and non-profit folks in the story.

If you care about LA - you'll care about this story - more importantly, you'll see the truth in it.

As far as the first reviewer goes - it hardly mattered to the arc of the tale whether or not Jackie was queer or not - but it added a genuine personal dimension (without force or artifice) that I totally appreciated.

Perhaps this book is more pertinent towards a particular population of people. I am a Japanese-American who grew up in Southern California during the 60's, and this novel held a particular poignancy for me. Despite this, I found the book to be compelling and riveting. As the reader is taken through the multiple plot twists, a horrifying story emerges and the ending will leave you a different person. Love this book!

It's obvious to me that the person writing this review did not read the book well. The people who died in the freezer were four Black boys, not Japanese. Because this book is about race relations, this is an important distinction.

As far as the book itself, it's enjoyable...a page turner. There are parts that are a bit overdone or that drag, but overall the book was very well-written and researched.

The United States has traditionally welcomed all who seek a new life and fresh start. Its very society is a patchwork of cultures and immigration waves from around the world. Unfortunately, not all of those immigrations were voluntary. Southland is a story of what it was like in LA in the 1940s thru 1960s for Japanese Americans who were thrown into camps during WWII as well as for African Americans who rose up and rioted in the 1965 what?. But with all that was thrown at this society, it (what is a belief in a better world) is the story of understanding, hope and belief in a better world. A quick read that would help all of us in today's society, as we continue to see immigration as a worldwide trend that is accelerating, understand what it is like to face a new culture and to be a bit more patient with those that are different.

Full review link located in the comment below.

The community that surrounds us shapes who we are and what we are capable of becoming. The city of Los Angeles's rich and often tragic history contributes to every individual's identity. Nina Revoyr captures the essence of the human condition through tragedy, love, and familial conflict. She brings together the diverse cultural elements of individuals and makes them work as one. Her characters lingered in my heart and the case they were solving puzzled my brain long after I closed the book. Knowing Los Angeles history through her fiction makes me want to continue learning and document the other untold stories of this city.

It wasn't a great book. But it wasn't terrible either. This book goes back and forth from the past to the present and that was a bit annoying. Also, the main character was a bit annoying too. That's not something you'd like your main character to be. I think I liked the other characters better. However, I was glad by the end of the book that she (main character) finally accepted herself for who she was.

Unlike the other reviewer, I don't think living in LA will probably make you care or appreciate this book. I live in LA. I lived in Watts, Compton, South LA, and now I'm in East LA-Alhambra area.

I wouldn't recommend this book though, sorry. To be really honest, it was predictable. Some parts were a nice read, but overall, it wasn't worth my time. I wanted to like this book, but it was a disappointment.

A GOOD READ AND INFORMATIVE> i appreciated reading about some of the history of LOS ANGELES. It is interesting and worth the reader's time.