Steffan PiperReseñas

A book where you want to know what happened to the characters next.

It was OK, but I expected more (probably from reading the Curious Incident of The Dog in the Night)...

This was a sad tale of a neglected kid and his journey on a Greyhound bus. The main character meets all sorts of people and experiences quite a bit on his journey. It is both sad and hopeful. You can't help but root for happiness for the young man.

Loved this book - easy read but a real feel good. Great for YA and book clubs. A coming of age story that shows how one person can make a huge difference in the life of another. Don't want to give too much away!

NWE!! Our book club selected this book to read. Two of our members, Melanie and Cheryl were posting about the book, and all of a sudden the author chimed in! He left a detailed message about the story that was very enlightening. The story is very autobiographical, and he did have a Greyhound experience, complete with a "Marcus". He is now raising his son in California. It was wonderful to hear his story, and it makes the book even more heartbreaking!

This is Piper's follow up to Greyhound, which I loved. This book finds "Ranes" living with his mother and step-father in Alaska. Having just graduated High School he is at loose ends and basically a hot mess. Circumstances have him joining the Marines, where he tests extremely high for intelligence and also seems to test in ways that intrigue and confound the brass - to me it seems like he has a disconnect with personal relationships and other personality traits that might make him a great soldier/Black Ops kinda guy... (I kept thinking of Huck from Scandal...). The book follows him thru basic training, D.C and Desert Storm. I found the book both fascinating and frustrating - I wanted him to succeed, to be happy, to never go back, overcome his horrible childhood, "to get right".....maybe the next book?

The quirky cover and noting that magic era - the 1980s - in the blurb persuaded me to take a chance on Steffan Piper's novel (well, that and the bargain basement price). Overall, the story didn't disappoint, either - Sebastien's cross-country adventure with Marcus on a series of Greyhound buses is well paced and quaintly nostalgic (Hall and Oates, though?)

The only part of the novel which didn't quite work for me is ironically the greater part of any work of fiction - the narrative voice. 'Sebastien Ranes' just does not sound like an eleven year old boy, especially one with a fractured education, raised by disinterested parents. Harper Lee made Scout's first person narration work in To Kill A Mockingbird by telling a child's story through the reminiscences of a grown woman, but Piper can't even claim to be attempting that gimmick with Sebastien, who charts his journey from California to Pennsylvania using mature words and phrases that just don't gel with a child's perspective. I managed to 'read past' Sebastien's unnerving narration, but feel that the story suffered without the charming naivete of a youthful 'voice'.

I really enjoyed this book. I once took this exact route on a Greyhound so it was neat to relive some of the stations and stops along the way.
The book starts out with an 11 yr old boy being ditched by his not so great mother to ride across the country alone to live with his grandma. He has many adventures along the way and makes a good friend, Marcus. Marcus helps him with little thoughts and lessons that help him put his life into perspective. I found this book to be sweet and full of good advice for life.It takes place over a period of 3-4 days so you get pretty good descriptions of the people, places and thoughts that happen throughout the book. I look forward to any more books this author may put out

A contemporary Huck Finn with a trip on a Greyhound Bus from California to Pennsylvania taking the place of the raft ride down the Mississippi. Sebastian Raines is a 12-year-old boy whose mother dumps him on the bus to go live with his grandparents back East while she runs off to wed her latest boyfriend and get him out of her life. On the way Sebastian encounters all kinds of adventures - including crazy drivers and a would-be child molester. He's protected from these dangers by Marcus, a wise black man, who is fresh out of prison but who has lots of worldly wisdom to impact to young Sebastian Raines. Anyone who's taken a long bus ride knows how boring they can be, but it's amazing how interesting and insightful the journey with Sebastian proves to be.

Easily one of the best books I've read for awhile. I fell in love with so many characters, hated a few. Was totally absorbed in the storyline and wish for more. Recommended for everyone.

At eleven years going on twelve, Sebastian is put on a Greyhound bus in Stockton California, the start of a three day two thousand mile journey to his grandparents in Altoona, Pennsylvania, by his self-interested mother; she no longer has time for him now that she is about to marry - again. Sebastian is, not surprisingly, somewhat apprehensive as he embarks on his solo expedition, bewildered not just by what the next three days might have in store for him, but also as to why he is yet again being deserted by his mother. But all is not bleak, at least he feels secure in knowing that his grandparents will welcome him; and in addition to charming all the ladies en-route with his cute good looks and polite manners, Sebastian soon teams up with a the most unlikely travelling companion, the young and black Marcus, just released from an eight year jail term.

This unusual alliance will prove to be Sebastian's salvation in more ways than one on this marathon journey that crams in more action and disasters than any youngster should have to endure in his entire childhood, let alone in just three days. Marcus proves to be a wise and loyal friend, helping Sebastian with more than just the journey, but helping him understand himself and his plight, and equipping him as best he can for the future. Sebastian learns a great deal about human nature both in its darker and in its more positive forms.

Sebastian narrates the events of his epic journey, and if there is a criticism of the book it is that this is not the narration of an eleven year old boy, but that aside the story is told with a keen sense of observation and often with a little humour. It reveals humanity in all its forms, and provides a fascinating picture of what was once the Americans' preferred means of distance travelling. Sebastian comes across as a likeable and very natural boy. I found this a most enjoyable and compelling read.

I did receive this book as an early review copy...and I loved it! It was an easy read, and you really felt as if setting it down was interrupting the "trip". I would recommend this book!

Synopsis:
Sebastien Ranes’s mother is no good; she chain smokes cigarettes, smells like a soggy ash tray, and cares more about her pretty dresses and shoes than she does for her own son. Oh, and she is getting remarried to some deadbeat who doesn’t want Sebastien around anymore. So, at the age of 12, Sebastien is placed on a Greyhound bus in California by his mother, and he is headed to live with his grandparents in Pennsylvania. He has to make this three-day trip alone. Just when Sebastien thinks his life will only be filled with disappointment, he meets Marcus, a black, ex-convict who becomes his guide and protector. Along the way, Sebastien learns that while there are some totally appalling creepers out in the world—pedophiles, racists, everyday impatient jerks, there are also some unlikely folks in the world who have guidance and understanding to offer.

My Thoughts:
I liked Sebastien, but I didn’t sympathize with him as much as I thought I would; he did have such a terrible childhood, after all. I felt like more could have been done to develop his character. I understand he’s a boy of few words (he has a stuttering problem which began shortly after a traumatic event that happened two years prior) which is why getting into his thoughts is so important. Unfortunately, half the time he seemed to be more concerned with the taste of the air from sitting so close to the bathroom than anything else. Readers finally catch a different facet of Sebastien towards the end of the book when he’s two bus stops away from his destination.

I absolutely loved Marcus though. He’s just one cool dude. He’s wise. His life experiences cause him to “be real” with Sebastien. He never sugar coats things. But, there is another side of him that surfaces every now and then that fills Sebastien and the reader with hope that not all things in the world are bad. I enjoyed watching the relationship develop between the two. While there were many serious conversations, there were also a few conversations that made me chuckle.

My favorite by far:

“Well, I guess there’s no harm. Yes, I’m from L.A.” He was leaning in close now. “A place most people call the ghetto.” His voice had dropped to almost a whisper.
“Really?” I replied, wide-eyed. “I once lived in a place with my mom and one of her boyfriends called The Grotto.”

A lot of “Holy Crap!” events occur throughout this book which helped break up what could have been an otherwise incredibly boring bus trip. That’s not to say these events were just thrown into the book just for the heck of it; I thought they were relevant to the storyline. I just wish these events had been fleshed out a little bit more. In parts of the book when not much is going on, Piper takes the time to draw the reader in with passages that appeal to the senses. But it seems like the same consideration isn’t taken during all the commotion.

Overall, I really did enjoy the book. I appreciated the premise of the story. Having it take place during a three-day bus trip cross-country was pretty neat; surprisingly, a lot can happen in three days (and in such a confined space too). Many of the characters introduced to Sebastien’s life (regardless of how briefly) were heartwarming, ensuring that the 12-year-old got to his destination safe and sound. Also worth noting: while Greyhound is “adult fiction” I think many young adults can enjoy this book too.

* I won this book from the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

From the moment I started reading Greyhound, I was hooked by the main character, a 12 year old boy about to board a bus across America alone so that his mother's new husband won't have to raise a child that isn't his own. Sebastian is a wonderful character- naive and sensitive and astonishingly open-minded given his situation. It is so telling that is he surprised every time an adult reacts take-aback by his mother's decision to pack him off to PA on a bus; he apparently expects nothing better.

The characters Sebastian meets along the way are extremely colorful, but not outside the realm of possibility, especially on such a long bus ride. I know some reviewers have taken issue with the series of dramatic events on the journey, but I've known Greyhound bus trips involving a police reception, shootout and subsequent arrest, followed by bus breakdown due to engine fire (and that was just on a 5 hour ride!) In fact, for anyone who has ever ridden Greyhound for anything other than a DC-NY-Boston run, this story will bring a smile and a shudder for its accuracy.

There were some places where the prose was awkward, and some grammar errors that grated (not sure how the editor missed them) but these were niggling irritations that did not detract from the strength of the story. Sebastian is a wonderful character- flawed and vulnerable and oh-so-appealing. This book was an impressive debut effort; I hope we see more from this author.½

Yellow Fever is a self-published book by Steffan Piper sent to me for review by the author some weeks ago. As such, I have gone into more plot detail then usual, as you are unlikely to come across the version I have read.

The story is about denial, obsession and its consequences. Don’t expect weepy mismatched love or hopeful redemption but do anticipate a skilful portrayal of one very mixed up complex woman who in many ways is bigger then the novel. Qianqian (pronounced chin-chin) is a young Asian woman, who is a stripper and lap dancer. We meet her, debating the rules for her first working appointment outside of the strip club. She thinks along the lines of you can knock at the door but not open it. Well that her intention but by the end of the evening she is knocked, opened and well and truly entered. Result: large dollop of spending money, duped boss, suckered self and betrayed boyfriend.

She may be a working girl but Steffan is no Richard Gere. (The hotel room she goes to is from the Pretty Woman film so clearly warning no fairy-tale endings as echoed throughout the book by references to The Princess Bride, a 1987 film which Steffan loves and Qianqian hates). He is Los Angeles cop involved in dodgy official undercover telephone tapping and illegally writing anonymous celebrity gossip. Oh and divorced from his Korean wife (an ex stripper) who happens to be Qianqian best friend. We are definitely in the underbelly of American Life.

A core of the unfolding tragedy is that Steffan thinks he knows the worse that Qianqian can be-he is mistaken. By the end of the story, her behaviour results in the death of one lover and the ruin of another, her parents reject her (Incidentally, this scene is very powerfully written) and she is on her journey to being a headline corpse.

The structure of the novel is a series of mainly well-written scenes told from both Qianqian and Steffan’s perspective as their lives cross and part over several months. You find out about their back-stories as they meet other characters or play bedroom games. This results in detailed characterisation that has the fascination of car crash TV.

But does it work? Yellow Fever has some minor flaws and two serious flaws. Clearly, still work in progress explains the sprinkling of typos and the irritating initial rash of film star names or the overlong chess references. (NB sport like cultural references assume that the reader shares the same knowledge, if they don’t that’s an audience lost!) One personal niggle for me is page 15 where Steffan talks about a Felixstowe described as being known for its Norman Churches…on the eastern seaboard! Please, it’s a run down Victorian seaside town, home of one the biggest ports in Europe on the East Coast. And did we drink Earl Gray in the 1980’s?

The serious flaws are its lack of resolution and audience focus. Part of this for me is calling the main character after the author. This sets up a dashed expectation that the novel is going to about the act and art of writing as in a John Barth or Peter Auster novel. As suggested at the beginning, Qianqian develops into a compelling character whose behaviour links to past traumas. The reason for Steffan’s behaviour is less clear but the fundamental flaw is that the storylines remained unresolved, Qianqian drifts and Steffan chases and…and?

Now in real life this happens, we live with loose ends unresolved but in a novel, it makes for a loss of dramatic tension. If this is the purpose of the book then reflect it in the novel’s structure. For example, have the narrators talk about their past and so we gain a glimpse of the future whatever it is. It may work out for them, Qianqian may break her destructive pattern or not, or make her fortune in the sex industry. This lack of resolution for me raises the second flaw, who is the audience for the novel? It’s too well written for sex summer blockbuster, too raunchy and gloomy for chicklit, and too character driven for action-bonk supermarket fodder. Steffan can write and even this flawed novel is worth it for much of the writing but more attention is needed for what is commercial, do this, and we may yet see his name on the bestseller list.½

Haven't we all had that one special relationship that meant everything to us but was doomed from the start? Enter the world of Steffan Piper, a police officer, and his strip club dancing girlfriend. Yellow Fever weaves a tale that leads us through the streets of L.A., behind the doors of a strip club, and secret police investigations. I felt the imagery and character development put forth were vividly portrayed. I would have liked to have seen a more in-depth look at the police side of the book, but ultimately, the is a novel of deceit and love, of which there is plenty.

Unlike stated in the book description above, I don't think you'll despise all the characters in the end. Steffan, the police officer and part-time gossip columnist is very likeable, but somewhat naïve out of his own self-preservation. When he finds out the truth at the end, I feel like closure is eminent in his life and he deserved to know the truth.

This modern day writer of the problems that plague gen-x and gen-y has written a novel that will keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what the next move will be in this deceitful game of love. I look forward to more writings by this author.