Helpful Score: 1
Told from the point of view of 16 year old Hailey in modern day New Orleans, Dirty Little Angels hits you in the gut with every gritty detail this girl reveals about herself, her family and her life. Her story is the story of many young girls, but Chris Tusa makes this novel pop with his use of graphic, sometimes nauseating, visual imagery and the quick wit of the characters' dialog. The characters are wholly believable and I wanted to know more about their lives, more about what made them make the choices that they made. Tusa only hints at motivations, letting the reader evaluate why the characters act as they do and where their flaws (and strengths) originate. This novel is a fine example of contemporary Southern literature and I look forward to reading Tusa's next effort. Recommended.
Disclosure: This book was given to the reader by the publisher/author in exchange for an objective review.
Disclosure: This book was given to the reader by the publisher/author in exchange for an objective review.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this fast-paced, quick read. Chris Tusa's descriptions are some of the best I have read in a long time--giving you enough details to accurately picture a scene without ever venturing into too much description and not enough action. I really felt that the author accurately described how these people really live, and was extremely impressed by how he portrayed the difference in how each character interacts with the other characters. In my opinion, the contrast in how each character acts to the others is the most impressive characteristic of Chris Tusa's writing. I was excited to find out the resolution of the plot, and hope to read other works by this author in the future.
Helpful Score: 1
A southern family flails away at life, losing sight of all that is important - their love for each other. But what a warped and wicked ride before they realize that all they strive to escape is what holds them to this earth. No body is a saint in New Orleans.
Helpful Score: 1
"The baby was a white fist of flesh." - Chris Tusa
From this first sentence to the last, sixteen year old Hailey tells the reader a story that is both incredibly vivid and descriptive about life with her family. Her mother is resistant to overcoming the pain from her miscarriage, and her father is drunk and jobless, leaving Hailey and her older brother to raise themselves.
Hailey struggles with her beliefs in God while her brother denies God completely. He is in and out of trouble and heading down the wrong road with a bad older crowd. Hailey shakes her magic eight ball for answers, but will the eight ball lead her down the right path or will she become a dirty little angel?
The book starts out very slow and while very descriptive, it lacks writing skills. The story is set in 2009, but gives off an impression of an older era. Dirty Little Angels was a decent debut novel, but a very obvious first attempt at writing a book. There were too many choppy sentences, not a lot of depth to the writing, and too much focus on descriptive words.
Somewhere in the middle, Hailey grew on me and by the end of the book I wanted to hear more of what she was going though. However, right as the story hit its climax, it just ended, unfinished. I can only hope there is a sequel or else I will be left with many unanswered questions.
From this first sentence to the last, sixteen year old Hailey tells the reader a story that is both incredibly vivid and descriptive about life with her family. Her mother is resistant to overcoming the pain from her miscarriage, and her father is drunk and jobless, leaving Hailey and her older brother to raise themselves.
Hailey struggles with her beliefs in God while her brother denies God completely. He is in and out of trouble and heading down the wrong road with a bad older crowd. Hailey shakes her magic eight ball for answers, but will the eight ball lead her down the right path or will she become a dirty little angel?
The book starts out very slow and while very descriptive, it lacks writing skills. The story is set in 2009, but gives off an impression of an older era. Dirty Little Angels was a decent debut novel, but a very obvious first attempt at writing a book. There were too many choppy sentences, not a lot of depth to the writing, and too much focus on descriptive words.
Somewhere in the middle, Hailey grew on me and by the end of the book I wanted to hear more of what she was going though. However, right as the story hit its climax, it just ended, unfinished. I can only hope there is a sequel or else I will be left with many unanswered questions.
What I found interesting when looking at the reviews quickly at Amazon, was that a few had compared it to To Kill a Mockingbird. It has been too long since I read the classic Harper Lee novel to make a comparison myself. The author himself had mentioned it being similar to The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides. But I think they are rather different.
The one thing that DLA does is bring in a realistic look at the grimy world. As absurd as on might think things are in novels, you must remember that a lot of times truth is stranger then fiction. This book depicted a family that is falling apart, where members are in trouble on various levels, whether with others, or struggling to make ends meet, or the law itself. In a quick, but well produced story, Mr. Tusa tells a chilling tale of life in one of these troubled families. As much as you might cringe reading some of the things the characters do and go through, there are probably many that have gone through very similar circumstances.
The book is rather short. It's 170 pages, and the font was rather generous in size, as were the margins. But in many respects, this is a good thing. There are too many first time authors out there, especially in some genres (:::cough::: fantasy :::cough:::) that write these 600 page debuts. What is worse, they are only book one of a series. Its refreshing to see someone just tell a good, if dark and grimy, story, and leave it be. He described what he needed to, in well written prose, but didnt dwell. No see-my-writing-chops passages here. And the characters, for the short time they were there, had enough room to develop their own voice and personality. The story is first person from Hailey, and I personally would have liked to see deeper into her psyche. But given the length of the book, and what seemed to be the goal, her development was certainly good enough.
Even through the issues and many flaws of the characters, I found myself liking them. It comes back to the realism. Haileys brother Cyrus comes across as a thug. But given his desire and actions to take care of Hailey, you can see the conflict behind him. All the characters have that effect, even if some are annoying. Its part of their character and they play a significant role.
I think this is a very good start to what could be a very good career. I am looking forward to Mr. Tusas next novel.
The one thing that DLA does is bring in a realistic look at the grimy world. As absurd as on might think things are in novels, you must remember that a lot of times truth is stranger then fiction. This book depicted a family that is falling apart, where members are in trouble on various levels, whether with others, or struggling to make ends meet, or the law itself. In a quick, but well produced story, Mr. Tusa tells a chilling tale of life in one of these troubled families. As much as you might cringe reading some of the things the characters do and go through, there are probably many that have gone through very similar circumstances.
The book is rather short. It's 170 pages, and the font was rather generous in size, as were the margins. But in many respects, this is a good thing. There are too many first time authors out there, especially in some genres (:::cough::: fantasy :::cough:::) that write these 600 page debuts. What is worse, they are only book one of a series. Its refreshing to see someone just tell a good, if dark and grimy, story, and leave it be. He described what he needed to, in well written prose, but didnt dwell. No see-my-writing-chops passages here. And the characters, for the short time they were there, had enough room to develop their own voice and personality. The story is first person from Hailey, and I personally would have liked to see deeper into her psyche. But given the length of the book, and what seemed to be the goal, her development was certainly good enough.
Even through the issues and many flaws of the characters, I found myself liking them. It comes back to the realism. Haileys brother Cyrus comes across as a thug. But given his desire and actions to take care of Hailey, you can see the conflict behind him. All the characters have that effect, even if some are annoying. Its part of their character and they play a significant role.
I think this is a very good start to what could be a very good career. I am looking forward to Mr. Tusas next novel.
