Chasing Destiny~EJD
 

This thread is dedicated to the newest novel by Eric Jerome Dickey and where else to put this thread but the Alpha Phi Alpha forum. I truly loved this book. I love how EJD weaves all the characters together. Since I didn't really like Jenny Vee, I thought I'd start a thread on this (TonyB, where you at?).

But it's late and I'm tired so I'm going to sleep. I will defintely be back to post more thoughts.

ETA: Please note that this will be a discussion so spoilers will be included for those that haven't read the novel yet.

Re: Chasing Destiny~EJD
 

Hey, Gina1201. I'm still reading the book (nearly 40 percent done), so, difficult as it may be, I'll avoid the thread till I'm finished but I'll definitely be in to contribute. :D

I'm ready to discuss this book whenever you are!!

I LOVED it!

I finished the book last weekend. I loved it as well!

I'll be done with it by this weekend. promise.

Hurry up!!!

*taps foot and looks at calendar*


We're waiting on YOU!

:D

EJD is BACK!!

Waiting patiently to join the discussion...

Warning to others- do NOT pick up this book if you have things to do - like cook or feed the kids - cause the house will burn down and CPS come after you while you are sitting in the chair reading and yelling...

Ok, let's do this.....

Chasing Destiny was all over the place. EJD is back from his dark phase (Thieves Paradise, Drive Me Crazy). His exploration and deconstruction of Billie/Keith's relationship drives the book and makes you want to see how the story is resolved.

Billie and Keith seem starcrossed from the start. Billie was ok, with me. I rooted for her. Her feud with Carmen yielded some classic confrontations; and by the end she saw herself eventually becoming "Carmen" had she rolled with Keith. I think it made her wise up. Did she ever explain how her first pregnancy ended? If so, I missed it. Ok, I wanted to see this motorcycle poster.

Keith? I never felt dude. He was a whiner, who never found a way to take control of his situation. I know he made bad options for his life, but dayum, pick one and make the best of the situation. He was weak at the start of the book and was the same way at the end. That he wound up where he started, miserable, yet with Carmen, didn't really surprise me, I guess.

Carmen? wow, this chick was bizarre crazy. Evil, conniving, desperate, she took Keith and Destiny through madd changes. I neve knew what to expect from her, except that it would be nasty. Her near-death scene was really transformative. Did yall think Billie was gong to let her die? I think it made Billie see her (and herself) differently.

Destiny? She needed her ass whupped. hard. I know her parents and grandparents were crazy, but geez. Ok, I know her "video rape" was traumatic, but she went off the hinge, in getting her payback. It almost seemed unrealistic because she didn't seem that "street" before, so how did she know how to pull off the wreckage she did? Slicing folk, throwing acid and shooting Mo --this kid should have wound up in prison, not some juvenile detention center. Trying to get Billie to take those "pills" was foul.

I think the young couple's "baby crying" across the street from Keith's apt. was really a metaphor for Destiny's character. Always a point of stress, the mother finally snapped, just like Destiny did later.

...that's my take. EJD, can you chill on all that swearing next book?

I just bought the book and I must say I didnt like Jenny Vee either but I did like "Drive me crazy". I guess I need to get to readin then.

I felt for Billie as well. She's a definite free spirit from the fact that she does such a variety of odd jobs here and there. Nothing about her seems permanent, from her jobs to her living situation to the type of vehicle she chooses to ride every day.

I love how the story opens up with both Billie and Keith having to reveal information that has the ability to drastically change the nature of their relationship: Billie and the fact that she is pregnant and Keith with the fact that he's going back to his wife.

I agree with TonyB that Keith is just pitiful. He's done nothing to rectify the situation that he's gotten himself into, and instead of working to make a life that he could at least tolerate, he takes the easy way out by going back to Carmen so that he could have a place to live and not have to worry about being out of work. Although Billie's not working at a cushy job like most think a woman of her age should be, at least she had dreams of singing and she was working towards making that happen. In the end, Keith ends up living with that wench Carmen and silently worshipping that poster of Billie in her yellow thong.

Destiny....oh Destiny. The things that she did were a bit outlandish, IMO. The girl was BRUTAL!!! Slicing and dicing folks like she was a contestant on Iron Chef: Canibalism Cuisine! I hated to read how Carmen treated her, and I could see how she was pained by the way her parents talked about her like she wasn't there and couldn't speak for herself. But that child needed serious help. All for all the crimes she committed, she should not be in Juvie.

I just loved the way all of the characters were linked together, in true EJD fashion.

I need to refresh my memory on this, so I'll post more tonight!

i loved the book - just needed to say that again. reminds me of ejd before "drive me crazy" (which I still haven't finished reading).

i love the way the characters interconnected with each other.

keith - i think keith found a way to blame everyone else for the situation he was in, except himself. instead of fighting for the woman he loved he just settled for carmen. i know he was trying to do what was right for his daughter, but did he really think moving back in would help destiny?

destiny - man! she was just so lost. her parents didn't listen to her and didn't spend any quality time with her. it was always about them and their drama. it's like she had three personalities - one with her grandparents, one with her parents, and another for the streets. maybe she did so she could survive living with keith and carmen. i was shocked when she threw the brick through billie's window - but dayum, when she cut up rahims neice, threw clorox in goldies face, and beat up the other's girls sister, and then shot Mo - i was like WHOA :eek: .

carmen - at first i didn't understand why carmen acted like she did - but then her mother/father were introduced. the scene before she was taken to the hospital was classic. i knew she was crazy before - but that's when i REALLY knew.

billie - i loved her character from the beginning. i only hate that she kept going back to keith - especially after he told her he was going back to carmen. but -like others- i'm glad she finally saw that in the end, if she and keith stayed together she'd end up bitter and desperate like carmen.

Y'all I will try to comment this weekend. Too much going on right now.

Ok, I put off reading this book, because like TonyB stated EJD was in a dark place for a moment, but after only reading some of your comments....ummm, I think that I am going to pick this book up this weekend. I took it with me when I went to Monte Carlo last week, but I read Changing Faces instead by Kimberla Lawson Roby, but I am definitely going to have to read htis one now, and nope i doubt I come back to read your comments until I am finished.

^^ nice to know who the ballers are. Monte Carlo, indeed. :p

us regular folk await your review. ;)

Yeah ok you regular folk...he he he

Billie - glad she was able to see past Keith's words and finally TRULY see what he really was through his actions - and what her life would have been like had she stayed with him!

Keith - punk to the 10th degree - how you gona let Carmen walk all over you? You claim you would fight for the house and your life if your child was a boy but you leave your girl child to be raised by a woman who is so unstable I wouldn't leave my dog with??

Carmen - I understand that West Indian mentality that once married you stay together til death do you part - but if you see your mama ain't happy and daddy limping WHY continue the cycle?? I tried to feel for ya but I couldn't. I would have left you sucking for air on that floor. Do what everyone else does - never grant the divorce but live separate lives like every other West Indian does only then when he dies a "natural" death show up at the funeral as the legal wife and cause trouble at the funeral home and hospital (LOL).

Destiny -I think this character needs a lot more disecting than I have time to do right now. On the one hand she is afforded all the "right" opportunites yet she is still trying so hard to be "down" by speaking ebonics and ends up doing worse than she might have had she just gone to Crenshaw High (is this entire genration of children lost?). She realized that her parents were better off apart yet she still resented her father for being happy with Billie....She is sheltered yet knew just how to get gangsta when she needed to?? I admit my revenge repetoire has improved since watching CSI but ole girl managed to go from zero to 60 overnight (but I applaud her for blowing ole boy parts up). Again - amazing how in the end all of her victims were all related to people through Billie.

I was disappointed in how neatly it was all tied up - I wonder if Carmen will ever realize that had she NOT dragged her child to the mall that day the entire chain of events could have been avoided. Keith sitting in the house staring at a poster instead of living life - well that's the bed he's made so IMO he doesn't deserve any better. I also wonder if anyone is actually listening to Destiny or if she still believes that "Baby Boy" should be her example of what a loving relationship should be?? So many questions EJD...you better refer to these characters again in a future book.

Tony B. . .This post is for YOU!!!
 

Well, I definitely enjoyed reading this novel. I was starting to think that EJD was going the Omar Tyree route.

Tony, you commented on how the baby was a metaphor for B & K's relationship. I never thought about that while reading but i does make sense. I also saw the motorcycle chick, Marcel, as a reflection of Billie as well. I think that Billie was probably a ride-or-die hard chick like Marcel. Her death was probably the death of the old Billie. She needed to realize that things in her life HAVE to change.

I also LOVED the connectedness of the novel. The way everyone was interconnected, whether they knew it or not, was great. And the way all of their actions affected everyone.

I really didn't have a down point for the novel. Destiny was a bad ASS girl. I think EJD could give her a novel. She has ISSUES!

^^
very good analysis, Gina. you came with it.....finally. :D

And I also was thinking about the title. It's got a double meaning as well.

I finally finished the book (sat after getting it Wednesday). Billie was cool with me but I wanted to beat the crap out of the rest of them. Carmen was beyond crazy and so was her momma..I want to know what Ruthless did to her hubby to make him limp...

Destiny...I was suprised no one pieced together she was the girl who did the stuff to Lupe, Q and Mo..Her parents really don't have a clue as to how deep that rabbit hole goes. But what really scared me was the activites that those kids were into ( the videos, the drugs etc.) I have a feeling all that really happens somewhere in this country on the regular and our kids think that is fun and normal.

Keith...needs to be shot like the dog he is. C'mon dude Man up! If you don't have anything, what can Carmen take from you? Oh yeah your dignity but you gave her that as an appetizer years ago..

Now I wonder if/where Raheem will surface again perhaps with Billie....


and I loved Vivane...she was truly off da hook!

wow. great line^^.