Phenomenal writing, story, narration

Rage tore through the streets of LA following the infamous "Rodney King verdict" - the acquittal of a gang of police officers who were captured on videotape brutally and with reckless abandon beating an unarmed man within an inch of his life. Your House Will Pay is the story of a black family and a Korean family whose lives were forever changed during this period. The novel captures the tension and insanity of that horrible moment and brings into focus the damage wrought by the violent eruption following the King verdict.

In Your House Will Pay, Cha highlights the oppositions that existed in the LA community--oppositions seeded by racism and oppression. As the story unfolds, we see the ways the tragedies and injustices are woven into divergent life stories and ultimately complicate the truth of innocence and guilt.

Cha's a phenomenal storytelling captures aspects of both black and Korean family life with knowledgeable care. Narrators Glenn Davis and Greta Jung bring the stories to life. Davis's performance is particularly notable as he allows fluid and natural black English intonation that stays true with shifting between standard and vernacular, yielding a style that sounds authentic His voice is relaxing, easy to listen to and never sounds over performed. Jung's performance of Korean, and Korean accented English is also very natural and never mocking or awkward.

Both in the language of the characters and in the unvaling of their lives, Cha refuses the easy temptations of stereotyping and reduction, creating rich characters who inhabit complex worlds peopled with humans--no martyrs, no villains. She portrays characters' realistically complicated attitudes toward race and towards the justice system, towards family and faith. The story also effectively illustrates some of the ways incarceration impacts families.

Cha also provides an honest treatment of the competing courage and vanity, commitment and ambivalence that are quite real among well-meaning youthful justice warriors.

Cha's powerful writing will open your heart to lives you may think you cannot imagine. Through her masterfully moving and vivid language, you will see. Your House Will Pay lays bare the impacts violence and hatred while simultaneously inviting readers to consider the impacts of the violence and hatred of turning away from injustice (and the irony of turning away under the privileged protection of injustice).

Step Cha's story, beautifully performed by Glenn Davis and Gretta Jung, is a story for America today.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Cannot abide the female narrator

I am going to have to return this audiobook and purchase the print edition. So far, I find the story compelling and the writing beautiful. The male narrator does a fine job, and I find myself gritting my teeth until he returns. I find the female narrator’s character voices annoying to the point of distraction. I’m giving up.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Looking for more Steph Cha!

I loved this book!!! Steph Cha's writing is beautiful and insightful. And the narration by Glenn Davis and Greta Jung was perfect and allowed me to visual the story as if I was watching a movie. I'm now also looking for more books narrated by Greta Jung just to hear beautiful voice and perfect diction.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Amazing and captivating...until the end.

Totally hooked on the story and the amazing prose. However, the ending is abysmal. I understood the powers of a good, irresolute ending, but this needed more closure.

Not bad

Steph Cha does a decent job of providing conflicting racial perspectives on the murdering of the main characters' family members. It fell a bit flat for me on the Black experience but overall, I appreciated Cha elevating the Latasha Harlins murder from the 90s and providing a Korean perspective on it.

Great points of view

A story on racism from both points of view. I thought it was well written and gave the readers a lot of insight and a lot to think about. The book was well read by 2 different people, making it that much more interesting. I'm definitely glad that I listened to this book.

Brilliant production of excellent book

Cha’s book is riveting from page one. This production with Greta Jung and Glenn Davis is spot on. I don’t know who has the idea of having alternating voices, but it works wonders to create suspense and to move with the book’s intensifying energy. Spectacular!

Beautifully Written

Beautiful prose makes a book that's topic I wasn't sure I'd like, a story I liked very much.

Must Read

I don't know if you can say you enjoy a book about racism and gun culture, but this book was excellent. The characters were really well done and the story was riveting from the very start. I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narrators did an great job.

Great story, meh production.

The mix on lines they clearly slugged in are way off and there are at least half a dozen lines from the book missing.