Southland. Nina Revoyr
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More critical praise for Southland:
“Fascinating and heartbreaking…an essential part of L.A. history.”
—L.A. WEEKLY
“Compelling…never lacking in vivid detail and authentic atmosphere, the novel cements Revoyr’s reputation as one of the freshest young chroniclers of life in L.A.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“The plot line of Southland is the stuff of a James Ellroy or a Walter Mosley novel…But the climax fairly glows with the good-heartedness that Revoyr displays from the very first page.”
—LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW
“If Oprah still had her book club, this novel likely would be at the top of her list…With prose that is beautiful, precise, but never pretentious…”
—BOOKLIST (starred review)
“Subtle, effective…[with] a satisfyingly unpredictable climax.”
—WASHINGTON POST
“An engaging, thoughtful book that even East Coasters can enjoy.”
—NEW YORK PRESS
“Southland is a simmering stew of individual dreams, family struggles, cultural relations, social changes, and race relations. It is a compelling, challenging, and rewarding novel.”
—CHICAGO FREE PRESS
“What makes a book like Southland resonate is that it merges elements of literature and social history with the propulsive drive of a mystery, while evoking Southern California as a character, a key player in the tale. Such aesthetics have motivated other Southland writers, most notably Walter Mosley.”
—LOS ANGELES TIMES
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to real events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published by Akashic Books
©2003 Nina Revoyr
Design and layout by Sohrab Habibion
Cover photo ©2003 John Dohrmann, all rights reserved
Author photo by Leslie Barton
ePUB ISBN-13: 978-1-936-07048-0
ISBN: 1-888451-41-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2002116775
All rights reserved
Akashic Books
PO Box 1456
New York, NY 10009
My heartfelt thanks to Dan McCall, Maureen McCoy, Lamar Herrin, and Kyoko Uchida for their insightful comments and suggestions about this book. Thanks also to Stephanie Vaughn for her unbending support; Alison Lurie for providing an office and refuge; Morna Pixton for her lucky table; Patsy Cox for always believing; Johnny Temple and the folks at Akashic for their enthusiasm and commitment; and Jennifer Gilmore for raising the bar.
I’m grateful to my agent, Tim Seldes, as well as to the Saltonstall Foundation and the Astraea Foundation. I am also indebted to several historical works and their authors: Keith E. Collins, Black Los Angeles: The Maturing of the Ghetto, 1940-1950; Carolyn Kozo Cole and Kathy Kobayashi (eds.), Shades of L.A.: Pictures from Ethnic Family Albums; Warren S. Rogers, Mesa to Metropolis: The Crenshaw Area, Los Angeles; John Tateishi (ed.), And Justice For All: An Oral History of the Japanese-American Detention Camps; and Arthur C. Verge, Paradise Transformed: Los Angeles During the Second World War.
Finally, I want to express my deep gratitude to Lauren Sanders. Had she not shown up on my doorstep in L.A., needing a place to crash, this novel might never have found a home.
In memory of my grandparents and Janine Werner
Contents
TITLE PAGE
CHAPTER NINE: 1994
CHAPTER TEN: FRANK, 1942–1948
CHAPTER ELEVEN: CURTIS AND ALMA, 1961
CHAPTER TWELVE: 1994
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: FRANK AND CURTIS, 1963
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: 1994
CHAPTER FIFTEEN: KENJI, 1955
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: 1994
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: CURTIS AND ANGELA—1962, 1963
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: 1994
CHAPTER NINETEEN: FRANK, 1976
CHAPTER TWENTY: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: JIMMY, 1963
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: LOIS, 1965
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: CURTIS—1963, 1965
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: 1963
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: VICTOR, 1942–1955
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: 1994
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: 1945
CHAPTER THIRTY: 1994
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: FRANK, 1985
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: 1965, 1994
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: 1965
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: 1994
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: JULY, 1946