Amy G. (bookloverinoceanport) reviewed on 7/5/2012

The plot of Southland is well crafted and held my interest - I thought it was predictable but there were surprising plot twists at the end that I hadn't foreseen. The past and present are interwoven when Jackie Ishida, a young Japanese American, tries to fulfill a request from her grandfather's hidden will and starts to uncover secrets of his past. I learned a lot about Los Angeles - especially the black and Japanese communities there in the 1940's and 1960's. Some passages are so beautifully and descriptively written that I had to stop and re-read them, but overall I feel the book would have benefitted from a good editor. Much of it rambles and takes away from the story. That being said, I still really enjoyed Southland - it's definitely a good read.

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