Your House Will Pay: A Novel | 
pickTwo intertwined families navigating injustice, the meaning family, and what it means to be a good person. In complex world of racial tensions and senseless violence. Not a comforting story about forgiveness. A realistic look at coming to terms with hard truths and what shape life can assume when your family is destroyed by an act of violence without justice being served, however that is defined.
pickOn *another* campervan holiday - why not?! The beach was deserted this morning - as you can see. Gorgeous 9 mile walk to Bamburgh Castle and back. About 20 minutes after we returned it started raining, so a great opportunity to read this book, and I couldn‘t stop reading until I finished it - I loved it! Fast-paced and fascinating with a serious message, and based on real-life events.
Thanks so much for choosing it for me @TrishB 😘
Really loved this book - and so grateful for online events 👍🏼
BOOKED!
https://noirwich.co.uk/the-line-up/?utm_campaign=1902719_Noirwich%20new%20announ...
I loved the tagged book. But I love it even more know I can picture her writing it cosied up on the sofa with a blanket and two basset hounds!
https://crimereads.com/shop-talk-steph-cha/
pickI thought this was exceptionally well done. I didn‘t know anything about the original murder the book is based on, did some reading about it.
There are lots of moral twists and turns here, all to make you think about all aspects of racism and impacts on communities.
#motherdaughterread
We have been out all day moving said daughter to new student house.
We are now lying on couch with cold drink, reading and waiting for take away. 😁
pickTwo families, one Black and one Korean, are each torn apart by two shootings 27 years apart in this novel about race relations in LA. This is some truly excellent writing! #audiobook #hoopla
pickReally good read. Interesting and timely. Back and forth between traumatic events for communities in LA.
#bookmail pay day treat 😁 wanted this one since @vivastory review. That doesn‘t imply I‘m reading today though!
so-soI _think_ I recommend this, but I think to non-Black people only. It‘s interesting. But I have to put it in context, and I found it to be cringey, clumsy. I guess the topic of racial violence is clumsy. I wished it had been like, two pages longer, because I hate the loose ends. Some parts were inconsistent. But I liked reading it.
The challenge with being mostly a genre reader is that I tend to expect characters to change over the course of the book. The book does look at how the systems in place to perpetuate anti-Blackness also harm Asian Americans. But Grace, one of the POV characters, never really unpacks or acknowleges her own internalized anti-Blackness.
Content note: murder, racism, a rant filled with anti-Black stereotypes, use of an anti-Asian slur
pickA fictionalised account of the death of Latasha Harlins - this is a powerful novel that brings brutal, honest emotions to the complex web of race relations in LA. It is filled with nuance & understanding of how individuals walk within a racially charged political & social construct. With no simple answers or dualities, this book presents characters as whole, shaped & guided by the communities & contexts that they live in.
Ending my Monday with a half hour on the sofa, the house is quiet and I‘m going to brave the next few chapters of my new book. It‘s soooo good l. But also so new to reality right now that it makes for very difficult reading. 😥.
What are you reading tonight ?
pickA quite timely read. While I distinctly remember the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots I was not at all familiar with the Latasha Harlins murder. This novel uses a fictionalized telling of that case and follows 2 families - 1 African-American, 1 Korean-American - as they grapple with racism and systemic injustice. I thought it was very well done. 👍🏼
pickI enjoyed the book, kept me in suspense and engaged. Interesting perspective on racism
New kinds of private investigators: diverse, kick ass, noir: https://crimereads.com/the-new-wave-of-private-eye-fiction/
#TOB2020
Many people loved both of today‘s books so it will be exciting to see what the judge will come up with. I wasn‘t too big a fan of the tagged one but I loved On Earth We‘re Briefly Gorgeous so my vote goes to that one!
I keep finding myself drawn to books that are a product of these troubled times. Really gripping so far!
Waiting for a job interview so I went to the library and picked up my hold.
feb was a little slow, but I‘m pretty pleased with what i read. loved your house will pay and the holdout. also really enjoyed station eleven and dear edward, although they both definitely had a drawback or two. end of the ocean and conviction were just meh.
pickThis is a literary crime novel with a heavy social justice bend. Based off a true story, Cha has created nuanced characters in a situation with no easy answers. I did feel that the ending wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped, but I think some of the uncomfortable conversations were handled well earlier in the book, so that brings it up to a pick for me instead of so-so.
pickSo I was reading this for the Tournament Of Books 2020 and thought it was thought provoking and belongs in schools as part of the reading curriculum, it is a hard bold face book that asks hard questions about race, about minority hierarchy about the way in which the criminal justice system works
I listened to this as an audiobook and j loved the two narrators for the two main characters.
pickA really great book on Korean/African American relationships in LA. This zeroes in on one fictionalized version of a true story of a Korean clerk who shot an unarmed African American woman in the ‘90s and received no jail time.
The book looks at the lives of the children of the woman and the brother of the girl in the 2000s after everyone else has settled and moved on. A great book exploring vigilante justice and post trauma lives.
Another#ToB library hold came in! #ToB2020
I understand the need for the plastic book covers on library books, but boy do I hate trying to photograph the covers. Yes, that‘s my reflection in the book jacket. #crappybookphotos
pickLoved this. Race relations boil over between a Korean family and a black family in LA. I grew up in the valley and I was charmed by how carefully she crafted its image. I thought it was handled with nuance and delicacy. Highly recommend.
#currentlyreading and already pretty into it at 30 pages. Anyone else read it?
pickAnother one down for the #ToB shortlist. This novel really reminded me of a Jodi Picoult novel. Very tricky ethical/moral situation examined from both sides of the situation. Morality felt a little heavy handed at times and the side characters felt very underdeveloped, but overall the story was pretty gripping. Prose was very to the point and focused on telling the story. Overall a pick even if it wasn‘t a standout for me.
pickThe book, based on 92 LA riots is based on actual incidents that took place at that time though it has fictionalised quite a bit. The story is an interesting intermingling of the different families, of the victim and the perpetrator that in the sequence of events swap their roles, in the end telling the tale of loss, of humanity, of faith and of mourning. It is rich in expressing the myriad of emotions and is beautiful and sad at the same time.
pickToday on the blog we're sharing a review from Emily's dad and plan to make it a regular feature we're affectionately calling The Book Rep[a]rt. 😅
Check out Art's review and share your thoughts on #yourhousewillpay by @stephycha
https://stuckinthestacks.com/2020/02/07/the-book-repart-your-house-will-pay-by-s...
pickBased on true events surrounding the LA riots and more specifically the murder of Latasha Harlins by a Korean convenience store owner (link below for more). This fictional account delves into all sides and how the actions on that fateful day reverberated for years. Highly recommend. 5 ⭐️
https://www.npr.org/2019/10/30/773224075/embers-of-unrest-in-early-90s-los-angel...
pickAn effective and thought provoking look at a shooting, the effect that it has on the families of both the perpetrator and the victim, and the racism underlying what led to the shooting. Told from the perspective of the brother of the victim and the daughter of the shooter, the writing and characterization were on point. Plus, the audio was great.
#tob #tob2020 #tob20
pickSteph Cha's Your House Will Pay is an amazing, powerful, relevant novel. (This is one of those that makes me so grateful for the books I find through the Tournament of Books shortlist!) The book alternates between two families over two time periods in Los Angeles. Grace Park is the younger daughter in a Korean-American family who has always felt that she's in her sister Miriam's shadow. What does Grace have going for her? Loyalty. Steadiness. ⬇️
so-soThe subject of this book (the LA riots in the 90s and the damaging of Korean shops in its aftermath) is interesting and promising. The main characters in the story however feel a bit flat, and the plot lacks depth. I think Cha could have done better, I am interested though in what she will write next. #ToB2020
pickI'm rounding up in my rating (tempted to give “So-So“). The subject matter (race riots and social justice in early-1990s to present-day LA) is serious and important. The story is just OK. I didn't feel drawn to any of the characters (well, maybe Shawn). The connection between the Korean-American Park and African-American Matthews families was interesting. The ending was mediocre.
pickMy first favorite to emerge from #tob2020 - I give it 5 slices of pie! Actually, rounding up from 4 1/2. But so far, my front runner. I have rated MANY 4 slices - which means, I am enjoying this year‘s list quite a bit.
#WeeklyForecast 06/20
I am still working my way to the #ToB shortlist, and hope to read another two this week.
My current read is for #ReadingEurope2020, it is obviously about Armenia and I am almost finished with it.
This novel, based on the murder of Latasha Harlan‘s in 1991, takes us back to the riots in LA and explains why the Korean stores were vandalized and set aflame. (I always wondered about that.) Two families struggle with their part in and consequence of the murder. While the story seemed longer than necessary, it captured the patterns of fear, violence, secrets, racism, and retribution very well. 3.5 stars. #TOB2020
My next up eBook for #TOB #TOB2020 #libraryloan #dueJan29
pickBased on the Latasha Harlins case, in which a Los Angeles shop owner shot and killed a teenage girl, and though convicted of manslaughter spent not a single day in jail. Cha presents a fictionalized version of this case and its effects on the families of both the victim and the murderer. It's about justice and race and family and retribution. It's painfully real, with flawed characters and an absence of easy answers. Recommended.
Finally got this from the library! Chilling at my parents‘ letting them play with the kiddo while I read 😈
so-soI read this read for preparation for tournament of books. This tale of the two different sides of the LA riots and how one decision could change so much for so many. It really opened my eyes to the different races (black and Asian) and how they are persecuted. It was great at first, but it lost me in the middle, but was happy with the moving ending.
#FridayReads
My audiobook hold for Your House Will Pay came in just in time for the weekend. #ToB20 #ToB
And, finishing up the Scythe trilogy. It‘s soooooo good!
pickA racially motivated killing seen from the perspective of family members of both the victim and the killer. This setup allows Cha to explore the ways in which perception of these events, that seem so easy to judge from the outside, change when someone you love is involved. Cha succeeds in making this a compelling novel, instead of merely an author on a soapbox, by giving her characters, and the tragic situation, nuance and humanity. #TOB2020
He hated that perfection was what the world required to mourn her.
pickThis was taut, real and insightful. Perfect
