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patchworkbunny's review against another edition
5.0
The title refers to the term given to those involved with gang activity in LA. Yet it also reflects on how every becomes involved due to proximity or family ties. The death tolls of the riots didn’t take into account those who died in areas left without emergency services for 6 days, areas where gang related crime when through the roof, where no police presence triggered a free-for-all. All Involved transports the reader to a city that feels like a war zone.
The gang members are portrayed as humans, not stereotypes or bit-part characters to play a part. Told via multiple narrators, there are plenty of people who do things that are unforgivable, yet you can still see them as just people. People who have made some bad choices, who are struggling to survive in a world that is very much survival of the fittest, where fittest often means the most feared. Every time someone’s age is mentioned, it always surprised just how young they all are.
The multiple narration is so well done, with so many distinct voices. It’s not just the gang members who tell their tale, but also emergency services workers and those just trying to protect what is theirs. However there isn’t a sympathetic law enforcement figure included in the narrators.
It’s hard to fathom what would make someone attack a fireman, and in such a brutal manner. They are only there to help people. The connections between people and events runs through the different narratives if you care to make them. The man who attacked the fireman is described only by his scars, and as I read on, I was surprised by the person implied to be the culprit. It is never confirmed but the way they were portrayed completely didn’t fit with the senseless crime. Maybe that’s the point. There is little logic when mob mentality strikes.
In a way, the gangs have their own form of justice but this does result in a never ending cycle of revenge. There is a greater sense of injustice when something happens to those who have stayed out of the gangs. The “you play you pay” mentality means that those involved expect death and violence, but it’s not OK to target those who had a chance at something else. Big Fate’s crew, despite being certain criminals, they at least seem to have that over their rivals. When they kill, it’s not innocent family members, but people that should pay for their crimes.
I read this straight after To Kill a Mockingbird. One would hope in the years between the books, the world would have moved on, but equality isn’t there yet. All Involved may be set in 1992 but we keep seeing the events that kicked off the LA riots happen again and again. It doesn’t really touch on the events that led to the riots, but it highlights that people were living in different worlds, defined by the colour of their skin or the place their grandparents came from. And those are things individuals have no chance to change.
I wouldn’t normally choose to read about gangs, but All Involved will stick with me, I am sure. It’s brutal and shocking, but also shows unexpected tenderness and fierce loyalty.
The gang members are portrayed as humans, not stereotypes or bit-part characters to play a part. Told via multiple narrators, there are plenty of people who do things that are unforgivable, yet you can still see them as just people. People who have made some bad choices, who are struggling to survive in a world that is very much survival of the fittest, where fittest often means the most feared. Every time someone’s age is mentioned, it always surprised just how young they all are.
The multiple narration is so well done, with so many distinct voices. It’s not just the gang members who tell their tale, but also emergency services workers and those just trying to protect what is theirs. However there isn’t a sympathetic law enforcement figure included in the narrators.
It’s hard to fathom what would make someone attack a fireman, and in such a brutal manner. They are only there to help people. The connections between people and events runs through the different narratives if you care to make them. The man who attacked the fireman is described only by his scars, and as I read on, I was surprised by the person implied to be the culprit. It is never confirmed but the way they were portrayed completely didn’t fit with the senseless crime. Maybe that’s the point. There is little logic when mob mentality strikes.
In a way, the gangs have their own form of justice but this does result in a never ending cycle of revenge. There is a greater sense of injustice when something happens to those who have stayed out of the gangs. The “you play you pay” mentality means that those involved expect death and violence, but it’s not OK to target those who had a chance at something else. Big Fate’s crew, despite being certain criminals, they at least seem to have that over their rivals. When they kill, it’s not innocent family members, but people that should pay for their crimes.
I read this straight after To Kill a Mockingbird. One would hope in the years between the books, the world would have moved on, but equality isn’t there yet. All Involved may be set in 1992 but we keep seeing the events that kicked off the LA riots happen again and again. It doesn’t really touch on the events that led to the riots, but it highlights that people were living in different worlds, defined by the colour of their skin or the place their grandparents came from. And those are things individuals have no chance to change.
I wouldn’t normally choose to read about gangs, but All Involved will stick with me, I am sure. It’s brutal and shocking, but also shows unexpected tenderness and fierce loyalty.
yellowhighwaylines's review against another edition
4.0
A throughly engaging and absorbing read which gave a great insight into the lives of various characters in South Central LA during the riots of 1992. Brutal but also hopeful at times.
dr_aimz's review against another edition
4.0
Told from multiple perspectives, All Involved is a visceral and surprisingly moving fictional account of the LA riots in 1992.
When I first heard about All Involved, my interest was piqued: with all the protests about racial injustice across the US, a novel of the 1992 LA riots was timely. However, my interest promptly waned when I saw that the writer was a white middle class man. Despite my conviction that literary texts should not be judged on their writers, I admit to having doubts about the relationship between writer and subject…
Well, more fool me: All Involved is a wonderful illustration of fiction’s power to invoke empathy in the writer and the reader.
I finally decided to pick up All Involved after listening to a couple of interviews with Ryan Gatiss as I was struck by his self-awareness and integrity. (His readings from the novel also helped to reignite my interest; he’s a superb reader.) I was also taken aback by his frank discussion of a violent incident he experienced and how this episode has shaped his writing, as well as giving him common ground with some of those he interviewed about the riots in ’92.
All Involved takes place across the six days of the riots (April 29 to May 4 1992) and, although the narrative is linear, each of the seventeen sections is narrated by a different character. The narrative diversity is technically audacious but also what makes the novel so enjoyable to read. Gatiss consistently manages to create recognisable voices and characters for each of his narrators: quite a feat, especially when some only have a couple of pages to establish themselves. The overall effect means that All Involved reads as a novel, rather than a short story cycle: as the narrative progressed, I easily recognised names and characters who had been previously mentioned and I never felt that I had to ‘start over’ with each new narrator. All Involved’s narrative flows makes it an engaging reading experience as well as adding to an increasing sense of foreboding.
All Involved is an incredibly violent novel – the opening section features the most extreme act of violence in the whole novel – but I think the detail is honest rather than gratuitous: the three narratives from Day One make it very clear how violence begets violence, a cycle that quickly starts to feel inescapable as the novel continues. There is no sugar-coating or glamorising of any kind of violence whether its intentional or accidental, human or institutional.
The narrative is thrilling yet utterly heartbreaking due to Gatiss’s attention to voice and character. I found myself skipping to the end of sections to see if certain characters were going to be okay – something I hardly ever do! The novel predominantly focuses on a Latin American neighbourhood and its main click (led by Big Fate). Like many, I think of the riots as a response to the miscarriage of justice over Rodney King so I was surprised that there are very few black American characters in the novel. Initially, I was slightly perturbed by the absence of black voices but, if anything, I think it highlights the diversity of Los Angeles and the complexities of communities with different histories to and within the US. That said, I would love to ask Gatiss about how his decision to focus on the Latin American neighbourhood came about.
For me, the most brutal section is the recounting of an all-out attack of known gang locations by an unnamed federal task force, led and narrated by an anonymous Vietnam veteran. After becoming immersed in gang culture’s highly personal and complicated web of retribution, the indiscriminate nature of the task force’s attack is shocking. The violent acts committed by various gang members are horrific but the anonymous attack is chilling in its brutality; characters are attacked who we know are not involved. My response to the anonymous section illustrates the empathy at the heart of All Involved: it’s a narrative that refuses to condone or condemn the behaviour or thoughts of its diverse characters – some all involved in gangs, some absolutely not involved – without losing sight of the humanity of these people. With the exception of the anonymous narrative, I would be surprised if anyone who reads All Involved said that they didn’t feel any empathy whatsoever for its characters.
Whilst not a flawless novel, I think All Involved’s strengths overwhelm my concerns (which I won’t go into here as they might be construed as spoilers). I have a strong suspicion that All Involved will be in my Top 5 at the end of the year: I have to love a novel that is both formally inventive and compulsively readable. I can only applaud Gatiss for being ambitious in the choice of subject and for his determination to write with understanding and humanity.
In summary, I’m so glad I got over myself… ;)
When I first heard about All Involved, my interest was piqued: with all the protests about racial injustice across the US, a novel of the 1992 LA riots was timely. However, my interest promptly waned when I saw that the writer was a white middle class man. Despite my conviction that literary texts should not be judged on their writers, I admit to having doubts about the relationship between writer and subject…
Well, more fool me: All Involved is a wonderful illustration of fiction’s power to invoke empathy in the writer and the reader.
I finally decided to pick up All Involved after listening to a couple of interviews with Ryan Gatiss as I was struck by his self-awareness and integrity. (His readings from the novel also helped to reignite my interest; he’s a superb reader.) I was also taken aback by his frank discussion of a violent incident he experienced and how this episode has shaped his writing, as well as giving him common ground with some of those he interviewed about the riots in ’92.
All Involved takes place across the six days of the riots (April 29 to May 4 1992) and, although the narrative is linear, each of the seventeen sections is narrated by a different character. The narrative diversity is technically audacious but also what makes the novel so enjoyable to read. Gatiss consistently manages to create recognisable voices and characters for each of his narrators: quite a feat, especially when some only have a couple of pages to establish themselves. The overall effect means that All Involved reads as a novel, rather than a short story cycle: as the narrative progressed, I easily recognised names and characters who had been previously mentioned and I never felt that I had to ‘start over’ with each new narrator. All Involved’s narrative flows makes it an engaging reading experience as well as adding to an increasing sense of foreboding.
All Involved is an incredibly violent novel – the opening section features the most extreme act of violence in the whole novel – but I think the detail is honest rather than gratuitous: the three narratives from Day One make it very clear how violence begets violence, a cycle that quickly starts to feel inescapable as the novel continues. There is no sugar-coating or glamorising of any kind of violence whether its intentional or accidental, human or institutional.
The narrative is thrilling yet utterly heartbreaking due to Gatiss’s attention to voice and character. I found myself skipping to the end of sections to see if certain characters were going to be okay – something I hardly ever do! The novel predominantly focuses on a Latin American neighbourhood and its main click (led by Big Fate). Like many, I think of the riots as a response to the miscarriage of justice over Rodney King so I was surprised that there are very few black American characters in the novel. Initially, I was slightly perturbed by the absence of black voices but, if anything, I think it highlights the diversity of Los Angeles and the complexities of communities with different histories to and within the US. That said, I would love to ask Gatiss about how his decision to focus on the Latin American neighbourhood came about.
For me, the most brutal section is the recounting of an all-out attack of known gang locations by an unnamed federal task force, led and narrated by an anonymous Vietnam veteran. After becoming immersed in gang culture’s highly personal and complicated web of retribution, the indiscriminate nature of the task force’s attack is shocking. The violent acts committed by various gang members are horrific but the anonymous attack is chilling in its brutality; characters are attacked who we know are not involved. My response to the anonymous section illustrates the empathy at the heart of All Involved: it’s a narrative that refuses to condone or condemn the behaviour or thoughts of its diverse characters – some all involved in gangs, some absolutely not involved – without losing sight of the humanity of these people. With the exception of the anonymous narrative, I would be surprised if anyone who reads All Involved said that they didn’t feel any empathy whatsoever for its characters.
Whilst not a flawless novel, I think All Involved’s strengths overwhelm my concerns (which I won’t go into here as they might be construed as spoilers). I have a strong suspicion that All Involved will be in my Top 5 at the end of the year: I have to love a novel that is both formally inventive and compulsively readable. I can only applaud Gatiss for being ambitious in the choice of subject and for his determination to write with understanding and humanity.
In summary, I’m so glad I got over myself… ;)
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