A beautifully written book about a grieving daughter and an alcoholic father that abruptly have a huge life change that the daughter struggles with.
This entire book is build up in a way that the reader only slowly learns what happened and why Pearl -the main character- and her father ended up in an abandoned boathouse with two other squatters.
This book shows that life can be harsh and hard and sometimes unbearable unfair. But it can also be beautiful inside those hardships, and that family isn't necessarily blood but rather build and found. Its a book that is about finding who you are despite or maybe because of your struggles and how you can become strong and independent and let it build you up instead of dragging you down.

This was lovely and very well done, and such a great read!
Highly recommend it!

Thank you so much for the opportunity to review this book and to be an early reader via NetGalley! However, I will not be writing a review for this title at this time, as my reading preferences have since changed somewhat. In the event that I decide to review the book in the future, I will make sure to purchase a copy for myself or borrow it from a library. Once again, thank you so much for providing me with early access to this title. I truly appreciate it. Please feel free to contact me with any follow-up questions or concerns.

This is a powerful novel about a young teenage girl living in an abandoned boathouse in the swamps of the deep south and surviving as best she can with her father and two other destitute men. When she meets an affluent boy, they develop an unbalanced friendship that culminates in a dramatic and violent event that will change their lives forever. Vividly described, the events of this book will stick with me for awhile, along with the voice of fifteen year old Pearl and her resilient spirit.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

This book is a modern day Huck Finn only Huck is a girl. And the author is male. The writing is lovely but I felt like there was a lot missing from the plot of the book. Pearl, the main character, is squatting in a shack in the Deep South with her father and two other male father type figures. Seems like there would be an interesting backstory regarding how they got to this point, but I felt like that wasn’t thoroughly explained. Which made the scenario difficult to buy into. I also didn’t think the author did the best job writing from the viewpoint of a teen girl. I won’t give spoilers but I also found the relationship with Mason to leave some questions. Didn’t love this one. I’d give lower than 3 stars except the writing itself was lyrical and well done.

A little experimental for me, but I should have known from the cover! I think that readers looking for a more challenging read from a structural perspective will appreciate this one.

REVIEW
In Jon Pineda's newest work, Let's No One Get Hurt, he introduces readers to Pearl, who lives on the edge of civilization in a swamp with her father and two other men in the American South. This is a novel in the American Gothic style, and it has beautifully written prose.

This is a modern bildungsroman - Grace is growing up and is torn between two worlds - her protected enclave in the swamp and the more affluent world that Main Boy can show her. This book explores the power of class in American society and does so masterfully.

PRAISE
"I would follow [Jon Pienda] into any story he chooses to tell. Pearl is a character who is so real, so vulnerable and so earnest that she walked off the page and straight into my heart."—Lauren Groff

AUTHOR
Jon Pineda is a poet, memoirist, and novelist living in Virginia. His memoir, Sleep in Me, was a 2010 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and his novel Apology was the winner of the 2013 Milkweed National Fiction Prize. The author of three poetry collections, he teaches in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte and is a member of the creative writing faculty of the College of William & Mary.

Many thanks to Farrar, Straus, and Giroux and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I really loved reading this book. I read it in one sitting and loved being swept away. The prose is poetical and the setting is magical. Pearl's father has lost his job, their house and they are now living in a boathouse along the river with another Father and Son and her dog Marianne Moore. All three adults seem a little lost and Pearl is trying to find her way in this new world. Then she meets a boy from the Country Club set and begins to have dreams. Enjoy losing yourself in this southern coming of age novel.

I wasn't a huge fan of this book. I don't think the writing style was my kind and I just couldn't get into it. SOme of the prose was a little too song writing like for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the chance to read this!

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read and review "Let's No One Get Hurt
by Jon Pineda". I did not finish this book. While the book summary sounded really interesting, I found myself bored pretty quickly. Comparing the father's nipples to pecan meat pulled me out of the story. I have never in my life heard of pecan meat or nipples being compared to it. This book is probably a good read, just not for me.

This is the kind of book that is like finding a $20 in the washing machine. It's a jewel among trash.

Told in beautiful, poetic language, Jon Pineda brings us into the world of Pearl, who lives in an abandoned boathouse with her father. Pearl is educated by her father who was once a college professor. This is a coming of age novel, with love and heartbreak, but it's told in such a...lyrical way that hints to something deeper.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Jon Pineda's new novel is a lyrical story about issues that are anything but poetic. Pearl lives with her father and another father and son, Dox and Fritter, on a boathouse somewhere in the south. They have nothing material to offer comfort, barely enough food to eat. Sometimes, not enough food at all. Pearl's mother is gone, the details are sparse. Pearl has her dog, Marianne Moore. When Pearl's dad lost tenure at the university, they hit the road with all their belongings; Pearl was twelve.

Now, Pearl is sixteen and hangs out with one of the country club boys. His name is Mason Boyd, but Pearl calls him Main Boy. She calls his friends the flies. They are a cruel bunch of rich kids, and I feared the worst when they entered the picture. Pearl is curious about them and their lives. She goes with Main Boy to his house and sees, for the first time, how rich people live. She isn't entirely impressed but would do anything to use the excellent big shower.

Pearl's inner life gave me an appreciation for the beauty of nature in her part of the world. I was in constant fear for her but should have known that the three good men in her life would take care of her. This unique story will be the topic of many literary conversations in the future. I loved it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This is about the underclass or other class as some have termed it. Pearl is a terrific character, her father not so much. Living in an abandoned boathouse with three men is not a recipe for a positive existence for a 15 year old girl but things only get worse when she meets Mason, whose father owns the land. The writing is indeed poetic and tight, sometimes to a fault. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is for fans of literary fiction.

Pearl is a 15 year old girl in the deep South that is squatting with her father, a former college professor and now perpetual drunk, Dox and Fritters. She is a wild child living in a wild world surrounded by "flies" Main Boy being the most talked about. He and his friends get into all kinds of hijinks and shenanigans and record it to try to get enough views to get paid. I loved the descriptions of Marianne Moore, their aging dog, that bookend this short novel with edge of your seat southern gothic writing. The middle parts did seem occasionally disjointed, but the writing and descriptions throughout more than make up for it. I would recommend this for fans of David Joy, Larry Brown, or Daniel Woodrell.
Thank you to the publisher for making this arc available through netgalley.

The prose here is astonishing and many of the scenes are sublime. But, the whole, in this case, is not greater than the sum of the parts. The story was somewhat disjointed and hard to follow.

The book lives up to its title, It's an interesting read with its evocative and poetic proses . Though a bit slow at times. This book is a sad reality and reminder of America's South . It was sad and at times dark and depressing .

Jon Pineda shows that he knows his Southern river bayou in “Let’s No One Get Hurt”. Pineda touches all the right dichotomous bases – rich vs. poor, raw nature’s beauty vs. its danger, love vs. hate. 15-year-old Pearl is the adult in the room, taking us on a trip that is a struggle for survival and identity.

Pineda’s writing is evocative and rhythmic, with a luscious cadence and pace. His poetic talents are on full display. “Let’s No One Get Hurt” never has a dull moment, but it has a hard time living up to its title.

A word of caution – not for everyone. Some scenes may cross the line for certain readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar Strauss Giroux.

Let's No One Get Hurt is an interesting novel, but one that I could unfortunately put down. Some areas were rich in detail and character thoughts while others seemed extremely slow to me. Perhaps it's just a book that doesn't really connect with me but will with many other readers.

Told in an almost poetic prose. A modern picaresque novel divided in seemingly fragmented chapters,
about a young girl living in the swamps of the deep south, with nothing to call her own but her untamed spirit and her thrown together family, living on a run down houseboat. I found it disturbing and exact, not approximate in any way.

More review to come closer to release day.

Thank you Netgalley and FSG for the ARC.

Pearl's a wild one living in a boathouse with her fellow squatters. This book is one long chapter broken down in easy readable soundbites. Pearl's observations of life around her, the haves and have-nots.
This is poetry in motion, a strong story.

'For the last few years I’ve had no choice but to become someone else.'

This is a strange book, but then fifteen-year-old Pearl is living no ordinary life. Squatting in an abandoned boathouse with her father, who we learn was once a college professor, Pearl is receiving an education beyond anything her father once taught. The reader is left to wonder what event caused such a shift in their lives and where her mother is? Pearl remembers their life before the boathouse, when everything was predictable, safe and she had both a mother and father. Her life now is that of an outsider, her father having decided he is done with the world and she simply at the mercy of his whims. Life before changed direction with the winds of her mother’s moods and always her father somewhere at a distance, there and yet not, then as now. Roughing it with two other men (Dox and Fritter) along the swamps of the south, Pearl shares bits and pieces of their life before, because her father refuses to talk about it. Everything about her life now is makeshift, but for all her grit she still longs for the things any girl would while also resenting that hunger.

When she meets Main Boy (Mason Boyd) he has the power to destroy the home her ragtag ‘family’ is living in, because his wealthy father owns the land. Pearl finds herself split between longing and distrust for Mason as his friends treat her more like a specimen than a human being. Mason can be tender as much as he can be cold. The creature comforts of his home are a seduction as much as his attention, but the power he wields is a dangerous beast. Pearl projects a tough demeanor, but with Main Boy it starts to crumble and she finds herself doing things most girls would find degrading. Mason is spoiled and entitled but Pearl’s life is an empty belly, her future directionless, unsettled. Her sense of self-worth waxes and wanes, and Main Boy knows how to manipulate the game in his favor.

Mason and his friends love to record dangerous pranks, and there is a disconnect in reality and their humanity which mirrors the real life internet clips we hear about in the news. I found myself cringing at Pearl’s seeming passivity in being around the boys. In her mind they might just be “flies” but in groups they can turn rabid and maul. Mean boys love nothing more than testing another’s bravado, especially if it’s a girl, be she Wendy to their lost boys or not.

The men in Pearl’s life are tough as nails but damaged, and her father seems to be losing sight of her and just what his job as parent means. Her father is steeped so deeply in his own loss that he never thought to question what all of it would mean for Pearl’s future. She is learning to live off the land, to eschew all the ‘things’ regular people desire but whose will is it? There are other vital lessons of survival for a girl that the land alone can’t teach her and someone should be watching over her. As the danger culminates we see the measure of worth placed on people based on their standing in society. Poverty, after all, seems to make Pearl an open target to any abuses the boys can invent. I’d like to say never would they dare the things they do with one of their own, but that’s erroneous, instead I say in their minds a girl who looks and acts like Pearl is an easier target, less precious.With her family of misfits squatting as they are where they legally shouldn’t be, the local boys have false sense of superiority, leverage to hold over Pearl. If something were to happen, surely she wouldn’t go for help, when they are breaking the law living as they are. There is a moment during the climax when one of the ‘flies’ says ‘we were just kidding’ and though I can’t go into the chapter without giving the story away, it hit me hardest. That’s often the way to squirm out of blame, when you hurt others and try to disguise it with the weak excuse of ‘just joking’, it’s used to excuse all manner of transgressions. The wilds of her surroundings, with so much wealth nearby makes for a hell of a story. It’s poverty, class, family collapse, and the chaos and confusion in the heart and mind of a girl just needing love. It’s narrated by a girl who has her foot in two worlds and doesn’t seem to understand either, not yet… but she will.

Publication Date: March 20, 2018

Farrar, Straus and Giroux