amberunmasked's review against another edition
5.0
As a friend of the author, I could easily blow smoke up your butt and say only great things about all his work. That's not how I am as a book reviewer. I can be extremely harsh on people that I have personal relationships with.
That being said, Young Americans is Stallings' best work. His trilogy series went into dark places. Young Americans was a feat in how Stallings could address similar subject matter (sex work, relationships, drugs, etc.) and make it far more palatable. It's also a much better approach to having female protagonists that don't need saving. Beautiful, Naked, & Dead tried but the female lead there wasn't likable. Not like the women of Young Americans which includes a TWoC in that trio of leading ladies.
There were a couple of twists in Young Americans that I didn't see coming. Main character Sam is everything that defines a hero even though she fucks up constantly. She's loyal to her family (blood and chosen family); she's street smart; she's flawed. She admits when she made a mistake and has a hard time trusting people or their plans. She accepts who she is without blaming her upbringing as the daughter and granddaughter of thieves. A curvy young woman called "big boned" by some shouldn't feel like such a rare characteristic for readers, but that's the "Hollywood" thin-is-always-in world of entertainment. Sam breaks that mold as does Valentina, one her closest friends and crime partners.
Speaking of Valentina - the relationship that develops between her and one of the boys (a previously identified cisgendered het white male) is well done, smooth, hits bumps in the road, and feels normal. Terry figures out his feelings and after falling for Val, he doesn't declare any new identity, sexual or otherwise. It's the groovy 70's and all that matters is love.
That being said, Young Americans is Stallings' best work. His trilogy series went into dark places. Young Americans was a feat in how Stallings could address similar subject matter (sex work, relationships, drugs, etc.) and make it far more palatable. It's also a much better approach to having female protagonists that don't need saving. Beautiful, Naked, & Dead tried but the female lead there wasn't likable. Not like the women of Young Americans which includes a TWoC in that trio of leading ladies.
There were a couple of twists in Young Americans that I didn't see coming. Main character Sam is everything that defines a hero even though she fucks up constantly. She's loyal to her family (blood and chosen family); she's street smart; she's flawed. She admits when she made a mistake and has a hard time trusting people or their plans. She accepts who she is without blaming her upbringing as the daughter and granddaughter of thieves. A curvy young woman called "big boned" by some shouldn't feel like such a rare characteristic for readers, but that's the "Hollywood" thin-is-always-in world of entertainment. Sam breaks that mold as does Valentina, one her closest friends and crime partners.
Spoiler
Speaking of Valentina - the relationship that develops between her and one of the boys (a previously identified cisgendered het white male) is well done, smooth, hits bumps in the road, and feels normal. Terry figures out his feelings and after falling for Val, he doesn't declare any new identity, sexual or otherwise. It's the groovy 70's and all that matters is love.
ianayris's review
5.0
Josh Stallings is one of the very few authors whose books I have to seek out and devour the moment they are published. His Moses McGuire novels are some of the best, some of the most raw, crime fiction you will read, and his autobiographical All the WIld Children is amongst my top three favourite books I have ever read. So when I got an early opportunity to read Stallings' latest novel, it had a lot to live up to. And of course, live up to, it did.
You see, Stallings can write. Blimey, can he write.
I'd like to illustrate that now. For a great part of this year, I have been lecturing in Creative Writing, helping two classes of adults to write a novel. I don't wish to put myself out of a job here - times being what they are, and all that - but if you want to know how to write a novel, read Josh Stallings. That's all you have to do. What I have spent nine months talking about, Stalings shows. Time and time again.
Lets start with Time and Place - two fundamentals of writing a novel. In YOUNG AMERICANS the time is 1976, the place, California, specifically San Francisco. Stallings brings both place and the era to life as only one who has lived through it can. It is easy to throw in a few references to the music of the time, the clothes, politics, etc. But these alone do not convince. What a writer needs is to capture the mood. To capture the mood, you need to capture the rhythm - the beat. Stallings manages these effortlessly.
Then there are the characters. Take the following, for instance. A description of the main protagonist - Sam - the grandaughter of a safe cracker, the daughter of a thief:
Sam sat in a camp chair wrapped in her sleeping bag. She was a big girl, with the kind of curves that started wars. Zaftig. Out of fashion. The Thin White Duke, David Bowie, made looking underfed fashionable. You could count every one of supermodel Margaux Hemingway's ribs. Sam's body was luxurious. It said screw you, have a burger and relax awhile. Her glitter platforms jutted out of black satin jeans. Her hair was cut in a spiky shag, just like Suzi Quatro. It was a blonde-red. Shiny. Her body, her stature, demanded a wider view of what a glitter rocker could look like. Not that anyone wanted an ass-kicking enough to screw with her about her size.
In these lines, Stallings conveys everything you need to know about Sam. That is how to describe a character.
All the characters in YOUNG AMERICANS - every one - is a solid, living being, each with their own journey, their own purpose. Even the minor characters are drawn with such a fine pen, they leap from the page and promise to smack you in the face if you for one second doubt their right to live and breathe as you and I.
And the dialogue . . . the dialogue . . . Elmore Leonard eat your fucking heart out . . . The dialogue crackles and spits like pig fat on an open fire. It's just brilliant.
As for the plot, it twists and it turns, and twists again. This time, this place, these characters, Stallings wraps the plot around them, and they just go at it.
In the hands of a writer like Stallings, YOUNG AMERICANS becomes more than a simple heist novel. it becomes a novel of need, of love, of love friendship - all set to a glitterball beat.
It is a truly brilliant novel.
You see, Stallings can write. Blimey, can he write.
I'd like to illustrate that now. For a great part of this year, I have been lecturing in Creative Writing, helping two classes of adults to write a novel. I don't wish to put myself out of a job here - times being what they are, and all that - but if you want to know how to write a novel, read Josh Stallings. That's all you have to do. What I have spent nine months talking about, Stalings shows. Time and time again.
Lets start with Time and Place - two fundamentals of writing a novel. In YOUNG AMERICANS the time is 1976, the place, California, specifically San Francisco. Stallings brings both place and the era to life as only one who has lived through it can. It is easy to throw in a few references to the music of the time, the clothes, politics, etc. But these alone do not convince. What a writer needs is to capture the mood. To capture the mood, you need to capture the rhythm - the beat. Stallings manages these effortlessly.
Then there are the characters. Take the following, for instance. A description of the main protagonist - Sam - the grandaughter of a safe cracker, the daughter of a thief:
Sam sat in a camp chair wrapped in her sleeping bag. She was a big girl, with the kind of curves that started wars. Zaftig. Out of fashion. The Thin White Duke, David Bowie, made looking underfed fashionable. You could count every one of supermodel Margaux Hemingway's ribs. Sam's body was luxurious. It said screw you, have a burger and relax awhile. Her glitter platforms jutted out of black satin jeans. Her hair was cut in a spiky shag, just like Suzi Quatro. It was a blonde-red. Shiny. Her body, her stature, demanded a wider view of what a glitter rocker could look like. Not that anyone wanted an ass-kicking enough to screw with her about her size.
In these lines, Stallings conveys everything you need to know about Sam. That is how to describe a character.
All the characters in YOUNG AMERICANS - every one - is a solid, living being, each with their own journey, their own purpose. Even the minor characters are drawn with such a fine pen, they leap from the page and promise to smack you in the face if you for one second doubt their right to live and breathe as you and I.
And the dialogue . . . the dialogue . . . Elmore Leonard eat your fucking heart out . . . The dialogue crackles and spits like pig fat on an open fire. It's just brilliant.
As for the plot, it twists and it turns, and twists again. This time, this place, these characters, Stallings wraps the plot around them, and they just go at it.
In the hands of a writer like Stallings, YOUNG AMERICANS becomes more than a simple heist novel. it becomes a novel of need, of love, of love friendship - all set to a glitterball beat.
It is a truly brilliant novel.
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