Book review: Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda

 

           My Rating : 4.5⭐ ( Book); 5⭐( Audiobook)

“You won’t believe what women can do.

These women- their mistake was in thinking they burned with their own unique rage. Something deeper, darker than what the rest of us feel.

Let me tell you- inside we all rage the same. It’s how we let it out that differs.” 

Diana Diosmary “Dios” Sandoval and Florence “Florida” Baum are inmates in a women’s correctional facility in Arizona.  As the pandemic rages on, both of their sentences are commuted and they are released on parole. Florida and Dios have a history – something that ties them to a violent event in the prison and Dios has knowledge of secrets about Florida’s arrest and her actual role in the crime that landed her in prison – secrets that Florida is desperate to protect. Dios holds this knowledge over Florida’s head and is fixated on proving that Florida, who comes from an affluent background and hopes to leave her time in prison behind her, is no less a violent criminal than Dios believes she is. After they are released from prison, Dios stalks Florida, refusing to back down as Florida struggles to gain control of her life. 

<b>Sing Her Down</b> by <b>Ivy Pochoda</b> is a dark, gritty and immersive novel that I could not put down. I finished it in a single day! The narrative is shared from the perspectives of four women – Dios, Florida and Kase, another prisoner who was incarcerated with Dios and Florida, who shares her unique perspectives on the psyche of women whose lives are plagued by crime and violence. We also meet Detective Lobos, surrounded by violence in her work life and dealing with her troubled marriage,who crosses paths with Dios and Florida and tries to gain some insight into these two women while pursuing them. Through flashbacks, we get to know more about Dios and Florida, their backstories and the events that led to their incarceration. The characterizations are superb and the author does a superb job of giving us a glimpse into the innermost thoughts of these characters all of whom are plagued by their demons. The setting of the story changes from Arizona to Los Angeles and the author describes each of these settings with vivid imagery that only adds to the atmosphere of the novel. 

 <i>“There is no magic in the world, no point wasting time detangling patterns and problems, in rationalizing yourself for others, in explaining yourself away and prophesying your next move.”</i>

With its exceptional writing, consistent pacing, complex characters and gripping narrative, this novel reeled me in from the very first page.  This is a thought-provoking story and these women and their stories will stay with me.This is my first Ivy Pochoda novel and it surely won’t be my last!

However, I should point out that this is not a light or easy read. There are disturbing scenes of prison violence and the story does venture into dark territory. 

Many thanks to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the digital review copy of this novel, I was fortunate to also receive the ALC of this novel  from NetGalley and Macmillan Audio which made for an exceptional immersion reading experience. The phenomenal full-cast audio narration by Frankie Corzo, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Sophie Amoss, and Victoria Villarreal made these characters and the story come alive. I would definitely recommend both the book and /or the audiobook.

This novel is due to be released on May 23, 2023.

“Sometimes in here it feels like all you have to yourself is the thing that brought you inside. The thing that belongs to you proper—the weight you carry. That’s it. There’s no other you. And you have to reshape that thing into something you can live with, mold it and sculpt it until it fits tight to your body but doesn’t overwhelm you. They don’t know that at the end of the day, the everyday is all there is.”