Your House Will Pay

This novel begins with the shooting of a black teenage girl in Los Angeles, an event which takes place shortly after the Rodney King beating and which sets off a series of riots. Ava is sent to the corner store to pick up milk one morning. The pregnant Korean shopkeeper accuses her of shoplifting and the argument which follows ends with Ava shot in the back.

Decades later, Ava's brother Shawn has built a life for himself, a steady job, a family and a determination to keep things calm. And Grace is a pharmacist, living with her parents and working in their small pharmacy. Her older sister is estranged from their mother, and no one in the family will tell her why.

Cha has written a novel that directly confronts how racism affects us show more today, and how wounds that are not treated will fester. It's a novel that embraces nuance and uncomfortable areas alike, diving into Korean American culture, and how disenfranchisement and racism fuels violence. There were several moments that made me uncomfortable and Cha didn't flinch from making her characters deeply flawed. This novel gave me a lot to think about. show less

A fictionalized retelling of the very real 1991 shooting of Latasha Harlins. It is a topical read that looks at racism in this country and the difficult relations between Asian and Black Americans. This book was powerfully written and subverts the stereotypical characters by giving them in-depth characterizations that force the reader to look past the schemas they might have been taught to believe, to see the messy humans underneath.

It is commendable how the author performs the balancing act of explaining Yvonne's actions without justifying them, sympathizing without affirming, and also critiques without vilifying.

Not for people who want pithy, feel-good reads to make them feel better about racial tensions. This book is a sucker-punch show more sort of novel that leaves you thinking about the questions its raises long after you turn the final page. show less

"We got our tickets already. We paid for them and everything."

"That don't mean shit."

The genesis of this book is non-fiction: In 1991, Latasha Harlins was shot and killed by a store owner named Soon Ja Du. This sparked all sorts of nationalist and racist tension and violence, naturally contrasted with the racist violence and abuse that the black community in Los Angeles have been subject to for decades. The year after, the Los Angeles Riots occurred.

Cha's book jumps off from that event but expands it into a fictional work that reaches for the sublime. By subtly displaying how humans often interact in different groups—be it in the family, at work, with our loves, other groups of people, the police, the justice system—through means show more of everyday language that would make Mark Twain proud, Cha has made a book that is not only intricate but simple to follow.

The reader is thrown into action and quickly learns who's who. Racial tension is brought to the surface in a way that makes me, a 42-year-old Swedish citizen, taste more than the visceral shocks to the system that Cha's simple and highly effective plot and dialogue generate.

One of the most radiant methods that Cha uses throughout the book is to show how divides are not only created between constructs like "race" and "nationality", but also between family members (e.g. the mother-daughter relationship), in heterosexuality (e.g. how men and women can interact differently than men with only men, and women with only women), in police departments, in the justice system, and even between different eras. Naturally, all of these divides between humans are merely socially constructed, and Cha highlights that fact beautifully.

Miriam was so American she renounced her own mother—a capital crime, pretty much, in a Confucian culture.

The simplicity in the writing is this book's greatest grace and provides the best framing for the story, which is simple and would undoubtedly have foiled, were it not for the author's skills.

The club leader was behind Grace, so close his voice made her jump. “Is there a problem?” The hope on his face was disgusting. Grace willed her sister to keep her mouth shut. Miriam didn’t even hesitate.

“I didn’t come here to drink with the Simi Valley Hitler Youth.”
“We’re not Nazis.”

The way he said it made Grace think he had to make the denial often.

“I’ve never had to clarify that I’m not a Nazi,” said Miriam.

Cha has written a glass onion of a book that is easily read and floats to my mind to and fro, a week after I finished it. show less

Your House Will Pay is a remarkable book. It takes place along two timelines. The first begins shortly before the Rodney King riots when a panicking Korean shop owner shoots and kills a Black girl. She's convicted on manslaughter, but serves no prison time. The second begins twenty-seven years later, when that woman is shot in front of the pharmacy her family now runs, and a cousin of the girl killed years ago pleads guilty to the shooting.

Nothing here is easy. Everyone carries anger and sorrow and resentments and excuses. Every character is flawed in a way that makes the novel ring true and actually makes them easier to identify with than a more "noble" cast might be.

Your House Will Pay has no magic bullets. The characters all have to show more choose among options none of which is completely right or good. Things aren't tied up in a neat bow at the end. But the novel provides readers with a lens they can use to examine our particular historical moment in all its complexities. show less

In the early 90s, LA was a powder-keg of racial tensions, with the beating of Rodney King, along with the riots and vigils that followed. The killing of 15 year old Latasha Harlins, an African American, by a Korean shop-owner, was another explosive incident, that occurred during that period.. This powerful novel, fictionalizes that story, focusing on the families of Latasha and the female Korean shop-owner, taking the reader, from the time of the shooting to the current day, as these people struggle and reconcile, with the aftermath of this horrible tragedy. The names have been changed but the author captures the spirit and inner-turmoil of these fully-realized characters, keeping the narrative well-paced, thoughtful and riveting. show more Highly recommended. show less

A real and powerful look at race relations without ever being preachy. Compelling plot with complex characters and loads of moral ambiguity. Highly recommend.

What is justice? How can we love people who do evil? Can someone be a good person in one realm and evil in another? These are just a few of the pressing questions Steph Cha’ examines in Your House Will Pay. The story opens in 1991, with Shawn, his cousin Ray, and his sister Ava witnessing a riot and getting caught up in the fever. Then it jumps to 2019 where Grace Park meets her sister Miriam at a rally protesting yet another LA Police shooting of an unarmed young man. Meanwhile, the now adult Shawn is picking up Ray who has spent the last ten years in prison.

The narrative goes back and forth from Shawn to Grace. Grace’s sister is estranged from her family and no one tells Grace what happened. Nonetheless, she is determined to stay show more connected to Miriam. Meanwhile, Shawn recognizes that his cousin is both grateful and resentful that Shawn has been there for his wife and kids while he was in prison. Shawn hopes Ray wlll settle down as he did after his time in prison, though Ray seems to be heading back into trouble.

When Grace’s mother is shot right in front of her, the two seemingly separate narratives come together. Along with Grace, we discover that Grace’s mother once shot and killed Shawn’s sister Ava. She was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to probation, changed her name, and seemed to live without repercussions. For Shawn, it was proof that in this country, Black lives don’t matter.

This is not a mystery, even though both Shawn and Grace figure out who shot her mother. The question becomes one of revenge, forgiveness, and justice. Can Grace both love her mother and hate what she did? Will loving her mother make her accept and perhaps become evil? Does shooting Grace’s mother achieve some form of justice, of fulfillment of the past?

This story is compelling. It was hard to put down even though I sometimes was frustrated by Grace’s passivity in the beginning. Both Shawn and Grace live in families that don’t talk about what really matters, that hold things to themselves. Your House Will Payi s full of tough questions and compelling answers.

I received an e-galley of Your House Will Pay from the publisher through NetGalley

Your House Will Pay at Harper Collins
Steph Cha author site
https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/11/02/9780062868855/ show less