Reviews

Excellent!!! A must read!, By S. Mahaffey "neverjudge"

A first novel that never let me do anything but read it! It is that compelling!!!. I found myself wanting all the characters to have their dreams come true. This novel explores and shows us how the human spirit survives and thrives despite conditions and experiences life gives them. Each person gave me a reminder that while "life isn't a bed of roses'" bit it can have moments of such happiness that life is worth living! Read this novel as it is an excellent story, regardless of what I said above. It will take you into another world that will have you holding your breath! As you go from one character to another, you will be so caught up that you won't have time for anything else!

A Must Read, By D. Hayes

Stanley Park is so compelling that you will find yourself reading into the night. From the first word to the last there is a human cry for compassion and kindness. Cruelty, and a grisly murder set the stage for a struggle to find love and a life worth living. In this compelling novel, set in the time of the Vietnam War and within a family of a Holocaust survivor, Racine Hiet takes on the longing for a gentler world while celebrating the human spirit. Her prose blossom like flowers often upon a bleak landscape where a ruthless killer likens himself to a beautiful butterfly. Such contrasts single out this book as special. Hiet also does not shy away from the pleasures of the flesh, but embraces them as human needs as in the tradition of classic writers such as Henry James. The brutality shown in Stanley Park and the courage to overcome it is at the heart of this unique book.

Stunning First Novel,By Evelyn Carlson In her debut novel, Stanley Park, Racine Hiet does an amazing job of knitting together the life stories of several disturbed and disturbing individuals. The psychology of each character comes to life as the story unfolds and as the key players eventually interact. Set in Vancouver, British Columbia, a landscape well known to the author, we learn the interwoven tales of Ace Andrews, April Fallows, Marcus Friedman, Goldie Stein, and an array of others who are either intimately or tangentially connected to these main characters. Each primary character has a painful past and some have desperate secrets to hide. As the story unfolds the reader is carefully led to a fuller understanding not only of these people but of humans in general. It is ultimately a tale of the human condition under dire circumstances. Stanley Park is an ambitious bit of storytelling, full of vibrant characters and unexpected turns.