Loisaida -- A New York Story [Kindle Edition]

Loisaida takes us to New York's Lower East Side in the late 1980s. It is in essence a murder mystery (based on a real-life murder), but there's so much more to it than that.

There are more characters than you would easily remember, except that they're so wonderfully drawn that you remember them all. Each has his or her utterly distinctive voice. All are given their due, and all contribute meaningfully to the whole. I've never seen a novelist weave more convincingly.

But the main protagonist is, as you might expect, the title character. "Loisaida" is derived from the Latino pronunciation of "Lower East Side", and the name is carefully chosen. Marion Stein wants to distance us not only from today's Lower East Side, but even from the Lower East Side "known" to outsiders back in the eighties. She wants us to be there. Then.

The whole area has recently moved upmarket, but back in the eighties it was home to the dispossessed and the rootless, to immigrants and junkies. Bohemian at the edges, poor throughout, it was awash with drugs. This is Marion Stein's Lower East Side, and it lives and breathes again in her extraordinary novel.

If Loisaida does not become at least a cult classic, there's something wrong somewhere.

In a moment, I'm going to say a couple of things about this book that you may or may not believe. It doesn't matter. I'm going to say them anyway because I'm convinced they are true. We'll get to that though...

I initially bought this book as a present for someone else. I had no intention of reading it because I thought it was simply a bargain price thriller. Having poked around the Amazon forums for a few months, however, I started to see references to Loisaida which made me think that, actually, there was more to the book than I'd initially assumed. So eventually I gave it go. I read the first couple of chapters and thought I'd maybe misjudged as it came across as a well written, but rather straightforward crime story. However, I then hit chapter three and suddenly it opened out into this unbelievable range of voices, a cast of characters so authentic and distinct from each other that it is hard to believe they were all conceived and written by the same person. There are artisans, junkies, ex-cons, and amidst them all a TV actor trying to become a journalist and searching for his breakthrough story on the lower East side.

There are a lot of characters and you will have to make some effort in keeping up, but believe me when I say it's worth that effort. In the hands of a lesser writer the different voices would have been in danger of becoming a cacophony, but Marion Stein manages to make them harmonise, with narrative overlaps that never leave you wondering what's going on. The New York on display here is reminiscent of that of Arthur Nersesian, Jay McInerney, Hubert Selby Jr. It's rich and evocative and gripping.

Ok, here's my bombshell. I mentioned a couple of authors above. On the evidence of this book, I think Marion Stein is certainly as good as, if not better, than all of them. I know that's a big claim when you consider I mentioned Hubert Selby, but I stand by it. All I can say is I enjoyed this book more than 'Last Exit to Brooklyn', I enjoyed it more than 'Song of the Silent Snow'. There was a vibrancy to the characters in this novel that, in my opinion, Selby never quite matches. I would go so far as to say that if this book had been written twenty years ago, it would now be talked of as a cult classic. It is truly, truly stunning. As I said, you might not believe me, in which case I suggest you try the book and then come back and attempt to tell me why I'm wrong. I'm willing to bet you won't convince me. A tremendous piece of work.

A great book - and I don't mean a great, self-published cheap Kindle book, I mean a great book full-stop. The story is told from multiple perspectives and points of view, and the author has total control over all these voices. The subtitle, "A New York Story" is perfect, because the multiple voices seem like a chorus for the city. Because of these shifts in view point, the book seems initially slightly scrappy, and all over the place, but careful reading reveals every section has a part to play.

The plot itself is strong too, and full of drugs, death, and sex. There's some genuine harrowing and moving scenes, and strong character development (if that's the right word for some of these character's fates).

Recommended if you like edgy literary fiction.