Six Easy Pieces : Easy Rawlins Stories

Rating:
Summary: Great lead character, not much else.
Review: "Easy" Rawlins is a black WWII vet with a jones for the streets, but in SIX EASY PIECES he's gone straight more-or-less, working as supervisor of maintenance at Sojourner Truth High School. He's even got a family, two adopted kids he's rescued from abuse (Feather, a mulatto six-year-old and Jesus, a seventeen-year-old) and a live-in lover, but because of his street reputation people from the black community still come to Easy for help. Easy is not in it for the money; he truly cares about his people.
The "six pieces" in the title are short stories revolving around the same setting. It's 1964 Los Angeles and Easy must take on cases the police disdain because they occur in a dangerous part of town. The first story "Smoke" deals with a smoke-bombing of Sojourner Truth, which Easy eventually traces to a gambling debt.
Throughout the first several stories, Easy is haunted by his friend Mouse's murder. Easy feels responsible since Mouse was helping him on one of his cases. Easy has a feeling the notorious Mouse is still alive. Easy is also upset about his live-in lover Bonnie, a stewardess who may have had an affair with a black politician she met during a tour of Africa. Easy feels inferior to the man.
Outside of Easy, Mosley doesn't have much of a flair for character development. Jesus works on his sailing boat; that's about it. Bonnie tries to convince Easy she still loves him. The plot lines of the various stories are rather pedestrian. "Amber Gate" is about the murder of a young prostitute; Easy takes the case as a favor for his shoemaker who promises him a new pair of shoes (worth $200) if he'll help prove a friend of his is innocent. Easy traces the crime to a hobo who hated black prostitutes who mess with white men. "Amber Gate" is unique in that there is no closure to the story.
I chose this book because of the structure. I didn't really like the first Mosley book I read, but with short stories what's the harm? The same thing happened to me once with Ed McBain. I hadn't been impressed with the 87th Street novels until I read three of them, one after the other. Been hooked ever since. Not the case with Mosley.

Rating:
Summary: Picking Up The Pieces
Review: A now mellower Easy Rawlins has a stable job, a beautiful home, and a wonderful family. So by most people's standards, he should be content, but this is not the case for two particular reasons. First, he is still mourning the death of his best friend, Mouse, who was a staple in Easy's life. Secondly, since Easy is a man who craves danger, adventure, and the thrill of the chase, living a quiet, normal life is boring to him.

As an easygoing man, he likes to help others, and when trouble comes knocking, he answers. The latest trouble surrounds a bomb that explodes at the school where he is employed. Easy's love for the children makes him determined to get to the bottom of things. But the bombing has a domino effect and as the events unfold, he is continuously placed in harms way. Easy faces a cast of original characters and some new shady and interesting ones, all of whom keep him on his toes.

SIX EASY PIECES: EASY RAWLINS STORIES, Mosley's latest book, treats readers to seven different Rawlins' adventures, with Easy as the common thread. Mosley has a way of taking readers along on the adventures and this makes his stories even more interesting, and this one comes highly recommended.

Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks
THE RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: Being Black in 1955 Los Angeles
Review: A powerful statement about being a black guy in 1955 when the law treated you as either irrelevant or guilty. Similar to his other books in the Easy Rawlins series, this is an engaging character who struggles to make his way through the game of life with the cards he's been dealt.

Rating:
Summary: OVER EASY
Review: Fans of the Easy Rawlins Series will be thrilled with this collection of seven short stories, six of which were culled from previous works and one that is original. This collection of short stories are unified by several common threads. First, we have Easy's attitude of grief and guilt over the death of his friend Mouse. Second, Easy's relationship with his girlfriend, Bonnie, is on the rocks. He isn't sure if he is the man for her. Third, we find Easy's deep concern over his adopted son, Jesus, who has dropped out of school. Add all of those elements together and you have a novella with intriguing possibilities. The short stories stand alone but taken as a whole the reader sees another side of Easy.

Although it was fun to re-read material published before, I had moments of disappointment with this volume. The constant repitition of facts that you already knew was an annoyance as you moved from story to story. In many cases the story ended to abruptly with you wondering how did Easy get from point A to point B so quickly? In truth I wished that this volume had been an entirely new collection of Easy stories and not just a compilation of older ones. Don't me get me wrong. The book is good but fans of Easy's deserve something new and fresh.

Readers who are unfamiliar with Easy will find great collection for them to whet their appetites for more of his adventures. Those of us who are oldtime fans will like the work for its collector's value and will yearn for something new from the author's pen.

Rating:
Summary: 7 Easy cases in 6 Easy Pieces
Review: I love me some Easy Rawlins! When Walter Mosley let loose another round with Easy I was there to pick up the pieces; Six Easy Pieces.

Six Easy Pieces is a book of seven different stories reminding fans of who Ezekiel Rawlins is (as if we had forgotten) and what he does that makes us love him so. Mosley shows us a forty-four year old man who over time has become a senior janitor at Sojourner Truth Junior High School, a property owner, the father of two, and the lover of one. Despite all of that, each story has a friend needing his help and in spite of himself Easy ends up in the middle of all the action.

Mr. Mosley moves Easy easily through the city of Los Angeles and the rest of Southern California. He is involved with a little bit of everyone doing a little bit of everything. In the story Smoke, Easy investigates arson at his school, in Crimson Stain he investigates the death of a prostitute who found religion, in Lavender he is chasing after a Black boy with his nose wide open behind a flirtatious rich White girl, and in Gray Eyed-Death his past comes bursting back on the scene with a vengeance. These are just four of the seven exciting stories.

Easy Rawlins fans will enjoy this book because Mosley gives you small pieces of Easy and his friends in well told stories and good pacing to keep you reading until the end. This is especially good for those who want to satisfy a small itch but have limited time to read a whole Easy Rawlins Mystery. Those who haven't read Easy Rawlins Mysteries before will get recaps to bring you up to speed but will probably find yourself needing to read the other books to get a complete picture. (And that is not a bad thing.) Walter Mosley does it again and I just want him to keep doing it over and over and over again.

Kotanya
APOOO BookClub

Rating:
Summary: A great series!
Review: Six Easy Pieces is the second book of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins mysteries that I have read. I know that I am late in the series, but I love the character Easy Rawlins. I will read the other books in the series at some point. You are either a fan of the series or you are not and for those of you who are and want to know what happened to Mouse Easy's bet friend you should pick up Six Easy Pieces and find out in the six short stories.

Reviewed by Aiesha
Of The Detroit-RAWSISTAZ

Rating:
Summary: Walter Mosley Does It Again
Review: Six Pieces is a must get for any true Easy Rawlins fan. It has suspense Is or Isn't Mouse alive? It has drama What's going with Bonnie? This is a true wonderful book. No wonder Walter Mosley is my favorite author.

Rating:
Summary: Revealing, enlightening, engaging!!
Review: The best thing about this book is the prose. The author has a fantastic style. This a magical book that adresses racism, betrayal, and dignity. It keeps you glued to your seat reading well into the night as you follow the protagonist, Easy Rawlins, as he discovers himself after a midlife crisis. Mosley has done it again! And I look forward to his next book. I hugely recommend this book, all of his books. And if you're looking for a few other great titles, look no further than these, Buckland's Hot List: most creative, The Butterfly: A Fable (Singh); most engaging, The Alchemist (Coelho); most interesting, Life of Pi (Martel); most enlightening, 9-11 (Chomsky); most thrilling, The Lovely Bones: A Novel (Sebold); and finally, the most creative, engaging, interesting, enlightening and thrilling book of all, The Little Prince (Saint-Exupery). These are the books I'd recommend to my family, friends, students, and wife. There are many more, trust me, but these are the first that come to mind (for having left an impact slight or proud as it may be). If you have any questions, queries, or comments, or maybe even a title you think I should add to my list, please feel free to e-mail me. I'm always open to a good recommendation. Thanks for reading my brief but hopefully helpful review. Happy reading. Donald S. Buckland.

Rating:
Summary: Gotta read this if you want to know what happened to Mouse
Review: The seven short stories are definitely easy to read, and it's a pleasure to once more be in the company of Easy Rawlings. Here's a chance to finally find out what happened to Mouse, and to catch up on Easy, Feather, Jesus, and Bonnie. 6 Easy Pieces is not as engaging as the earlier books in the Easy Rawlings series; there is not the sense of place and time conveyed in those novels. Still, you won't be sorry you read this book, if you're a fan of Easy Rawlings.

Rating:
Summary: Easy does it.
Review: This was a much welcomed gift to us Easy fans from Walter Mosley, Even though the stories were all published in reissues of his previous works, they seem to flow smoothly. Dead or alive, Mouse has to be one of the most intriguing characters in Mystery Fiction today, aside from Ezekiel Rawlins. This is a must have for true fans, but WARNING; it will leave you ready for more.