All the Trouble You Need : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Not bad!
Review: I don't usually read 'relationship' books. I generally find them to be cliche'-ridden and draining. I almost put the book down but decided to stick it out because I was curious to meet Daphne, the girl with the 'shadowy secrets.' The minute Daphne entered the scene I was hooked. I'm talking cooking-with-one-hand-and-reading-with-the-other kind of hooked. It was the battle of...the playa versus the gentleman. It was thrilling being inside the mind of a man and I often found myself saying loudly to my husband, "So THAT'S how it happens!"
Kudos to Tervalon for a job well done.

Rating:
Summary: Asking for trouble
Review: In ALL THE TROUBLE YOU NEED, we meet Jordan, a leisurely professor in Santa Barbara who seldom knows what it is he wants or needs from life, and in particular, from women. He's sown his share of wild oats, but it isn't until he meets Trisha and Daphne that his world is truly shaken by his indecision. After all, the women he "played around with" were never taken seriously, but these two ladies, Trisha, the virgin and "the marrying type" and Daphne, the mysterious vixen and one of his students, are a force to be reckoned with in their own rights. The women seem to stand on different ends of the spectrum of womanhood, and Jordan is caught in the middle.

Tervalon once again strays from the norm with this book. The plot is strong, and the characters are even stronger. And while the concept is not all that outlandish, he pulls it off, adding a psychological twist to the story of a man caught between two women, two worlds, and with a monumental decision to make.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: Asking for trouble
Review: In ALL THE TROUBLE YOU NEED, we meet Jordan, a leisurely professor in Santa Barbara who seldom knows what it is he wants or needs from life, and in particular, from women. He's sown his share of wild oats, but it isn't until he meets Trisha and Daphne that his world is truly shaken by his indecision. After all, the women he "played around with" were never taken seriously, but these two ladies, Trisha, the virgin and "the marrying type" and Daphne, the mysterious vixen and one of his students, are a force to be reckoned with in their own rights. The women seem to stand on different ends of the spectrum of womanhood, and Jordan is caught in the middle.

Tervalon once again strays from the norm with this book. The plot is strong, and the characters are even stronger. And while the concept is not all that outlandish, he pulls it off, adding a psychological twist to the story of a man caught between two women, two worlds, and with a monumental decision to make.

Reviewed by CandaceK
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: All The Novel You Need
Review: Jervey Tervalon's All The Trouble You Need follows 28-year-old Jordan Davis as he pieces together his love life, doctorial thesis, and racial identity in Santa Barbara, California. The beauty of Tervalon's novel is that he weaves the serious themes of race, sex, and social class, without being too serious:

"He was surprised that Benito brought up love of Santa Barbara, but maybe being the only decent black hairstylist in town he was doing so well he had to shout it out. Jordan didn't feel comfortable with that; it was like admitting you wanted to be surrounded by white people for the rest of your life outnumbered three hundred to one. How could any self-respecting black man be comfortable in that situation? Jordan was, and he wanted to stay in this picture-postcard world, even if it made him feel guilty. Life was a permanent vacation; a swim in the ocean, a hike in the hills, coffee in the morning at the Café Roma, teach a composition class in the afternoon. He imagined himself living like that for the rest of his life; all he needed was a condo near the beach, and he was willing to give up a kidney, maybe even throw in a lung to get it. Property was the impossible dream of folks starting out in Santa Barbara."

But what really resonates throughout All The Trouble You Need is the author's dialog. Tervalon knows how people speak. Like a great mystery novel, the plot unfolds through what the characters say:

"'Did it work with that Jamaican girl? Didn't she borrow your credit card to get a plane ticket to visit her man in New York?'
'Yeah, I almost forgot about that.'
'And didn't she hit you in the head with a trash can in the lunchroom of the college?'
'Yeah, but that was a plastic trash can, not one of those metal ones.'
'Yeah, and what about her posing nude for an art studio after you asked her not to, then she got down with the instructor?'
'Okay, what's your point?'
'Least you were smart enough to get away from her. Me, I still hang around like a sad dog trying to get Miko to come back to me, but she likes messing with my mind. She even tells me how surfer boy likes to have sex with her.'
'She told you that?'"

All The Trouble You Need is fun to read. The sentences are swift and the sharp dialog carries the plot twists to satisfying conclusions. Although not as serious as Tervalon's previous novels, All the Trouble You Need may be all the novel you need.


Rating:
Summary: They Don't Shoot Black People in Santa Barbara, Do They?
Review: Jordan Davis, a young African American male of twenty eight, is content with his life, living in Santa Barbara, California and teaching a course or two a semester while working on his doctoral thesis in literature. Life is good or at least most of the time. That is when his best friend and roommate Ned is not needling him about the scarcity of blacks living in Santa Barbara, or when he isn't so sexually obsessed with "that white girl" Mary, or when he is not wrestling with his confusion of the kind of relationship he wants from Trisha, a young well-to-do black senior at the university.

Having escaped his inner-city Los Angeles neighborhood, Jordan is comfortable with his life in a city that offers him serenity even if the black population is only one percent. He can live with that. Trisha comes from a family of privileged black folk, a family that is committed to civil rights in Santa Barbara and has high expectations of their children. She belongs to AKA sorority, is beautiful and intelligent, on her way to law school and a virgin at twenty-two years old. His friends tell him she is what he needs, she is the one to settle down with and Jordan knows there is no half-stepping with Trisha; she is the marrying kind. He has strong feelings for her; with Mary it is just a sex thing, but then the most tempting, exotic, beautiful woman walks into his Japanese Lit class and rocks his world. Daphne, of undetermined race, her heritage hardly anyone is able to determine, has a troubled past. Having traveled over the world, she is back living with her rich parents and is smitten with Jordan, as he is with her. But she has brought back a lifetime of baggage and all the drama that accompanies it.

Ned announces he is moving to D.C. He cannot bring himself to date white women; the black women in Santa Barbara, the AKAs and the Deltas reject him, (he is an artist type) leaving Jordan further isolated and trying to deal with his issues. There are secondary characters and story lines involving Trisha's family's racial incidents, which reflect black life in a town where blacks people are scarce. There is also a scene that further exposes the city's disquieting relationship with African Americans when two members of the famed Harlem Globetrotters, in town for a university benefit, are mistaken for bank robbers and held at gun-point by police. At his book signing appearance in Oakland, Tervalon revealed he went to undergraduate school at U. C. Santa Barbara and met his wife there, who is from a prominent African American family, so he knows of what he writes. He is also from inner-city Los Angeles. I detect a little truth telling here, which is all good.

Tervalon manages to weave a multi-layered tale of many dimensions. Issues of race, identity, class, love and passion, and one's place in the world are explored in depth. As is his trademark, there is a hint of mystery, and a Faulkneresque aura in the irony and tragedy of the story. I would highly recommend this book as one that will give you insight to another aspect of living one's dreams. My actual rating for this book is a 4.5.

Dera Williams
APOOO BookClub

Rating:
Summary: Spectacular journey into sexuality, self, and race!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Tervalon has done it again! He's tackled the big issues of sexuality, self, and race in a character driven narrative that leaves the reader satisfied and thoroughly entertained. Tervalon's ability to deal with heady issues in an engaging and thought provoking way singles him out as not only a gifted storyteller, but as one with a literary depth masked in a very readable Hemingway-esque style. His books just keep getting better! This book is the best yet!