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Hadley (567 KP) rated Gods Go Begging in Books
May 8, 2021
Amazing writing (2 more)
Great storytelling
Good characters
Not many books can visit the Vietnam war so gracefully, especially fictional books that aren't political thrillers. Of course, there's a reason for that, other than drug use and the orders to kill innocent civilians, it was a war that drove soldiers to madness, but this is only the tip of the iceberg in Alfredo Vea's third novel Gods Go Begging.
Mai and Persephone are as close as sisters, one was born in America, and the other was born in Vietnam; the two met because their husbands had fought in the Vietnam war, but had never returned, sealing an unbreakable bond between the two women. While the two spent most of their time cooking together, they decided to open up a luncheonette, and share their love of food with the city - - - until one night, when two young men showed up to smash their dreams by murdering both of them in cold blood. Little did the defense attorney for one of the young men, Jesse Pasadoble, know that these women would not only leave a scar on him, but they would also cause memories from a hill in Vietnam to haunt him all over again.
While Pasadoble is working the two women's murder case, he's also working another heart-wrenching case involving a white supremacist who has possibly molested and raped his own niece. Pasadoble tries his best to distance himself from the case, especially because he has to defend the man in question, but sometimes he lets his temper get the best of him. Pasadoble comes face-to-face with his client in an angry stare-off. After putting up with racial statements from the client, Pasadoble puts him in his place. The client may be a big man who can frighten most people, but Pasadoble pacifies him with his own anger, threatening to kick his ass in front of everyone that is in the jail setting the tone of what type of person Pasadoble can be for the reader.
The readers get flashbacks of Pasadoble's time in the Vietnam war, specifically one fight that happened on a hill near the Loatian border. These flashbacks happen suddenly throughout the book, but I personally believe that they are so important to understanding the world in which Vea has created in the novel because, near the end of the book, these flashbacks make everything come full circle. One of these flashbacks introduces an important character who is the Padre in Pasadoble's platoon - - - during such flashback, the Padre has devastating things happen around him that begin to make him question his faith in God.
Although the flashbacks happen here and there, the story easily continues on with Pasadoble's double homicide case getting more complicated by the page when the second of the two suspects is suddenly found dead on a hill that the locals call 'Tourette's Hill.' One such local that lived near the hill is one of the victims' mothers, Mrs. Harp, who is a very odd character: she's an aging beauty queen whose home is covered in photographs of only her, and none of her deceased son, and even while Pasadoble questions her about her son, she seems to get lost in a reverie of what her life was like before the son existed.
Pasadoble is the key character in this story; without him, connections would not have been made and characters would not have mattered. Pasadoble, a man who has a way with words, such as speaking with an ex-girlfriend about a 'hill' : "Carolina, think about the stratifications of an open hillside, a place where earth has given way and time itself is left exposed, layer upon layer - - - silica, clay, diatoms, and ash. Down here at this level is the time of the swelling sea; here, the time of the desert when hot, rising air would have haunted our eyes; here is a jagged karst, a time when the world shook an abrasion into its own skin; and here are the fossil dead, here you will find love and war in the same shamble of strewn bone. Here and there, where the world has shifted and cracked open, one era will touch another. And once upon the rarest time, human hands and eyes from the distant past can seek out and find... search for and contact... hands and eyes of the present time... our time. " Pasadoble reveals that everyone has a 'hill' that they constantly battle, his just happens to be the one where he lost brothers on in Vietnam.
I can't go much further into the story without giving away some of the great details that made up this book, but I can say I was blown away by this story. This is by far one of the best crime fiction books I have ever read; this is one of those crazy good books that you have never heard of that will change how you view things after you read it. Vea is one of the few authors that exist today that can make a story read like poetry. I highly recommend this novel to people who like crime fiction.
Mai and Persephone are as close as sisters, one was born in America, and the other was born in Vietnam; the two met because their husbands had fought in the Vietnam war, but had never returned, sealing an unbreakable bond between the two women. While the two spent most of their time cooking together, they decided to open up a luncheonette, and share their love of food with the city - - - until one night, when two young men showed up to smash their dreams by murdering both of them in cold blood. Little did the defense attorney for one of the young men, Jesse Pasadoble, know that these women would not only leave a scar on him, but they would also cause memories from a hill in Vietnam to haunt him all over again.
While Pasadoble is working the two women's murder case, he's also working another heart-wrenching case involving a white supremacist who has possibly molested and raped his own niece. Pasadoble tries his best to distance himself from the case, especially because he has to defend the man in question, but sometimes he lets his temper get the best of him. Pasadoble comes face-to-face with his client in an angry stare-off. After putting up with racial statements from the client, Pasadoble puts him in his place. The client may be a big man who can frighten most people, but Pasadoble pacifies him with his own anger, threatening to kick his ass in front of everyone that is in the jail setting the tone of what type of person Pasadoble can be for the reader.
The readers get flashbacks of Pasadoble's time in the Vietnam war, specifically one fight that happened on a hill near the Loatian border. These flashbacks happen suddenly throughout the book, but I personally believe that they are so important to understanding the world in which Vea has created in the novel because, near the end of the book, these flashbacks make everything come full circle. One of these flashbacks introduces an important character who is the Padre in Pasadoble's platoon - - - during such flashback, the Padre has devastating things happen around him that begin to make him question his faith in God.
Although the flashbacks happen here and there, the story easily continues on with Pasadoble's double homicide case getting more complicated by the page when the second of the two suspects is suddenly found dead on a hill that the locals call 'Tourette's Hill.' One such local that lived near the hill is one of the victims' mothers, Mrs. Harp, who is a very odd character: she's an aging beauty queen whose home is covered in photographs of only her, and none of her deceased son, and even while Pasadoble questions her about her son, she seems to get lost in a reverie of what her life was like before the son existed.
Pasadoble is the key character in this story; without him, connections would not have been made and characters would not have mattered. Pasadoble, a man who has a way with words, such as speaking with an ex-girlfriend about a 'hill' : "Carolina, think about the stratifications of an open hillside, a place where earth has given way and time itself is left exposed, layer upon layer - - - silica, clay, diatoms, and ash. Down here at this level is the time of the swelling sea; here, the time of the desert when hot, rising air would have haunted our eyes; here is a jagged karst, a time when the world shook an abrasion into its own skin; and here are the fossil dead, here you will find love and war in the same shamble of strewn bone. Here and there, where the world has shifted and cracked open, one era will touch another. And once upon the rarest time, human hands and eyes from the distant past can seek out and find... search for and contact... hands and eyes of the present time... our time. " Pasadoble reveals that everyone has a 'hill' that they constantly battle, his just happens to be the one where he lost brothers on in Vietnam.
I can't go much further into the story without giving away some of the great details that made up this book, but I can say I was blown away by this story. This is by far one of the best crime fiction books I have ever read; this is one of those crazy good books that you have never heard of that will change how you view things after you read it. Vea is one of the few authors that exist today that can make a story read like poetry. I highly recommend this novel to people who like crime fiction.
The Marinated Meeple (1853 KP) created a post
Jan 8, 2019
Joel Schumacher recommended Double Idemnity (1944) in Movies (curated)
Debbiereadsbook (1454 KP) rated River (Stranger In The Woods #2) in Books
Feb 9, 2018
Long bokk but good!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book direct from the author.
This is book 2 in the Stranger in The Woods series, and you really MUST read Rain, book one first. I really enjoyed that one.
This one?? Not so much. Mostly because this book is LONG!!!
Rose had her baby, Rain right at the end of book one. This one is about the run up to River's birth. Ryder is River's father.
It is again written first person, present tense, multi point of view, mostly Rose and Ryder, with some Gunner and a few other, less savoury characters, but it is right that they have a say. And it bothered me more here, than in Rain, the present tense thing, and I've no idea WHY!
There is a huge chunk of the book that was kinda...trippy....for want of a better word. When Rose and Rain are kidnapped by King and are dwelling in another plane, I got lost. There are two or three names for the same body that is inhabited by King. Sometimes his speech is in italics, and sometimes not. I'm still not entirely sure about the past life thing between King and Rose!
There is, I think, a MUCH bigger picture that still isn't clear for these characters, and sometimes that's a good thing but here?? I'm thinking not so much. I have no idea, not a single clue, where this story is going, and I felt that right down to my bones as I was reading. I began to skim far far more than usual, and that is never a good thing.
I did, however, read this book in one single sitting, and it ain't no novella, let me tell ya! Not sure how many pages it is, but it took me 5 hours! So it kept me mostly engaged, except the trippy bit which was confusing to say the least!
So, because I read it in one go, because everyone who needed to has a say, and because I really do need to know where this is going...
4 stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
This is book 2 in the Stranger in The Woods series, and you really MUST read Rain, book one first. I really enjoyed that one.
This one?? Not so much. Mostly because this book is LONG!!!
Rose had her baby, Rain right at the end of book one. This one is about the run up to River's birth. Ryder is River's father.
It is again written first person, present tense, multi point of view, mostly Rose and Ryder, with some Gunner and a few other, less savoury characters, but it is right that they have a say. And it bothered me more here, than in Rain, the present tense thing, and I've no idea WHY!
There is a huge chunk of the book that was kinda...trippy....for want of a better word. When Rose and Rain are kidnapped by King and are dwelling in another plane, I got lost. There are two or three names for the same body that is inhabited by King. Sometimes his speech is in italics, and sometimes not. I'm still not entirely sure about the past life thing between King and Rose!
There is, I think, a MUCH bigger picture that still isn't clear for these characters, and sometimes that's a good thing but here?? I'm thinking not so much. I have no idea, not a single clue, where this story is going, and I felt that right down to my bones as I was reading. I began to skim far far more than usual, and that is never a good thing.
I did, however, read this book in one single sitting, and it ain't no novella, let me tell ya! Not sure how many pages it is, but it took me 5 hours! So it kept me mostly engaged, except the trippy bit which was confusing to say the least!
So, because I read it in one go, because everyone who needed to has a say, and because I really do need to know where this is going...
4 stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated One Pink Line in Books
Nov 26, 2018
A Feel Good Kind of Story
Normally, I'm not a women's fiction kind of person. However, I have been pleasantly surprised with the books I've read in this genre, so I decided to give One Pink Line by Dina Silver a go.
I found the plot and world building of One Pink Line to be very well written and enjoyable. As you can already guess from the title, this book deals with pregnancy and is a very straight forward but sweet story. This also wasn't a very long novel. It was enjoyable to read about Sydney's ups and downs with her pregnancy, and it was interesting to read about how Grace felt about everything from her perspective as well. There weren't any plot twists that I can remember, but this book didn't need any to be good. There also weren't any cliff hangers at the end of the book, and all of my questions were answered.
The characters in One Pink Line were all very enjoyable to read about. As I've said before, I enjoyed reading about how Sydney dealt with her pregnancy as well as her feelings with her life, the pregnancy, and her love life. Grace struggled with learning that the dad she had come to know wasn't actually her biological dad. It was interesting to read things from her point of view as show grows up from a 5th grader to a 22 year old woman. I admired Ethan and how loving he was throughout everything. I also loved Ethan's mom and how doting she was.
I enjoyed the pacing very much in One Pink Line. The story flowed very well, and not once did I find myself becoming bored. In fact, I looked forward to each time I could read more about Sydney's and Grace's life.
Trigger warnings for One Pink Line include some profanity, alcohol use, implied sex, and an unwed pregnancy.
All in all, One Pink Line is a feel good kind of story. It is such a sweet book that will definitely leave you with happy feelings long after you've finished it. I would definitely recommend One Pink Line by Dina Silver to all women aged 16+.
I found the plot and world building of One Pink Line to be very well written and enjoyable. As you can already guess from the title, this book deals with pregnancy and is a very straight forward but sweet story. This also wasn't a very long novel. It was enjoyable to read about Sydney's ups and downs with her pregnancy, and it was interesting to read about how Grace felt about everything from her perspective as well. There weren't any plot twists that I can remember, but this book didn't need any to be good. There also weren't any cliff hangers at the end of the book, and all of my questions were answered.
The characters in One Pink Line were all very enjoyable to read about. As I've said before, I enjoyed reading about how Sydney dealt with her pregnancy as well as her feelings with her life, the pregnancy, and her love life. Grace struggled with learning that the dad she had come to know wasn't actually her biological dad. It was interesting to read things from her point of view as show grows up from a 5th grader to a 22 year old woman. I admired Ethan and how loving he was throughout everything. I also loved Ethan's mom and how doting she was.
I enjoyed the pacing very much in One Pink Line. The story flowed very well, and not once did I find myself becoming bored. In fact, I looked forward to each time I could read more about Sydney's and Grace's life.
Trigger warnings for One Pink Line include some profanity, alcohol use, implied sex, and an unwed pregnancy.
All in all, One Pink Line is a feel good kind of story. It is such a sweet book that will definitely leave you with happy feelings long after you've finished it. I would definitely recommend One Pink Line by Dina Silver to all women aged 16+.
Sarah (8 KP) rated Jar of Hearts in Books
Sep 4, 2018
Engaging (2 more)
Riveting
Twists and turns
Gripping page turner
Wow...just wow. I read so many reviews of this book and they seemed to be a bit mixed, I almost didn't grab this book to read and I'm glad I gave it chance. Amazing. You have one friend who is dead, one who went to prison and one trying to get to the truth. This book will take you on a journey...and when you get to the end...wholly moly, look out! I enjoyed the journey this book took me on (it is possible for some a few scenes may be too gruesome) but all in all I loved this book and highly suggest it.
David S. Goyer recommended Don't Look Now (1973) in Movies (curated)
Juame Collet-Serra recommended The Searchers (1956) in Movies (curated)
Kristina (502 KP) rated In a Dark, Dark Wood in Books
Dec 7, 2020
I'm shell shocked. From page one, I was drawn in, and I couldn't stop reading - I just had to finish, but it's my own fault for starting a new book at 10 o'clock at night! Back and forth, back and forth I went. What really happened; who's the suspect; is Nora an unreliable narrator; is Nora using her skill as a writer to create an imaginary version of the real story or is she piecing together what happened with how she wants to believe it happened? So many thoughts and doubts! I could not fully decide on one person to blame. The ending was believable and yet still crazy. Definitely glad I finally chose to give this one a read!
Verner Latskin (74 KP) rated Mr. Robot - Season 2 in TV
Jul 21, 2017
The final scenes of the season are nearly jaw dropping (4 more)
A shootout sequence that ranks up there with the best single shot sequences of anything on a screen big or small
Contains yet another episode that would fit right in with Lynch's canon
Alf
One of best Casablanca references ever made
Barely any Tyrell (1 more)
Dealing with the consequences of something is never as fun as the thing itself
Even though it didn't quite live up to the standard set by season 1, it was still one of the best sophomore seasons in television history
Contains spoilers, click to show
After one of the best seasons of television ever made, season 2 was bound to disappoint somewhat, but it does nothing to diminish season and actually manages to deepen it.
While the show really misses the presence of the male Tyrell, it deepens his lady MacBeth in unexpected ways and introduces another fascinating new character in the form of an FBI agent investigating the case against Elliot. In fact this season is all about the ladies, giving every female character new depth and agency. In fact, Angela maybe the new series MVP - her final scene of the season had me actively gasping out loud.
There is no show I'm more excited about right now than this, and believe me, that's almost hard to admit considering how much I'm in love with the new "Twin Peaks".
While the show really misses the presence of the male Tyrell, it deepens his lady MacBeth in unexpected ways and introduces another fascinating new character in the form of an FBI agent investigating the case against Elliot. In fact this season is all about the ladies, giving every female character new depth and agency. In fact, Angela maybe the new series MVP - her final scene of the season had me actively gasping out loud.
There is no show I'm more excited about right now than this, and believe me, that's almost hard to admit considering how much I'm in love with the new "Twin Peaks".