Live by Night by Dennis Lehane

"'The night,' Joe said. 'Tastes too good. You live by day, you play by their rules. So we live by night and play by ours. But, D? We don't really have any rules.'"
                           -from the novel

This book was chosen for our Page Turners group partly because it was a "book bundle" (several copies available in a set) and partly because the author attended college in our home state of Florida. I must say it is far different than any we have read. The language was strong and the violence was intense with more graphic sex than we are used to seeing. I am giving the book a 4; it was pretty well written, a definite page-turner but not really enjoyable. If this were a movie, you could close your eyes at the bloody, sadistic parts but, of course, that's impossible with a book! A fellow reader described Live by Night as more of a "guy book" and I agree.

Joe Coughlin is the wayward son of a Boston police captain, a self-described outlaw as opposed to a gangster. He gets mixed up with crime boss Maso Pescatore while in the Charlestown Penitentiary. When they are both released, Maso sends Joe to Ybor City in Tampa to run his illegal businesses, rum running and others. It isn't long before Joe finds he has become a gangster. (Outlaws do illegal things, gangsters kill!)

Part I was set in Boston, 1926-1929 but I particularly liked Part II where the action moved to Tampa, FL, 1929-1933. I knew about the cigar industry in Tampa and Henry Plant's Tampa Bay Hotel, called "Plant's Palace" but I didn't know that Ybor City was named for Vicente Ybor, a cigar magnate. I really didn't realize the racism of that time and place, though I should have. There was serious prejudice against blacks and Cubans and a dangerous presence of the KKK. By Part III, Joe is working in Cuba.

Joe was not a respectable citizen but I found myself rooting for him when he found his true love and stood up, at great risk, to the Boss as he refused to kill his longtime friend and right-hand-man. There certainly are plenty of characters to hate in the novel. I look forward to hearing what our group members think about the book tomorrow so I will be back.
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Park Lake Page Turners met this morning, always an enjoyable occasion. The average rating for Live by Night was 3.4, no 5's and no 1's. There was plenty to discuss, in fact with 18 questions from the publisher found on litlovers.com, more than we could get around to. Some talk centered around main character Joe and his seeming to have some good in him which he kept hidden much of the time. We found it interesting to speculate about his upbringing, particularly the loss of his mother, and how he became  an outlaw. Being Floridians, we liked the Tampa setting with Ybor City in the forefront because many of us have been there. We pretty much agreed that Graciela was a refreshing character amidst so many heartless criminals and we thought she brought out the best in Joe. To say much more would possibly spoil the plot so I will sign off here.