Hap and Leonard: Blood and Lemonade

A gift . Absolutely loved it and wants more of this series.

The stories are very grim..unrelieved by much of any humor. I expected violence but not the dark pallor of the stories

Let's face it, any of Joe Lansdale's "Hap and Leonard" books is going to be a good read. This one is a collection of shorter pieces that appeared hither and yon, all now swept into one nice pile for your convenience. Lansdale is one of those authors who makes me want to stand under his study window shouting "Hurry, hurry!" Unfortunately he can't write 'em as fast as I can read 'em. Dang. As always, here he manages to be funny, suspenseful, bittersweet and startling, sometimes all at once.

I love Lansdale and I especially love the Hap and Leonard stories. These are a seemingly random collection of short stories. But 5he stories, when taken together form a kind of loosely related series that feel “novelish.” The fellas get into and out of all kinds of trouble and teach their own brand of justice and philosophy. Don’t hesitate. Buy this book now so you can begin reading it soon. Mine arrived in one day.

Different writing technique as explained at the end of the novel, however, I enjoyed the a amplification of Hap and Leonard’s history.

Wonderful collections of stories tied into a mosaic with Hap and Leonard reminiscing as they talk and travel about their hometown. Not all of the content is original, and some of it has been printed before in other Hap & Leonard collections, but enough it is new for the reader to enjoy the excellent stories giving insight into Hap and Leonard's earlier days and how their friendship developed.

"Blood and Lemonade" is a Hap and Leonard book. It's about friends reminiscing about their experiences before and after they found each other. Hap and Leonard are the main characters in the book. They were complicated and seemed to always be changing, not in character but in what they did. They spent most of their time seeing dead bodies on fishing trips and trying to live their young lives as they continued their controversial friendship into adulthood. I could relate in a way to Leonard because of sexuality and color. I could relate with his understanding and how being black and gay, or in my case bisexual is often a double whammy. And despised by both races for their own reason. I could not relate to any other characters in this story and found many parts of this book boring and over complicated. I did not really like this book and was hesitant to read the whole book. I suppose my favorite part was towards the end when Hap told the story of when he was a young boy and his favorite teacher killed her abusing husband and his father helped her cover up the murder. I wish that "Blood and Lemonade" had been more structured and not all over the place. I think it would be better off in a television series format than a regular book. My recommendation to the author is to write scripts. This is probably better off as a movie or play. It didn't really work as a novel unless you like manga or sagas. I would recommend this book to someone else because I believe that there is a book for everyone. This book is good for a person who likes complex novels where it is hard to follow because it is episodic in nature. Review by Shaniqua Harris Copy provided by the publisher.

I have enjoyed reading every Hap and Leonard story that Joe R Lansdale has shared. I am from SE Oklahoma, fairly close to those East Texas locales Lansdale writes about. Comfortable, I'm comfortable with these characters. As he describes how they grew up in this novel I had to smile as the memories of my own raising synced in.