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annarella's review
4.0
I didn't know what to expect and I'm happy I requested this book.
It's mystery with something more complex theme like the identity of a community.
The book is well written, the characters fleshed out and the plot is both entertaining and engaging.
I liked the style of writing and how the plot was developed.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
It's mystery with something more complex theme like the identity of a community.
The book is well written, the characters fleshed out and the plot is both entertaining and engaging.
I liked the style of writing and how the plot was developed.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC
literarybelleoftheball's review
3.0
This book feels more like an ode to Williamsburg rather than a real mystery book. There is definitely a crime and a mystery around it, but I feel like you won't get nearly as much out of this book unless you understand New York City. Living in the city, it made it more enjoyable for me, but I don't think this book is for everyone.
nietzschesghost's review
4.0
I wasn't entirely sure what to expect with this book given the cover and the shade being thrown at the hipster population, but I should've known that a title from this publisher would encompass much more than you can envisage at first glance. This was right up my street: yes, there is humour interspersed throughout the pages, but there is also a serious side. It's a highly original composition of dry wit, exciting murder mystery and exploration of prevalent social issues. The narrative is exceptional and easy to engage with, and the clever social commentary adds to the plot rather than just being there. Well written with a multi-layered, complex plot that holds your attention from the very beginning, this is a superbly accomplished and entertaining debut novel.
The struggle a community goes through to try to retain its social identity through increased gentrification, spiralling rents and issues of class and racial tension feature heavily here, and it's clear the author either knows this area very well or has researched it meticulously; I would say it's more likely to be the former. The characters are beautifully rendered, quirky and realistic. Chino Moran is a somewhat unlikely protagonist, but he is conscientious, hard-working and easily likeable. When all of these features come together it creates a fast-paced, twist-filled story that is more than a little difficult to put down.
Many thanks to Down & Out Books for an ARC.
The struggle a community goes through to try to retain its social identity through increased gentrification, spiralling rents and issues of class and racial tension feature heavily here, and it's clear the author either knows this area very well or has researched it meticulously; I would say it's more likely to be the former. The characters are beautifully rendered, quirky and realistic. Chino Moran is a somewhat unlikely protagonist, but he is conscientious, hard-working and easily likeable. When all of these features come together it creates a fast-paced, twist-filled story that is more than a little difficult to put down.
Many thanks to Down & Out Books for an ARC.
mxmreads's review
My interest in this book was instantaneous when I came across the cover and blurb on my Twitter feed weeks before it was released. It was the mixture of genre fiction and promised social commentary that drew me to it, admittedly in addition to my very ambiguous feelings towards hipster-dom these days. And in that regard this book didn’t disappoint at all.
The suspense worked so well for me here because Narvaez managed to create two seemingly unrelated crime solving plots, one past and one present, that were yet intrinsically linked by the circumstances and societal complexities surrounding both. The disappearance of an old woman unwilling to give up her home was as much connected to the gentrification of a whole neighborhood as the random slashings of hipsters in the same area months later.
Which is where not only the suspense was created beautifully, but also the biting commentary on the socio-economic development itself. By giving us several, very different perspectives on the phenomenon, Narvaez manages to cut down the flowery words into the real life consequences, structures and processes that are inherent to gentrifying a neighborhood. Sky-rocketing market prices, rents and living costs, followed by the slow but steady displacement of the locals, the sheer loss of *everything* that comes after that. With the moving in of the white and privileged masses, businesses and money, come the continuing losses for the non-white, not so privileged and not as wealthy people who have made the original neighborhood what it was. It is stunning and such a rare narrative to see in fiction, written so sharply and naturally, seen through the eyes of various protagonists who have their very own ideas about what is lost and gained, in which way, by whom, and if or how it is supposed to be fought. Or profited off.
I have to say for such a clever and deep look into socio-economic processes and the hidden structures behind it, including social media pain and poverty tourism, I was disappointed that Narvaez seemingly didn’t stop to examine his very own unreflected and structural biases enough at one point? It felt jarring to realize that the one important, Jewish character in the book would end up being the worst stereotype of what Christian society has deemed as “typically Jewish”. It would have been so worth it to examine the archetypes of villainy we have - knowingly or unknowingly - linked to the Jewish community, from the big nose to the greedy personality, to shifty eyes and ulterior motives. I longed for a different outcome that never came to be, the Jewish man remained a villainous, caricaturesque side character, motivated by greed for power and money, generally dishonest and unfaithful, fat and sweaty and gross.
That did dim my enjoyment of the novel, which was otherwise refreshingly honest, frank and stark in its descriptions. The suspense plot was well thought out and satisfyingly concluded, the main character a three-dimensional flawed man in an equally flawed world. If it wasn’t for the depiction of the fat, Jewish character I would have added this to my list of favorites of the year, but I just could not get over this part of the story.
The suspense worked so well for me here because Narvaez managed to create two seemingly unrelated crime solving plots, one past and one present, that were yet intrinsically linked by the circumstances and societal complexities surrounding both. The disappearance of an old woman unwilling to give up her home was as much connected to the gentrification of a whole neighborhood as the random slashings of hipsters in the same area months later.
Which is where not only the suspense was created beautifully, but also the biting commentary on the socio-economic development itself. By giving us several, very different perspectives on the phenomenon, Narvaez manages to cut down the flowery words into the real life consequences, structures and processes that are inherent to gentrifying a neighborhood. Sky-rocketing market prices, rents and living costs, followed by the slow but steady displacement of the locals, the sheer loss of *everything* that comes after that. With the moving in of the white and privileged masses, businesses and money, come the continuing losses for the non-white, not so privileged and not as wealthy people who have made the original neighborhood what it was. It is stunning and such a rare narrative to see in fiction, written so sharply and naturally, seen through the eyes of various protagonists who have their very own ideas about what is lost and gained, in which way, by whom, and if or how it is supposed to be fought. Or profited off.
I have to say for such a clever and deep look into socio-economic processes and the hidden structures behind it, including social media pain and poverty tourism, I was disappointed that Narvaez seemingly didn’t stop to examine his very own unreflected and structural biases enough at one point? It felt jarring to realize that the one important, Jewish character in the book would end up being the worst stereotype of what Christian society has deemed as “typically Jewish”. It would have been so worth it to examine the archetypes of villainy we have - knowingly or unknowingly - linked to the Jewish community, from the big nose to the greedy personality, to shifty eyes and ulterior motives. I longed for a different outcome that never came to be, the Jewish man remained a villainous, caricaturesque side character, motivated by greed for power and money, generally dishonest and unfaithful, fat and sweaty and gross.
That did dim my enjoyment of the novel, which was otherwise refreshingly honest, frank and stark in its descriptions. The suspense plot was well thought out and satisfyingly concluded, the main character a three-dimensional flawed man in an equally flawed world. If it wasn’t for the depiction of the fat, Jewish character I would have added this to my list of favorites of the year, but I just could not get over this part of the story.
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