Sea Oak

Sea Oak was a very wild read. My initial reaction was an odd feeling of discomfort and intrigue. I really enjoyed the concept of our narrator making his way in a strip joint; I do feel that the "broke character who strips for money" can be a bad stereotype, but this story really just shook up any expectation I had by the end. Also, throughout the entire plot, I sort of felt myself viewing our narrator as the one, constant, likable thing that I could cling to and be taken through the story. When things would go from bad to worse (to worse...to worse...), I really found myself waiting to see how the narrator would react; he became a sort of companion. That was really special to me, to have an instantly likable character take me through this insane plot. I also initially knew that I was not the biggest fan of Min and Jade as characters -- however, I find it great that almost all of the information that I know about them came from their dialogue. I felt that I very rarely was being told who they are, but rather they were showing me through how they communicate with each different person in the story; they were also very consistent characters, regardless of who they were around or talking to, and while I found that to be very reliable, I also wished for some diversity in each character. They were very interchangeable, in my opinion.
I was also endlessly intrigued by how F'ed up this plot was. The spooky aspect was entirely up my alley, and while crude Aunt Bernie back form the dead was quite off putting, I really appreciate the turn this story took. Despite my uneasiness, I was always interested and kept turning the page.