Out of the Easy

OUT OF THE EASY

RUTA SEPETYS

It’s 1950, and as the French Quarter of New Orleans simmers with secrets, seventeen-year-old Josie Moraine is silently stirring a pot of her own. Known among locals as the daughter of a brothel prostitute, Josie wants more out of life than the Big Easy has to offer.
She devises a plan get out, but a mysterious death in the Quarter leaves Josie tangled in an investigation that will challenge her allegiance to her mother, her conscience, and Willie Woodley, the brusque madam on Conti Street. Josie is caught between the dream of an elite college and a clandestine underworld. New Orleans lures her in her quest for truth, dangling temptation at every turn, and escalating to the ultimate test.

With me, historical is almost never an option. I get hung up over inaccuracies, bored with the technology, or frustrated with the way they speak (this is the reason Old Yeller is my bane, besides the dog d- never mind). How did Ruta Sepetys get past this? No, seriously, I'm getting worried that there was some kind of brain control magic in this book.

The point is, this book defied my usual ways. I found the first chapter on Figment (http://figment.com/) and was like 'meh'. Y'know, prostitutes, history, the south... not my thing. Then I went on a trip to a city with more stores than five, and found it. I was like, meh, prostitutes, history, the south, money to burn... Sure, I'll get it.

Best. Book. Decision. In. My. Life.

I fell in love with the characters after probably three sentences. They felt so in-depth, so real. I get annoyed really fast with stencil-characters (more on those later), but there weren't any. It's like Sepetys grabbed someone off the street, stole their personality and every detail of their life and put it on paper. In a good way. Okay, some of them suddenly disappeared, though. That was kind of annoying. Frankie showed up, like, twice. There was so much moooooooooorrreeee!

It's kind of hard to define the plot. That's neutral, not good or bad. It's more like a snippet (a snappet, it was long) of Josie's (the main character) life. And there were so many elements (especially by the end) that it was hard to tell what was going on. And who's dead anymore? I mean, there were a bunch of dead people.

Oh, and then there were the emotions. Sepetys, were you trying to make me cry? Like, three times over? My tear ducts were dry by the end of the book. How do you do that, Sepetys, what are your secrets?!

So, basically what I mean to say is go buy the book. And cry. And laugh. And cry some more. You will not regret it unless you find the topic of prostitutes too hard to swallow.

~ Corinne