Ratings14
Average rating4
From the award-winning author of Wonder Valley and Visitation Street comes a serial killer story like you've never seen before--a literary thriller of female empowerment and social change In West Adams, a rapidly changing part of South Los Angeles, they're referred to as "these women." These women on the corner ... These women in the club ... These women who won't stop asking questions ... These women who got what they deserved ... In her masterful new novel, Ivy Pochoda creates a kaleidoscope of loss, power, and hope featuring five very different women whose lives are steeped in danger and anguish. They're connected by one man and his deadly obsession, though not all of them know that yet. There's Dorian, still adrift after her daughter's murder remains unsolved; Julianna, a young dancer nicknamed Jujubee, who lives hard and fast, resisting anyone trying to slow her down; Essie, a brilliant vice cop who sees a crime pattern emerging where no one else does; Marella, a daring performance artist whose work has long pushed boundaries but now puts her in peril; and Anneke, a quiet woman who has turned a willfully blind eye to those around her for far too long. The careful existence they have built for themselves starts to crumble when two murders rock their neighborhood. Written with beauty and grit, tension and grace, These Women is a glorious display of storytelling, a once-in-a-generation novel.
Reviews with the most likes.
Not one I would have read without a recommendation, but glad I did. Not a murder mystery in the sense that you pretty clearly know who is killing the women early on, and can sense the why, but that's really just the mechanism to talk about “these women's” stories and show the story weaving through each of their perspectives on their own life and same strip of LA (6 in total). I was partial to Feelia's framing story because Queen Bahni Turpin performed the hell out of it, but the main narrator did well. I was more compelled by the story as it went on and each woman's interconnection was revealed. This is a book I won't forget.
Things I liked, and things I didn't-which is true of pretty much all books, really. Well written and painful, which based on the artist character is probably what the author was going for-something that matters.
odd narrative style but i like odd! a few issues with the way the author tried to connect to many things at once which left some of them lacking in depth but enjoyable and interesting anyway
Perfect read for a slow day off. Pochoda does the serial killer murder mystery from the perspective of the women: the mothers, the daughters, the murdered, and one cop who sees the pieces.