House Boy

Overall I found this an engaging and compulsive read that felt realistic and a dark but important narrative.
I didn’t give it a higher rating because overall I couldn’t get into it as much as I thought I would-the writing at times felt too chunky and wasn’t neither complex enough for the complicated subject nor stark and simple enough for the raw cruelty needed of the story.
I see it says it’s based on a true story and another reviewer said there’s a documentary that could have been the inspiration for this-I will be looking into this further because I did find the true events very tragic and also sadly very important in our current timeline of still terrifying and horrific happenings to other races and sexualities.
I will probably reread it soon and also feel it would be a great suggestion for my book club, because it’s intense and powerful but also a wonderful conversation started on race, religion, and overall treatment and conversation of privilege.
I felt the abuse was graphic but a kind of necessary head on, if it had been a swift, few sentences it wouldn’t have had enough grip and bite to this book that, overall, did need just an extra nipping gnash to have more weight to it in terms of the writing.
The story, pace, characters were all fine-the development of them wasn’t deep enough and although the different characters a chapter worked at times, sometimes it just didn’t…
it was well written in moments like the abuse and the Indian chapters, but then often it felt too simplistic at times and not the kind of raw, stinging prose that is stripped down-that can really work for short, brutal chapters, this, however, was often just simple prose until the abuse and suffocating situation.
I thought the Indian chapters were wonderful and had such vivid, forming breath to them and if those and the abuse chapters could’ve been all the way through I think it would’ve stuck with me more.
However all in all this story will be one for me to discuss with friends and also a terrible situation that will make me go and research the events more,.

House Boy by Lorenzo DeStefano was a challenging read. At times it felt more like a documentary/magazine article than a fiction/novel. The book is generally well-written, but for my taste, the story is not as well constructed as it could have been. The plot unfolds in a linear fashion when, for better effect, there could have been parallel plots unfolding from different characters' persectives and a more colourful use of memories/flashbacks. It's challenging for the reader when the writer uses dreams/inspirations as the primary tool for discovering a crime; this genre seems to require a higher level of authenticity than literary fiction.

It's a depressing story, nearly unbelievable, gory and shocking, but part of the reality we live in. DeStefano describes in exquisite English the most horrendous events and draws you in a world you'd prefer not to know.

I rarely use terms such as 'unputdownable' in my reviews but on this occasion it is the perfect adjective to describe this book. It is hugely powerful, and I can confidently say that it is the best book that I have read this year.

I devoured it over the course of a weekend and made the big mistake of finishing it in bed one night as I could not get to sleep afterwards. There was so much to process, and aspects of the story were going through my mind for ages.

As a film director, Mr. DeStefano has imbued this novel with a cinematic feel through vivid imagery of Vijay's world. According to IMDB it is in development to be turned into a screen play.

This is his debut novel and I hope he will produce more fiction. He is an excellent storyteller and has written a book which is thought-provoking and powerful and which I think everyone should read.