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Title: Bluff City Pawn

Subtitle: A Novel

Author: Stephen Schottenfeld

Narrator: Brian Troxell

Format: Unabridged

Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins

Language: English

Release date: 11-11-14

Publisher: Audible Studios

Ratings: 3 of 5 out of 2 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Huddy Marr, the proprietor of Bluff City Pawn shop in Memphis, is good at what he does: he knows jewelry, he knows guns and guitars. But the neighborhood is changing: A blood bank is set to open across the street from the retail space he leases from his brother Joe, and Huddy wants to move to a less seedy part of town. A pawn shop should stay right on the edge of seedy.

When a longtime client dies, his widow calls Huddy to come appraise his considerable gun collection. If he can buy up the guns, Huddy knows he can make a killing, possibly change his fortunes for good. But he needs cash up front, and for that he needs Joe. Soon the restless youngest, Harlan, is also involved - they could use the manpower to move the haul - and slowly the brothers old family dynamics reassert themselves. There is trouble inherent in these wares. There is trouble inherent in this family. And there is something inherent to Memphis...something that means a change of fortune cant come easy. Stephen Schottenfelds first novel is a masterful depiction of a city, a business, and a family. It is an investigation of class and law, ownership and value, loyalty, betrayal, and blood; one that gathers power and resonates long after its done.

Members Reviews:

Too Much Description and Too Little Action

The author spent a long time developing the main characters, probably too long in my opinion. The first half of the book seemed to be to develop the three brothers characters. The last half of the book actually had some action and became more interesting. The story was partially based in a Memphis suburb called Germantown and in a pawn shop that was located in a seamy part of Memphis. The pawn shop part was somewhat interesting in that I did not know how pawn shops operated.

In all, the novel was too long and only became interesting in the final chapters.

This novel does really well at portraying desperation, struggle ...

This novel does really well at portraying desperation, struggle, and human character. Three brothers have been granted, or have achieved different lots in life, but at the core they are the same. The descriptions of the town and its characters, the pawn shops, all felt very realistic and informative. It's not my typical pick for reading material, so the narration tone and some of the plot were hard to get into, but that's not a fault of the book.

a bit painful

Some books just don't have a strong message and this is one of them. I tried to figure out if the book was intended to entertain, inform about a cultural ethos, or it was tragic-comedy.....but the pain of reading about these brothers was lessened only slightly as I approached the end and I can't say I enjoyed the experience.

I just had to finish it to see how badly ...

I just had to finish it to see how badly it turned out and I was right. Took me several weeks of coming back to it to wade through it. One of the most disjointed books I've ever read.

Two Stars

Tragic on chance for a better life.