Book Chat: Out of the Easy!

Kiwie: So how did you like it?

Kat : It was okay, but not my favourite book ever, to put it like that. It was a bit slow a lot of the time.

Kiwie: Agreed, it wasn't bad in anyway, but not great either. A bit meh. I felt that we were waiting for something through the whole novel (which I admit we were, but her acceptance/rejection to that school or if she got out of New Orleans was not what I felt I was waiting for).

Kat: That's how I felt as well. It was as if the book never really started. We jumped into it in the middle, read for a bit and then it was over without anything ever happening. Sure, I got angry with her mum and felt sorry for the Josie, but her story wasn't really very exciting. And I had much higher expectations to the feel and mood of the book, being set in New Orleans. I know Josie didn't like the city, but I still felt that the book could have been set almost anywhere warm.

Kiwie: New Orleans was not a "character" the way you might be led to believe by the title... I wish it had been. I also felt that the gallery of characters were made to be inclusive of all people ever in a way, sometimes that was pointless. For instance the whole Stephen thing, Josie sort of liking him (as well as obviously being attracted to Jesse), but then he turns out to be gay. That was a bit of a cop-out, either make HER decide or leave the hint of a love-triangle out of the damn story!

Kat: Yes, you're right. I felt like a lot of things never really got resolved, people just left or died in the end.

Kiwie: Right, and then Willie just shipped Josie out to Shady Cove when things got messy and she hung out there and flirted a bit with Jesse and it was just very boring filler!

Kat: I know! I felt like the author could have done so much better, as the book was well written and the characters was fairly developed, it was the plot that fall short of my expectations.

Kiwie: The characters were nice, they had some depth and weren't all the same, and the writing wasn't bad at all, but the plot really wasn't exiting at all with the exception of a few times.

Kat: True. My mental health kind of went out the window as I was reading this and I was wondering if my inability to enjoy the book was directly linked to that, but now I think not. The book was really not what it could have been, but I didn't hate it.

Kiwie: Also all the characters were either good or bad, even if Josie had complicated feelings towards her mother she was always bad, and even though Willie (in addition to being a madam) clearly wasn't "good" in the traditional sense she was always the good guy.

Kat : I almost wish I did hate it, because then at least I would care more about the book!

Kiwie: To sum it up: Meh.

Kat: Yeah. I don't really think it's much else to say about this book. Good it wasn't longer

Kiwie: No, which is sad, because I really wanted to like it, I just don't.

Kat: Me too.

September novel: Out of the Easy

It seems that our reading circle flat lined sometime late July, but as the trees start ti wither we intend to blossom, or at least get back on track. For September we intend to read Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys:

Title: Out of the Easy
Author: Ruta Sepetys
First published: 2013

From the publisher/book website:

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.

She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With characters as captivating as those in her internationally bestselling novel Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys skillfully creates a rich story of secrets, lies, and the haunting reminder that decisions can shape our destiny

Why we chose this book:

We have both encountered talk about and reviews of this book online, on YouTube, Goodreads and blogs, and we've been intrigued. A book set in 1950s New Orleans, starring a seventeen-year-old, born of a prostitue, trying to get out and into a new life? Could be great.

What we expect from it:

Kiwie: I want to read this mostly because of the New Orleans setting, I have slight fascination with the city (or rather it's portrayal), but haven't really read anything about it lately which is why this is a book I've noticed and keep seeing and going "oh yeah I might read that" but not actually getting far enough to even stick it in my to-read list on Goodreads. Plus I'm guessing this is also a coming of age story, which I like.

Katastrofekat: As Kiwie already said, this book caught my attention because of it's setting. I have been fascinated with New Orleans since I read the first books in Anne Rices Vampire Chronicles when I was a teenager. Then I read Poppy Z. Brites vampire novels a few years ago and was reminded of how wonderful I found this setting. I hope this book has some excitement and some of that dreamy mood from Poppy Z. Brite. The description sounds very promising and I'm very excited going into this book