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    Southland
    Southland
    Southland
    Audiobook13 hours

    Southland

    Written by Nina Revoyr

    Narrated by Karen Chilton

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Southland brings us a fascinating story of race, love, murder and history, against the backdrop of an ever-changing Los Angeles. A young Japanese-American woman, Jackie Ishida, is in her last semester of law school when her grandfather, Frank Sakai, dies unexpectedly. While trying to fulfill a request from his will, Jackie discovers that four African-American boys were killed in the store Frank owned during the Watts Riots of 1965. Along with James Lanier, a cousin of one of the victims, Jackie tries to piece together the story of the boys' deaths. In the process, she unearths the long-held secrets of her family's history.

    Southland depicts a young woman in the process of learning that her own history has bestowed upon her a deep obligation to be engaged in the larger world. And in Frank Sakai and his African-American friends, it presents characters who find significant common ground in their struggles, but who also engage each other across grounds--historical and cultural--that are still very much in dispute.

    Moving in and out of the past--from the internment camps of World War II, to the barley fields of the Crenshaw District in the 1930s, to the streets of Watts in the 1960s, to the night spots and garment factories of the 1990s--Southland weaves a tale of Los Angeles in all of its faces and forms.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateNov 26, 2019
    ISBN9781980067559
    Southland
    Author

    Nina Revoyr

    Nina Revoyr is the author of four previous novels, including The Age of Dreaming, which was nominated for the LA Times Book Prize; Southland, a Los Angeles Times best seller and "Best Book" of 2003; and Wingshooters, which won an Indie Booksellers' Choice Award and was selected by O, The Oprah Magazine as one of "10 Titles to Pick Up Now." Revoyr lives and works in Los Angeles. Lost Canyon is her latest novel.

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    Reviews for Southland

    4/5

    44 ratings3 reviews

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    • 4/5
      It's pretty good historical fiction/mystery, about Japanese American and African American history in LA. It's told in three time periods; the 40's, covering WWII and internment camps; the Watts Riots, and then 1994. The story did hold my interest, and an interesting setting, but at times I felt that Revoyr tried to do too much, and the story could have been told with fewer characters and details. The lesbian sup-plot seemed like an add-on that didn't add a lot. I did like the historical detail. I was especially interested in the parts about the experience of Japanese American GI's.
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars. Family saga, mystery, crime drama, with a bit of romance thrown in.After Frank Sakai's death, his daughter Lois finds an old will naming someone she doesn't know, and a box of memorabilia. She tasks her niece, Frank's granddaughter Jackie--with figuring out what it's about. Jackie learns a lot about her grandfather--his life when interred, his WW2 experiences, his store, his community (Angeles Mesa), his family, his friends. She also finds out all about what happened during the Watts riots.This book is interesting and worth the read, and I especially liked the real places referenced. I found the romance to be an odd distraction in the story--unless the idea was to contrast a current relationship with a historic relationship?
    • 5/5
      I am so impressed with this author. She brings the hidden history of this country to life. The hidden history of gays and lesbians, of Japanese-Americans, African-Americans, And what is so amazing is that she tells a compelling story...while her novels are truly educational they succeed as fiction.This novel works on so many levels for me--intellectual, emotional, and spiritual. I found it very inspiring in all kinds of ways.