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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Two brothers in love with the same woman begins a multi generation saga of Old Los Angeles, 12 Aug 2008
Paloverde begins in Los Angeles in the late 19C and tells the story of Amélie Deane and the two Van Vliet brothers Bud and Vincent (nicknamed 3Vee). Both brothers are in love with fifteen year old Amélie but she can only marry one and she chooses Bud, and heartbroken 3Vee leaves to make his fortune mining. When 3Vee returns he is married with a child, no fortune, but still in love with Amélie. 3Vee gets too drunk at a party and the actions he takes have consequences for himself, Amélie and Bud that carry over into the next generation. There's a whole lot more than that, but it's too complicated to try and detail without writing a full recap, which I don't like to do.
The second part of the book tells the story of Amélie's daughter Tessa and 3Vee's son Kingdon as Hollywood is coming into its own and The Great War is raging in Europe. Kingdon, a flying ace is injured in France and while recuperating from his injuries in Los Angeles meets Tessa by accident and they are surprised to find they are cousins. Sparks fly (of course) and they fall in love, but the long ago actions of Kingdon's father threaten to split apart the two lovers who may or may not be too closely related for marriage, and they are eventually wrapped up in a Hollywood scandal of murderous proportions.
Briskin takes the reader on a grand old multi-generational family saga through old Los Angeles, a shocking court battle against the railroad, the first discovery of oil, the birth of Hollywood and its decadent lifestyle to a final culmination in an airplane stunt for Kindgon's latest movie that threatens to go terribly awry. Although many of the storylines were fairly predictable in how they would be resolved (except for the last one - I did not see that one coming!), I still found the book to be highly enjoyable and had a very difficult time keeping my nose out of it until the very end.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent tale of Los Angeles and early Hollywood, 3 Aug 2008
This book wins on two fronts: it gives a fascinating insight into the development of Los Angeles at the end of the 19th Century, and the emergence of that brash new town, Hollywood; and it is also a great love story, centering first of all around the love of brothers Bud and Vincent van Vliet for Amelie Deane and then of Vincent's son Kingdon for Bud's daughter Tess. I read this book thirty years ago and still love it and re-read it. It is very well-written, the characters are all three-dimensional and I love the history of El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porcunciula (Los Angeles for short), with its railroads, its oil fields, its Santa Ana winds, and its developing movie industry.
It hasn't dated one bit, and if you can get hold of a copy, grab it.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent tale of Los Angeles and early Hollywood, 3 Aug 2008
This book wins on two fronts: it gives a fascinating insight into the development of Los Angeles at the end of the 19th Century, and the emergence of that brash new town, Hollywood; and it is also a great love story, centering first of all around the love of brothers Bud and Vincent van Vliet for Amelie Deane and then of Vincent's son Kingdon for Bud's daughter Tess. I read this book thirty years ago and still love it and re-read it. It is very well-written, the characters are all three-dimensional and I love the history of El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porcunciula (Los Angeles for short), with its railroads, its oil fields, it's Santa Ana winds, and its developing movie industry.
It hasn't dated one bit, and if you can get hold of a copy, grab it.
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by Jaqueline Briskin
by Jacqueline Briskin
