Summary and Thoughts: Out of the Easy

Spoiler Free Summary:

Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys is another novel that exposes a under thought about population and gives them a voice. Sepetys turns in this work to the daughter of a prostitute in New Orleans in the 1950s.

Josie Moraine suffers under the shadow of her mother in the Quarter, filled with quick to judge, hard to please people. Josie has made a decent life for herself, despite her mother’s lack of interest in her. The young girl found a home in a bookstore, several friends, and a mother-like figure in Willie, the brothel owner.

However Josie yearns for a father and the opportunity to be someone besides the prostitutes daughter. She believes this chance will come with a switch of scenery, the opportunity to attend Smith College in Massachusetts. A murder in the Quarter slows down her dreams but she continues to push on.

Spoiler Full Summary:

(This summary focuses mainly on Josie’s story and neglects to mention Patrick’s story with his father Charlie and some other story lines within the brothel.)

The novel opens with a short chapter from Josie’s past, when she was just seven years old. This flashback allows the reader to infer how Josie’s childhood was, full of lies, drinks, and never in the forefront of her mother’s thoughts.

In the next chapter Josie is 17 and leading a slightly different life. Instead of being dependent on her mother Jo has learned how to care for herself, living in the bookstore and working for Willie, cleaning the brothel each and every morning. Trouble arises immediately when Josie hears from one of the informants that Cincinnati is in town. Cincinnati is a criminal who has seduced Josie’s mother and has no moral line.

In the bookstore Josie and her friend Patrick (to whom the store belongs) meet Forrest Hearne, an architect from Memphis in town for the Sugar Bowl. Josie sees only the best of Hearne, wishing a man like that to be her father and dreams of how her life could be different if she attended college. The next day Josie discovers that Forrest Hearne had passed away. Soon after Josie’s mother informs Josie that she would (along with Cincinnati) be taking off for Hollywood the next day. Josie is concerned for her mother’s safety but can’t do anything to change her mind.

Another customer comes to the store, a young girl named Charlotte, who invites Josie and Patrick to an uptown party at her uncle’s house and persuades Josie to apply to Smith College. The party only cemented Josie’s fears that she couldn’t fit in with the crowd but showed her she had found a real friend in Charlotte. Jo continues to clean the brothel when she finds an expensive watch in her mother’s room- one that belonged to Forrest Hearne. Alarmed, Josie takes the piece and hides it in her room, fearing her mother played a role in the death of Hearne.

Another morning while cleaning the brothel Josie runs into none other than Charlotte’s uncle, Mr, Lockwell, a wealthy businessman who has been spending his nights at Willie’s. In a moment of quick thinking Jo uses this awkward encounter to pressure Mr. Lockwell into writing her a letter of recommendation to Smith. Meanwhile, the police in the Quarter are interviewing folks (including Josie) to piece together a timeline of Forrest Hearne, raising suspicion that it was more than a heart attack that killed the man. Jo continues to work on her application, applying more pressure on Mr. Lockwell to write her the letter of recommendation. He plays a game with her, refusing to do so, offering her a job, giving her money for new clothes instead of the letter.

Josie’s eighteenth birthday comes and goes without too much of a fuss, just some flowers from her friend Jesse and an expensive watch from Willie. One night Josie encounters Forrest Hearne on the driveway of the brothel, his car broken down. Mr. Lockwell, for the sake of his good name, panics- not wanting to get it towed from that address but in desperate need to get home to his wife. Josie finally pushes him over the edge, resulting in a signature on the letter of recommendation she wrote herself in exchange for car repair help from Jesse.

Pressures keep piling on Josie as she learns how easy it is for her to lie, especially when the police start to believe Josie’s mother committed the murder of Forrest Hearne and are now looking for the whereabouts of the missing watch. With her application finally finished and ready to send Josie then begins to wonder how she could afford attending such a prestigious college. Much of her load is lifted when Cokie (a friend through Willie’s) gifts her his gambling winnings- a sum of multiple thousand dollars.

Josie goes for a quick vacation in the estate of Willie’s in the country. There she buries the watch and bonds some more with Jesse. Her trip is abruptly cut short when news comes that Patrick’s father had passed away. Josie helps heavily with the funeral preparations and hosts the luncheon. To her horror, her mother attends, back in town from Hollywood due to the police questioning. After a long day Josie returns to her room where she discovers all the money she had saved and been gifted for college, along with the watch she received for her birthday was stolen. Jo is in shock, refuses to tell anyone, slowly goes crazy.

To make matters worse, a prominent member of a serious local gang pays Josie a visit, telling her she has to pay them 5,000 dollars that her mother owes them. Josie’s mother had bought her alibi for the night of Forrest Hearne’s murder and skipped town before she payed and now the cost fell into Josie’s lap.

Sadly, news from Smith college arrives denying her application but offering her a position as a cleaning lady. Josie sees only one way out of this mess, to take up Mr. Lockwell’s offer for a job. The job offer quickly turns into a sex for money exchange and Josie snaps to her senses in the last second. She instead turns to Willie who helps her pay the 5,000 dollars. Josie decides that night to come clean about the watch and the missing money. As Josie tells Willie the news the madam suffers a heart attack and passes away. The novel ends with Josie driving up North to Smith College where she has receives an interview opportunity.

Thoughts:

The novel pulls at all the heart strings and illuminates an under represented group of people; those caught in a loop due to their parents, struggling to break free. The novel ends on an inconclusive note, but still a happy one. I loved this work. Ruta Sepetys works in general have an eye opening effect- the reader suddenly stands in between two horrible choices that they would never usually consider with no other way out.

This book often made me pause, set it down, and think. Somehow it still managed to be light and humorous at parts. Through and through I would recommend this book to anyone. It quickly made its way to one of my favorite books. Let me know if you have read it, I would love to talk about it with someone who has!