Review: Compelling Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 26, 2012
I received this book free from Library Thing to read and review. This is not a pleasant novel, but the subject is not pleasant so how can it be pleasant? The story involves a young girl, Hailey Trosclar, living in the seedier sections of New Orleans, but it really could be any city. The Trosclar family is not a "Leave It To Beaver" family: mother totally immersed in herself and her grief over a miscarriage, alcoholic, unemployed father, trouble-maker older brother. It is no wonder that Hailey keeps praying, hoping God will listen to her prayers and make her family well again, but never does get what she prays for. In the story, Hailey looks to a failed preacher, Moses Watkins for some help, but quickly becomes immersed in his evil, twisted ways. This story is very well written and captures the sentiments and atmosphere of the area and characters quite well. Having the story told from the perspective of Hailey in her words only brings out the underlying points the author wants to make about how tough life can be and how a young girl will react to everything going on around her. The story is not very long, but despite this, packs a wallop of a tale. I am not sure it needed to be any longer. I am not sure I wanted to read any more.  What there is gave me enough of a sense of Hailey's life (or of the life of any other person in similar circumstances) to more fully understand what someone like her goes through and why someone might do the things she does. The author provided a lot of concrete images of a life in such environs through Hailey's and others' comments and thought as well as through some rather well done descriptions of the area and things that occurred. I liked this book. I think the author has provided me a good picture of what the Hailey's of the world endure as normal art of life. I recommend more people read it to find out more about a life they do not know and perhaps never will.