pennyluisa's review against another edition
2.0
I had this book as my "to read" for awhile. When I started reading I wasn't sure why I picked this book. Its nice that there is an Asian American woman protagonist leading the story (and a mystery novel at that). The author tried to weave the Asian fetishization aspects to the story by sharing her feelings towards photos she came across when she was searching for evidence. Overall the story felt cliche.
johnnyb1954's review against another edition
1.0
Did not finish. Too many Chandleresque elements where the author keeps pointing out, "Hey look, this is something you'd see in a Phillip Marlowe story". Unbelievable plot points. Many distracting long descriptions of irrelevant things. Overuse of similies intended to sound like Chandler but not succeeding.
shelleyrae's review against another edition
3.0
Post-modern pulp mystery perhaps? I'm not exactly sure how to describe Steph Cha's debut novel, Follow Her Home. It introduces Juniper Song, a Gen Y, Korean/American with little ambition and an obsession with Raymond Chandler's hard boiled PI, Phillip Marlowe. When her best friend, Luke, asks her to follow the woman he suspects is having an affair with his father home from a party she is eager to emulate her idol's investigative success. But when Song gets too curious during her stakeout she is knocked unconscious, then discovers a body in her trunk and finds herself at the mercy of a psychopath determined to protect his employer's secrets.
Follow Her Home begins with a simple case of suspected adultery but slowly descends into a tangled web of family dysfunction, murder, blackmail and racial fetishism. This quirky mystery has plenty of dark twists to entertain the reader, though few are unpredictable. Still, the potential is there for Cha to go off script which she does on at least two memorable occasions, both of which I thought redeemed the plot. There is some elasticity in the credibility of events, not the least being Song's reluctance to involve the police the moment she found a dead body in her car.
Told in the first person, Follow Her Home also establishes Juniper's back story - her relationship with her immigrant single mother, her friendship with Luke and Diego and the tragic fate of her sister, Iris. The flashbacks are sometimes disruptive but are the only means we have to learn about Song and her drive to act as an amateur sleuth, despite being so woefully out of her depth.
The ending of Follow Her Home is as bittersweet as any of Marlowe's cases, Song may solve the mystery but not without a personal cost. While I didn't fall in love with this story or it's protagonist, I liked it's unusual edge and I'm interested to see how Steph Cha builds on it.
kiskadee321's review against another edition
3.0
I could not put this book down. A friend saw me reading Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep last summer and recommended I check out Steph Cha's book. I kind of enjoyed The Big Sleep, but wasn't over the moon. Although I enjoy P.I. movies, something about Chandler's literary private eye didn't sit right with me -- plus that sort of requisite femme fatale character and Marlowe's fear/hatred of women bothered me.
I hesitated for over six months to pick up Follow Her Home. It was so much more enjoyable than The Big Sleep. Maybe it's because I find Song, a twentysomething woman, much more compelling and relatable than any Marlowe could ever be to me. It does everything that noir should do without the drawbacks of some of the older works (which I know that Ms. Cha is a fan of). Even better, it's a mystery with an ending that is satisfying.
Great work, Ms. Cha. I will definitely be on the lookout for any future adventures of Song.
I hesitated for over six months to pick up Follow Her Home. It was so much more enjoyable than The Big Sleep. Maybe it's because I find Song, a twentysomething woman, much more compelling and relatable than any Marlowe could ever be to me. It does everything that noir should do without the drawbacks of some of the older works (which I know that Ms. Cha is a fan of). Even better, it's a mystery with an ending that is satisfying.
Great work, Ms. Cha. I will definitely be on the lookout for any future adventures of Song.
dreesreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wordnerdy's review against another edition
2.0
http://wordnerdy.blogspot.com/2013/02/2013-book-67.html
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I’m usually graceful when I review first time novelists, so while there was a lot that annoyed me about Steph Cha’s debut, I generally enjoyed it and am going to lean mostly on the positives.
I love hard boiled/noir fiction. Apparently, so does Steph Cha and her main character (and author ancillary) Junipero Song. The book is littered with references to Chandler, Macdonald and Hammett, three of the greats (Macdondald is my personal favorite). I’m not sure it made the book great but it appealed to this reader.
Cha fancies her Junipero Song character a private eye in the Marlowe fashion, so she has her get invested in the typically simple case that turns out not to be all that it seems. Our heroine has to deal with sketchy characters, red herrings, and getting knocked out a few times (in the grand tradition of all PI novels), moving through the shady streets of LA with only gumption as her aide.
One big reason to read this book, aside from what I wrote above, is the perspective of a Korean woman instead of yet another white guy. Cha address racism, specifically the fetishization of Asian women by white men, and the effects that has on Korean womanhood. It’s not something I read about often in mystery fiction and, while I was aware of this particular strain of racism, I didn’t know enough about the impact it has on Asian (specifically Korean women). So it was good to learn.
There are a lot of negatives with this book: it’s poorly paced, the dialogue and characters could use some major work, Song’s backstory is interspersed throughout the narrative as a way to make the two cases look similar and I get why Cha did that but it takes from the momentum she builds in her story. Cha may admire Chandler but she is a long way to finding her own voice as a writer. These things combined prevented me from giving the book my standard grade 4-stars.
But I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I like Cha’s taste in writing and I think she’s on to something, even if it needs fine tuning. I’ll check out more of this series.
I love hard boiled/noir fiction. Apparently, so does Steph Cha and her main character (and author ancillary) Junipero Song. The book is littered with references to Chandler, Macdonald and Hammett, three of the greats (Macdondald is my personal favorite). I’m not sure it made the book great but it appealed to this reader.
Cha fancies her Junipero Song character a private eye in the Marlowe fashion, so she has her get invested in the typically simple case that turns out not to be all that it seems. Our heroine has to deal with sketchy characters, red herrings, and getting knocked out a few times (in the grand tradition of all PI novels), moving through the shady streets of LA with only gumption as her aide.
One big reason to read this book, aside from what I wrote above, is the perspective of a Korean woman instead of yet another white guy. Cha address racism, specifically the fetishization of Asian women by white men, and the effects that has on Korean womanhood. It’s not something I read about often in mystery fiction and, while I was aware of this particular strain of racism, I didn’t know enough about the impact it has on Asian (specifically Korean women). So it was good to learn.
There are a lot of negatives with this book: it’s poorly paced, the dialogue and characters could use some major work, Song’s backstory is interspersed throughout the narrative as a way to make the two cases look similar and I get why Cha did that but it takes from the momentum she builds in her story. Cha may admire Chandler but she is a long way to finding her own voice as a writer. These things combined prevented me from giving the book my standard grade 4-stars.
But I think the positives outweigh the negatives. I like Cha’s taste in writing and I think she’s on to something, even if it needs fine tuning. I’ll check out more of this series.
julieb's review against another edition
4.0
"A man in a smart blue suit and polished brown oxfords leaned on the corner of the 850’s closed trunk, his feet crossed jauntily at the ankles, relaxed as a lizard on a rock."
Steph Cha's use of language is magnificent.
And it's like she swallowed Marlowe and spit him out modern LA badass.
"My dreams were miasmic tarantulous things full of sticky voices and glinting teeth, but they dissolved in the morning sun without aftertaste."
It was, for me, a tough read, dense and slow going. I'm glad I loved her latest so much. I read The Big Sleep this year (maybe last) and I like the modern Chandler much better! I will, however, read everything she writes.
Steph Cha's use of language is magnificent.
And it's like she swallowed Marlowe and spit him out modern LA badass.
"My dreams were miasmic tarantulous things full of sticky voices and glinting teeth, but they dissolved in the morning sun without aftertaste."
It was, for me, a tough read, dense and slow going. I'm glad I loved her latest so much. I read The Big Sleep this year (maybe last) and I like the modern Chandler much better! I will, however, read everything she writes.