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A review by stephxsu
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
4.0
What an immersive read! This is the first book by Ruta Sepetys that I’ve read, and she has an effortless way with characterization and words. Despite a few hiccups in the form of head-scratching plot twists and too-convenient revelations, I was easily caught up in Josie’s world and plights.
Josie is eminently likable. Literary, self-possessed, and determined, she is a gem among the New Orleans brothel community that comprises of most of her social circle, only she has no unattractive pretensions to get over. Sure, there is some romantic turmoil, but because Josie doesn’t place that at the forefront of her concerns (thank goodness!), we get a fuller and more enjoyable picture of who she is and who she can be.
Supporting characters, especially the tough madam Willie Woodley and her “posse,” are a delight. Willie Woodley is the mother that Josie never had, only she doesn’t need to unconditionally love her genetic offspring, and so the love between Willie and Josie is much more relaxed and something that Josie—and we—never take for granted.
OUT OF THE EASY does sympathetic characters so well, but it hiccups a little when attempting to tie together so many plot strings. The book is ostensibly driven by the mysterious death of a well-to-do out-of-towner, but that plotline quickly becomes tangled in a plethora of other subplots: Josie’s mother’s sinister gang connection, the romance, police busts, money issues, etc. In the end I didn’t feel like they were all given the time and space needed for a comfortably full story. The book could’ve been a hundred pages longer and I would’ve really appreciated the extra space for the story to stretch.
All in all, a delightful one-time read for me, not for the richness of its historical setting or the cohesiveness of its many plotlines, but for the good hearts of its characters.
Josie is eminently likable. Literary, self-possessed, and determined, she is a gem among the New Orleans brothel community that comprises of most of her social circle, only she has no unattractive pretensions to get over. Sure, there is some romantic turmoil, but because Josie doesn’t place that at the forefront of her concerns (thank goodness!), we get a fuller and more enjoyable picture of who she is and who she can be.
Supporting characters, especially the tough madam Willie Woodley and her “posse,” are a delight. Willie Woodley is the mother that Josie never had, only she doesn’t need to unconditionally love her genetic offspring, and so the love between Willie and Josie is much more relaxed and something that Josie—and we—never take for granted.
OUT OF THE EASY does sympathetic characters so well, but it hiccups a little when attempting to tie together so many plot strings. The book is ostensibly driven by the mysterious death of a well-to-do out-of-towner, but that plotline quickly becomes tangled in a plethora of other subplots: Josie’s mother’s sinister gang connection, the romance, police busts, money issues, etc. In the end I didn’t feel like they were all given the time and space needed for a comfortably full story. The book could’ve been a hundred pages longer and I would’ve really appreciated the extra space for the story to stretch.
All in all, a delightful one-time read for me, not for the richness of its historical setting or the cohesiveness of its many plotlines, but for the good hearts of its characters.