- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: W&N; First Edition edition (14 Feb 2008)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 029785366X
- ISBN-13: 978-0297853664
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 747,016 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
"Set in 1967, two years after the incendiary Watts riots, Blonde Faith subsumes racial tension into Easy's anguished search for absolution without losing the rhythm of Mosley's effortless, compelling prose." (FINANCIAL TIMES )
"his compact dialogue continues to sparkle and his scene-setting is as skilful as ever... if it looks easy, it's probably not." (THE SCOTSMAN )
"his compact dialogue continues to sparkle and his scene-setting is as skilful as ever... if it looks easy, it's probably not." (THE SCOTSMAN )
Book Description
Easy Rawlins is back in an electric new story and facing his greatest set of challenges to date
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Writers like Graham Green and Raymond Chandler developed easy-to-read styles that can only be achieved with great difficulty and skill. They also had an innate sense of mortality, of life's built-in decay, the hopelessness of desire and the perpetual motion of compromise. Walter Mosley is up there with them, and his depiction of black American life, and 1950s Los Angeles in particular, opens up s fresh seam of rich insights.
"Blonde Faith", the 10th Easy Rawlins tale, could well be the his last so read it slowly, as you would eat a meal to die for. It's a gripping story, of Easy coming to the aid of his dangerous old fried Raymond "Mouse" Alexander, wanted for a crime he did not commit. Negotiating a labyrinth of greed and viciousness against a backdrop of personal loss and racism, it brings an integral sadness underneath the joy of the narrative.
Another source of sadness is the fact that Hollywood has only made one Easy Rawlins movie, the excellent "Devil in a Blue Dress [DVD] [1996] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]". Anyone who has seen that will imagine Denzel Washington when Easy slides on to a page, or a gold-toothed, glittering-eyed Don Cheadle when Mouse struts his stuff. Why only one Easy Rawlins movie? It's not just Hollywood that's missing out, but the rest of us too. As a matter of fact Washington and Cheadle are at just the right age to reprise their roles for "Blonde Faith". Keep your Fingers crossed...
In the meantime, read this book, carefully and slowly, because we don't know whether Easy will ever pass by again. If it's your first Easy Rawlins, read the others. If you've read them, run down everything else by Walter Mosley, even the science fiction, and you won't be disappointed. He's never less than interesting.
"Blonde Faith", the 10th Easy Rawlins tale, could well be the his last so read it slowly, as you would eat a meal to die for. It's a gripping story, of Easy coming to the aid of his dangerous old fried Raymond "Mouse" Alexander, wanted for a crime he did not commit. Negotiating a labyrinth of greed and viciousness against a backdrop of personal loss and racism, it brings an integral sadness underneath the joy of the narrative.
Another source of sadness is the fact that Hollywood has only made one Easy Rawlins movie, the excellent "Devil in a Blue Dress [DVD] [1996] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]". Anyone who has seen that will imagine Denzel Washington when Easy slides on to a page, or a gold-toothed, glittering-eyed Don Cheadle when Mouse struts his stuff. Why only one Easy Rawlins movie? It's not just Hollywood that's missing out, but the rest of us too. As a matter of fact Washington and Cheadle are at just the right age to reprise their roles for "Blonde Faith". Keep your Fingers crossed...
In the meantime, read this book, carefully and slowly, because we don't know whether Easy will ever pass by again. If it's your first Easy Rawlins, read the others. If you've read them, run down everything else by Walter Mosley, even the science fiction, and you won't be disappointed. He's never less than interesting.
Format:Hardcover
The 11th instalment in the Easy Rawlins series was a long time coming but Mr Mosley had to develop one more crowd pleaser. Keeping in tune with the book's title as the central character being sought, we had a familiar but strong multi-line search for more than one. However, the Blonde of the title was not who I thought it was going to be.
Easy's Rawlins Teflon-like coat of a Private Investigator badge and almost psychic knowledge of good versus evil suddenly opened my eyes to an obvious fact: at some point things were not going to go his way.
His perma-loss of Bonnie formed the background of his daily thoughts and actions; even when he tried to forget her. I felt almost sorry for Easy as he approached the inevitable and ultimate loss. As he lost he also gained: a longtime friend's child nearly became his, a new woman to love and an extension to his family.
The ending though predictable was not quite how one expected. Surreal, sad, unbelieveable but timely, since the advent of Gone Fishin until now, Easy Rawlins, PI, reigns supreme.
Easy's Rawlins Teflon-like coat of a Private Investigator badge and almost psychic knowledge of good versus evil suddenly opened my eyes to an obvious fact: at some point things were not going to go his way.
His perma-loss of Bonnie formed the background of his daily thoughts and actions; even when he tried to forget her. I felt almost sorry for Easy as he approached the inevitable and ultimate loss. As he lost he also gained: a longtime friend's child nearly became his, a new woman to love and an extension to his family.
The ending though predictable was not quite how one expected. Surreal, sad, unbelieveable but timely, since the advent of Gone Fishin until now, Easy Rawlins, PI, reigns supreme.
Format:Hardcover
"'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." That's what they say. I'm not sure that Easy Rawlins would agree in this tenth installment in the series.
Easy found out in Cinnamon Kiss that Bonnie had betrayed him sexually to help get treatment to save Feather's life (his adopted daughter). Easy couldn't handle the knowledge and cut off relations with Bonnie by sending her away. As Blonde Faith opens, Easy is not so easily living without her.
Easy has a private detective job in 1967 to find and talk to a teenage runaway. He succeeds in taking her off the streets after some pretty aggressive action with her "protector." Returning home, Easy finds that eight-year-old Easter Dawn has been left without explanation by the dangerous Christmas Black. Easy decides to find Christmas to figure out what's going on. A call to Etta Mae lets Easy know that Mouse is wanted for murder by the police and that Mouse is also missing. Etta Mae asks Easy to find him.
With a loaded plate that causes heartache, Easy also learns that Bonnie is about to marry her African prince. Although Easy shouldn't care, he does. From there, Easy is an emotional basket case who lives mostly by instinct rather than by wit. That's too bad because some dangerous characters are at play.
The trail to Christmas and Mouse leads Easy across some very beautiful and accommodating women. Can they distract him from his grief?
The beauty of this book is the nuanced way that Walter Mosley captures the subtle changes in white-black relations of those days as some white people are made more suspicious and resentful in the post-riot years while others genuinely want to ignore color in favor of doing the right thing. Easy is gifted with an ability to identify the orientation of others from a mile away, and he takes full advantage of both those he can and cannot trust. But sometimes, he's still too trusting.
This book shows a different side of Easy, a man being pushed to the edge. If you want the scared superhero Easy, you may not enjoy seeing him act more like a normal, fallible person. Like many of the best novels, this one raises more questions than it answers. If you don't like choices like "the lady or the tiger," you'll be less fond of this book than I was.
I was particularly impressed by how well Mr. Mosley developed the theme of "love hurts" throughout the story and for so many of its characters.
The book's main weakness is a tendency to make many of the new characters into either angels or devils. People are a little more similar than that. As a result, this is more like reading an epic than a mystery novel.
Easy found out in Cinnamon Kiss that Bonnie had betrayed him sexually to help get treatment to save Feather's life (his adopted daughter). Easy couldn't handle the knowledge and cut off relations with Bonnie by sending her away. As Blonde Faith opens, Easy is not so easily living without her.
Easy has a private detective job in 1967 to find and talk to a teenage runaway. He succeeds in taking her off the streets after some pretty aggressive action with her "protector." Returning home, Easy finds that eight-year-old Easter Dawn has been left without explanation by the dangerous Christmas Black. Easy decides to find Christmas to figure out what's going on. A call to Etta Mae lets Easy know that Mouse is wanted for murder by the police and that Mouse is also missing. Etta Mae asks Easy to find him.
With a loaded plate that causes heartache, Easy also learns that Bonnie is about to marry her African prince. Although Easy shouldn't care, he does. From there, Easy is an emotional basket case who lives mostly by instinct rather than by wit. That's too bad because some dangerous characters are at play.
The trail to Christmas and Mouse leads Easy across some very beautiful and accommodating women. Can they distract him from his grief?
The beauty of this book is the nuanced way that Walter Mosley captures the subtle changes in white-black relations of those days as some white people are made more suspicious and resentful in the post-riot years while others genuinely want to ignore color in favor of doing the right thing. Easy is gifted with an ability to identify the orientation of others from a mile away, and he takes full advantage of both those he can and cannot trust. But sometimes, he's still too trusting.
This book shows a different side of Easy, a man being pushed to the edge. If you want the scared superhero Easy, you may not enjoy seeing him act more like a normal, fallible person. Like many of the best novels, this one raises more questions than it answers. If you don't like choices like "the lady or the tiger," you'll be less fond of this book than I was.
I was particularly impressed by how well Mr. Mosley developed the theme of "love hurts" throughout the story and for so many of its characters.
The book's main weakness is a tendency to make many of the new characters into either angels or devils. People are a little more similar than that. As a result, this is more like reading an epic than a mystery novel.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Love Hurts
"'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." That's what they say. I'm not sure that Easy Rawlins would agree in this tenth installment in the series. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2008 by Donald Mitchell
Love Hurts
"'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." That's what they say. I'm not sure that Easy Rawlins would agree in this tenth installment in the series. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2008 by Donald Mitchell
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