Gods Go Begging

by Alfredo Véa

“Luminous... a beautiful book.” – Carolyn See
 
For Vietnam veteran Jesse Pasadoble, now a defense attorney living in San Francisco, the battle still in his memories, in the gang wars erupting on Potrero Hill, and in the recent slaying of two one black, one Vietnamese. While seeking justice for the young man accused of this brutal double murder, Jesse must walk with the ghosts of men who died on another hill... men who were his comrades and friends in a war that crossed racial divides.
 
Gods Go Begging is a new classic of Latino literature, a literary detective novel that moves seamlessly between the jungles of Vietnam and the streets of modern day San Francisco. Described as “John Steinbeck crossed with Gabriel García Márquez”, Véa weaves a powerful and cathartic story of war and peace, guilt and innocence, suffering and love - and of one man’s climb toward salvation.
 
 

Genres: Fiction, War, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Military Fiction, Novels, Crime

338 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Alfredo Véa was born in Arizona and worked as a migrant farm worker as a child and a young man. He served in Vietnam and after his discharge worked a series of jobs, ranging from truck driver to carnival mechanic, as he put himself through law school. Now a practicing criminal defense attorney, Vea is also the author of two previous novels, La Maravilla and The Silver Cloud Cafe. He lives in San Francisco, California.

Reviews

[Tosh Dawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vea must be a hermit or have a crappy publicist.

[Craig Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book about Vietnam and its impact on American society. The terrifying thing is that it feels even more immediate now than it did when it was published in 1998. Then, Vea was unsparing in his vision of how the nation's refusal to honestly confront Vietnam was playing out in the lives of veterans and on the streets of our cities (in this case primarily the Bay Area, where Vea works as a defense lawyer specializing in major crimes--the book's worth it simply for protagonist Jesse Passadoble's explanation of why he defends people about whom he's not in the least deluded). Jesse's reflection the fact that America had expected to win in Vietnam without sacrifice that went beyond the troops is even more obvious in relation to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the 1990s, even more in the 2010s, the price of our evasions continues to be paid, consciously by the vets and their loved ones, evasively by the rest of the society is.

Beyond that, Gods Go Begging is simply a great novel. Writing in a style that juxtaposes lyricism with harsh realities Vea weaves together the stories of three hills: the ghetto wasteland of Potrero Hill in SF; a hill near the Laotian border in Vietnam; and a hill in Mexico where the fascinating spiritual drama of the "padre," a chaplain who abandoned his post in Vietnam and then works through his destiny, begins. The center of Vea's aesthetic and moral vision is in the sentence, repeated several times in several languages, "everything turns on jazz." Vea fiercely resists the notion that we're simply stuck with our fate, a theme he plays out around a white supremacist accused of child abuse (itself a central theme); a young black man on trial for murder; the young men in Vietnam--most of them black, Latin, Indian, immigrant, Southern or poor; and Jesse himself.

I've re-read this book more than a half dozen times and I'll continue doing so as long as I have the strength to turn pages.

[Kaye McSpadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is truly an extraordinary work. Vea writes in beautiful, evocative prose, in a kind of almost poetic, sometimes hallucinatory style that stretches the imagination. The story that he tells will astonish and move you, will make you laugh and make you cry. The story weaves together the experiences of several characters whose lives came together in two different times and places -- one, in a violent battle during the Vietnam War and the other, thirty years later, in the violent streets of an impoverished neighborhood in San Francisco.

This will not be everyone's cup of tea. If you're looking for a simple, light, quick read, this is not the book for you. I found myself reading passages (and even pages and sections) over and over again -- sometimes because I didn't quite understand what I had read, and sometimes just because I loved the writing so much. Some key scenes and passages that stood out for me: the description of the three sisters cleaning and preparing their sister's dead body in the chapter "The House of Toast," the description of the battle scene at the beginning of the chapter "The Infamous Blue Ballet," and the padre's long, haunting trip down the Mekong River in the chapter "The Spider's Banquet."

I also loved all of the dialogue, including the soldiers' "supposing" banter, the lawyers' stories related in the House of Toast (many of which had me laughing outloud), the funny way that Persephone talked to her husband while she was in the bathroom and getting dressed, and the dialogue of Biscuit Boy and all the other inner-city characters.

So, I highly recomend this book. I will probably read it again someday (which is rare for me) as I think it's the kind of book you can get even more out of the second time around, but first, I want to check out some of Vea's other works.

[Lemar · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book that deals with the effects of war that I have ever read. Vea is a true master of words and this searing account is a must read. There is humor and intrigue and pathos in this book that has an element of what I unabashedly call magic.

[KateK · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will 95% favor a book over a film version, but I feel like this could have been better suited to a movie, or mini-series, or something. I'm conflicted in my feelings toward this novel. The writing was extremely eloquent and detailed and created ridiculous imagery, but I found myself getting lost in it (and not in a good way). At times it forced me to slow down and deliberately read each word, sometimes I had to re-read a sentence or passage, and at other times I felt like it was forced. The beginning started off so dense that I felt like Vea was obligated to continue to write like that for the whole book.

I'm all about fantastical plots and SciFi elements, but I never really bought into that part of the story. The connections between people and the different timelines converging seemed unnecessary, and took away from the reality and the depth of the characters- almost cheapening their emotions and reactions. At the same time, I appreciate the creativity and details Vea brings to each page...

I also got lost in the multiple court cases and seemingly random Bad Guys- the child rape/incest storyline was a bit too much for me, and I felt like the book would have been just fine without that plot line. I felt like it was sort of tossed in, without much connection.

Maybe I'm being too harsh and need to re-read this at another time, but I felt like I was pushing too hard to like it. And then when something interesting happened- e.g. "we found a tape and there's one word on it! He listened to the word and jumped up. 'I know everything now!'" end of chapter; won't revisit this for several other chapters and by then you start to question if you actually found out what it was and missed it, but no, it's coming in another 35 pages. Maybe this is what the book was supposed to do- and I'm just not down. Also I hate that the chapters were named, but now I'm just being petty.

[Samantha (AK)]

On Hold p185

Time to be honest with myself. I bought this book in July, started reading it in September, and have been crawling through the pages erratically since. I no longer trust myself to remember the important bits I've already read.

Prose is beautiful, but complex. Latest chapter had some bizzare reality-warping. Before that, Vietnam was very graphically written. I need a break. I'll pick this up again at some other time in my life, I suppose.

[Jessica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unbelievably overwritten. Borderline trauma-porn

[Paul Womack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a book…

[Hannah’s_Bookshelf · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Everything turns on jazz”

[Hadley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not many books can visit the Vietnam war so gracefully, especially fictional books that aren't political thrillers. Of course, there's a reason for that, other than drug use and the orders to kill innocent civilians, it was a war that drove soldiers to madness, but this is only the tip of the iceberg in Alfredo Vea's third novel Gods Go Begging.

Mai and Persephone are as close as sisters, one was born in America, and the other was born in Vietnam; the two met because their husbands had fought in the Vietnam war, but had never returned, sealing an unbreakable bond between the two women. While the two spent most of their time cooking together, they decided to open up a luncheonette, and share their love of food with the city - - - until one night, when two young men showed up to smash their dreams by murdering both of them in cold blood. Little did the defense attorney for one of the young men, Jesse Pasadoble, know that these women would not only leave a scar on him, but they would also cause memories from a hill in Vietnam to haunt him all over again.

While Pasadoble is working the two women's murder case, he's also working another heart-wrenching case involving a white supremacist who has possibly molested and raped his own niece. Pasadoble tries his best to distance himself from the case, especially because he has to defend the man in question, but sometimes he lets his temper get the best of him. Pasadoble comes face-to-face with his client in an angry stare-off. After putting up with racial statements from the client, Pasadoble puts him in his place. The client may be a big man who can frighten most people, but Pasadoble pacifies him with his own anger, threatening to kick his ass in front of everyone that is in the jail setting the tone of what type of person Pasadoble can be for the reader.

The readers get flashbacks of Pasadoble's time in the Vietnam war, specifically one fight that happened on a hill near the Loatian border. These flashbacks happen suddenly throughout the book, but I personally believe that they are so important to understanding the world in which Vea has created in the novel because, near the end of the book, these flashbacks make everything come full circle. One of these flashbacks introduces an important character who is the Padre in Pasadoble's platoon - - - during such flashback, the Padre has devastating things happen around him that begin to make him question his faith in God.

Although the flashbacks happen here and there, the story easily continues on with Pasadoble's double homicide case getting more complicated by the page when the second of the two suspects is suddenly found dead on a hill that the locals call 'Tourette's Hill.' One such local that lived near the hill is one of the victims' mothers, Mrs. Harp, who is a very odd character: she's an aging beauty queen whose home is covered in photographs of only her, and none of her deceased son, and even while Pasadoble questions her about her son, she seems to get lost in a reverie of what her life was like before the son existed.

Pasadoble is the key character in this story; without him, connections would not have been made and characters would not have mattered. Pasadoble, a man who has a way with words, such as speaking with an ex-girlfriend about a 'hill' : "Carolina, think about the stratifications of an open hillside, a place where earth has given way and time itself is left exposed, layer upon layer - - - silica, clay, diatoms, and ash. Down here at this level is the time of the swelling sea; here, the time of the desert when hot, rising air would have haunted our eyes; here is a jagged karst, a time when the world shook an abrasion into its own skin; and here are the fossil dead, here you will find love and war in the same shamble of strewn bone. Here and there, where the world has shifted and cracked open, one era will touch another. And once upon the rarest time, human hands and eyes from the distant past can seek out and find... search for and contact... hands and eyes of the present time... our time. " Pasadoble reveals that everyone has a 'hill' that they constantly battle, his just happens to be the one where he lost brothers on in Vietnam.

I can't go much further into the story without giving away some of the great details that made up this book, but I can say I was blown away by this story. This is by far one of the best crime fiction books I have ever read; this is one of those crazy good books that you have never heard of that will change how you view things after you read it. Vea is one of the few authors that exist today that can make a story read like poetry. I highly recommend this novel to people who like crime fiction.

[callherwallflower · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard that Alfredo Véa's Gods Go Begging could be a hit or miss. I am having trouble understanding how this could be a miss because this one will go down as one of my favorite books. Maybe it was the Vietnam war aspect included here, maybe the ghetto in Potrero Hill, maybe it was the criminal justice system and the way prisons are described. I don't know but I believe they all coincided beautifully because of Véa's writing style. I need another word for "beautiful" because I don't know how else to describe his writing style. It is captivating. The way he describes the things that could be easily described in a sentence is a rarity. This can easily be a page turner but if you want to take time to absorb it all, I don't blame you. Jesse Pasadoble is a Chicano U.S. Army Veteran who is haunted by the Vietnam war that it makes it difficult for him to express love or any other emotion that will leave him vulnerable. He is a defense attorney working to save a young Black boy named Calvin aka "Biscuit Boy" from life in prison or a death sentence for a double homicide. This story unfolds with many connections among the characters that will shock you at its conclusion. Suppose you pick up Gods Go Begging and read it for yourself? Suppose this one hits you instead of misses you? Suppose this one becomes a favorite?

FYI, as a Chicana, I am so glad I finally read one with a Chicano protagonist. Written by a Mexican-Yaqui-Filipino-American, Véa is now a favorite. One down, plenty to go!

[Pamk · Rating 3 out of 5]

The war scenes were very powerful but I found the two story lines confusing and disjointed.

[Colin Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couldn't put this one down.

[Kim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Stopped about half way through. I didn’t care anymore. Vaguely interesting set of unrelated parts. Overly pessimistic in an attempt to be honest.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alfredo Via has written a novel that is part murder mystery, part Vietnam book, part magical tale of love conquering evil. The central character brings us to all these places. He is a public defender investigating the very public murder of two women living a burned out desperate section of San Franciso called Protrero Hill. He is also a Vietnam veteran whose memory of another hill, a killing zone in Vietnam on the edge of Laos is a place even more desperate than the homeless shanties in San Francisco. Jose Pasadobal the prosecutor, is the center of the book but not the only narrator. We also meet two Vietnam widows, a chaplain who walks away from the war and doesn't find himself for twenty year, and a host of other people who straddle the line of realty and dream, civilization and anarchy, despair and love. It the end this very violent tale becomes one of hope and resurrection.

[Paul Mata · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m gutted. This book was so beautifully written. Each time I finished a chapter I felt as if I was stabbed so tenderly in the chest. There is so much to unpack. This is such an interesting take on post war trauma. It’s also such a fascinating story on human emotion but it truthfully is so sad. The pacing of this book was pretty good. The cast of characters all feel so tangible along with the world. Chapter 9 of this book is one of the most beautifully devastating pieces of writing I’ve read this year. Love and death and desire are the big players in this book. I love the addition of the idea that Oscar Wilde brought about mankind killing the things they love. I think my favorite thing to read about is love. What it makes us do, how it makes us feel. My favorite quote from the book.

“Love me less, but please, love me forever.”

CHILLSSSSS I GET CHILLSSSS

[Lynda Austin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover picture of a soldier with a rifle and a guitar sling over his shoulder made me bring this paperback home as I was sorting book donations made to the Friends of our local public library. The subtitle review by the LA Times said it was “A wonderful novel . . .Vea’s rendering of the Vietnam War is thoroughly original.” OK, I thought, I’ve not read much about the Vietnam War-I’ll try this one.

So glad I pushed through the horrific battle scenes, the stream of consciousness meanderings a mind goes through when near death, the way the brain processes mental and physical trauma that happens on a regular basis to those who have fought, and survived war. Many parts were so difficult to read. But glad I did. “Gods Go Begging” ranks right up there with DeMille’s “Up Country” in my recommended fiction reads about the Vietnam War.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb writing from Vea, as the phrase "inextricably linked" has never been more apt for the way in which a Vietnam combat story and a post-Vietnam murder investigation morph together like two bridged helical strands in a DNA molecule. Possibly the only criticism I have is that it is too clever(!?) as it tries to elucidate/tie-up the plot as logically as possible, but involving magic-realism which makes that impossible, plus I like my magic-realism to be a bit "looser/knarly" as in the MASTERPIECE that is La Maravilla, so 4.5 Stars rounding down.

[Patrick Trujillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story

Alfredo Vea provides us with a story that takes us from the dysfunctional streets of Potrero Hill in San Francisco to the hill of Vietnam during the war. Times are juxtaposed and Vea tells a story that weaves tales of love, death, and the relationships that many times safe us from ourselves. As in Vea’s novel Mexican Flyboy the characters in Gods Go Begging are unforgettable and help us re-exam our lives and relationships. I love Vea’s writing style and proses and look forward To reading another of his novels, Maravilla.

[James Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book blends wonderful writing with action, drama and great dialogue. Too often I read 'literary' novels in which nothing happens or 'popular' books with mediocre writing.
This is a rare exception.
The story of how the Vietnam War and America's war on its poorest and least-educated citizens is blended well. The separate story arcs are united in a satisfying, albeit coincidental climax.
Like all my favourite stories, the characters are rich, flawed and struggling to make sense of the world around them.
This book is hard to get in the UK, I had a friend bring it over from the States.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book. I almost didn't finish it because of the gruesome and grotesquely accurate descriptions of the war horrors. I'm glad I finished.
Interesting sidenote: The main character is a defense attorney in San Francisco in the 1990s. He works with a PI named Ed Oasa. This is the name of a real PI working with the defense bar in the bay area and a friend of mine. It was amazing to run in to him in this fictional role.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was haunting and beautiful in a palpably disturbing way. The weaving of story lines and time periods was new to me back when I read this novel and it was mesmerizing. It led me to seek out more from this author who has honestly not written much. Even though I read it years ago, I can still see it in my mind's eye today. Worth the effort, an intriguing and surprising story, thoroughly enjoyed.

[elissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area, with flashbacks to Vietnam. Main character is a veteran of the Vietnam War, and a detective who is trying to vanquish the demons of his life as a soldier. Good analogy between life of a soldier and the street life of people in poverty struggling to live their lives amidst adversity. A wonderful, if heavy, read.

[Tom Gase · Rating 1 out of 5]

Aside from this book getting me out to Potrero Hill to read, I didn't really enjoy anything from this book. Couldn't get into hardly any of the characters except one that dies in the first chapter. Moves between two stories in two time periods and none of them really captured my attention. Ending was sort of predictable. Eh, just not for me I guess.

[Elizabeth Frisch · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book felt completely unedited. While I understand some of the points Vea was trying to make it felt forced and was pretty disturbing at times. As someone else said it was incredibly pessimistic but then was tied up in a little bow at the end which felt inauthentic to the story.

[Chrissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of all books

[Paschalis]

elibrary

[Margaret Wallach · Rating 1 out of 5]

So unnecessarily descriptive that I had to reread so many pages because my mind would wander from boredom. Not my cup of tea.

[Clara M · Rating 5 out of 5]

seamlessly weaving a story from a murder at an unlikely lesbian pop-up restaurant in san francisco to the battlefields of vietnam. intersectionality, ptsd, and love.

[Georgie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading for just about every human being