The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove - Susan Gregg Gilmore

the  improper life of bezellia grove
susan gregg gilmore
c. 2010
256 pages
completed 5/9/2011

read for: i want more challenge

*may contain spoilers*

Apparently among those who consider their social standing some measure of importance, I am to be admired for I am one of the view Nashvillians who can claim with infallible certainty that a blood relative had lived in this town since its inception.

Bezellia Grove is the last in a long line of first born daughters named for their pioneering ancestor who picked up her dead husband's musket in order to fight off the attacking Chickamauga tribe (though the accuracy of the story is debatable). Growing up in an affluent and wealthy family, Bezellia's life should be breezy and idyllic. But as her mother descends into alcoholism, her father becomes more and more distant, and her younger sister enters her teens still making mud pies and clinging to her doll Baby Stella, Bezellia's life is anything but. She finds herself drawn to the family she creates from the African American help, Maizelle the family cook and Nathaniel the driver. Her life takes a turn when she develops a friendship with Nathaniel's son Samuel and Bezellia is introduced to 60s Tennessee racism first hand.

While I have to admit I enjoyed Gilmore's first novel Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen better, I still really enjoyed Bezellia. Southern lit like this can sometimes be dismissed as merely fluff, but she tackles some heavy topics like alcoholism and racism and inter-racial relationships in a very realistic and non sugar coated or fantastical way. I found the inclusion on some not-so-nice remarks from Bezellia's cousin, who was all for Bezellia's crush on Samuel, to be more telling of the blatant racism than any of Mrs. Grove's hysteric outburst. Mrs. Grove is portrayed throughout much of the book as a somewhat larger than life villain (before we come to see her as more complex) so it's kind of accepted that of course someone like that would be racist. But Bezellia's cousin is supposed to be a good character, someone on Bezellia and Samuel's side. For her to make those comments shows how deeply rooted the racism was.

I did find some fault (maybe that's the wrong word??) in the characterization of Maizelle and Nathaniel. In my opinion, I viewed them as a little too...perfect? Against the villainy of Mrs. Grove they were almost angelic in their long suffering and unconditional love for Bezellia and her sister. I thought they were a little too influenced by Mamie or Uncle Tom stereotypes (Maizelle a little more than Nathaniel) in their devotion to Bezellia. It wasn't super blatant or anything, just something that I picked up on. Samuel, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter, a well rounded character and equal to Bezellia.

As for the ending, I was somewhat torn. The hopeless romantic in me wished Samuel and Bezellia could have taken on the world, but the historian in me was more satisfied that they didn't.

4/5

Girls in Trucks - Katie Crouch

girls in trucks
katie crouch
c. 2008
256 pages
completed 8/15/2009

read for: southern reading challenge

*may contain spoilers*

Sarah and her three friends, Charlotte, Bitsy, and Annie have known each other since their days of Cotillion training during grade school. Even as they grow into different people and move away to different lives, they stay connected through the bonds of the Camellias, a social club they were born into back in Charleston.

I had mixed feelings about this book. Of the things I did enjoy, what stands out is the writing style. The book was kind of written episodically, where each chapter had it's own mini story line that had a beginning, middle, and end. And then the next chapter didn't necessarily pick up where the last one left off. For example, the first chapter introduces us to Sarah and her friends and the importance of the Camellias. We're also introduced to Sarah's cousin and we see the relationship between Sarah and her cousin (I wanna say his name was Ted...I don't have the book in front of me so I'm not 100% positive) evolve until it ends with his untimely death during Sarah's first year of college. Chapter two, which introduces us to Sarah's sister Eloise begins when she and Sarah are still in high school together. So there were some time jumps that I found interesting.

I also really enjoyed the humor infused in the prose of the books. Not necessarily the humor of the story (I think there were several events I was supposed to find funny, but really they just caused me to decide I didn't think I would be friends with this girl), but the humor of the writing. My favorite line describes Sarah and her friends' move to New York for college, "It took us a while to shed our Southern ways, but after a few months we figured out that one's natural height should not be enhanced by one's bangs." I just wish I enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed the author's voice.

I had high expectations for some reason, and they were never really met. Things started off well. I enjoyed the description of Cotillion training, and Sarah and her sister Eloise's relationship in high school, but once Sarah got to college things started deteriorating. For one thing, these four "friends" didn't really like each other. They only stayed connected because of the power of the Camellias, but they never managed to really make any other real friends. Sarah turned into the epitome of our stereotypically apathetic generation, seemingly caring about nothing except finding a man to make her feel worthwhile. I know this is a common complaint of mine, lack of likable characters. And I know that likable people aren't the only ones who deserve to have their stories told, but I feel that a protagonist needs to have at least something about them that causes me to root for them. And on this front, Sarah was severely lacking.

3/5

Miscarriage of Justice - Kip Gayden

miscarriage of justice

kip gayden
336 pages

c. 2009
completed 7/18/2009

read for: southern reading challenge and what's in a name challenge

*may contain spoilers*

Anna Dotson, a married woman living in Tennessee in 1911 with her husband Walter and their children, finds herself growing bored in her marriage. Her husband doesn't show he loves her the way he did when they were first married, choosing to spend more time at his clinic and involved in his community than with his wife. During this time, Anna meets and falls for Charlie Cobb, a local barber, who is dashing and exciting and sees her as she wishes to be seen, as a person as opposed to an accessory. Their affair is discovered and the fall-out leads to a murder trial.

Leading up to the discovery of Anna and Charlie's affair, this was not a great book. It was decent, but a little dry. I didn't really like the relationship Anna and Charlie shared, especially once we got a little deeper into Charlie's character. I wish he had been a bit better of a guy. Then I maybe could have gotten behind their affair a little more, as opposed to just thinking Anna was stupid.

Once their affair had been exposed, things got better. Walter's reaction, Anna's reaction, the murder and trial was where I thought things got interesting. The verdict was a BIG surprise and I'm so glad they explained how the jurors got to their decision. Whether or not it was the right decision...I'm somewhat torn. I don't necessarily think the punishment fit the crime, however after reading the explanation I suppose I think it's fair.

I did think it was interesting the way this story was supposed to draw a parallel to the suffragette movement. Women weren't necessarily just fighting for legal rights like voting rights and the right to sit on juries, etc. They were also fighting for the little things, to be looked at as a person by their husbands, as someone with needs and ideas and thoughts of their own. This book is a true story, and this trial was a bit of a breakthrough for the suffragettes.

3/5

Welcome to the World, Baby Girl - Fannie Flagg

welcome to the world, baby girl
fannie flagg
c. 1998
478 pages
completed 7/8/2009

read for: southern reading challenge

*may contain spoilers*

Set in both Missouri and New York, with a few stops in Atlanta, Chicago, and Vienna, Welcome to the World, Baby Girl follows Dena Nordstrom, a famous TV personality and news reporter, as she relives her past to discover who she is.

I've discovered my problem with Fannie Flagg novels. I want to like them so much, but I continually come up short. I'm sure I'll keep trying because, like I said, I've discovered the problem. Her novels, her characters really, all seem a little cartoonish to me. Like caricatures of people. And that makes it hard to really be invested in anything that happens. I can't see these characters as real people. This is the passage that made me realize it. "Dena was surprised. Dr. Elizabeth Diggers was a large black woman in a wheelchair. 'Hello Mrs. Nordstrom. I'm Dr. Diggers.' She smiled. 'Didn't Gerry tell you I was a big black woman in a wheelchair?'" (p.134) I mean who talks like that? And why the need to use the same phrase twice?

I also want to know how Dena can have lived in New York and Chicago and places like that all her life and never meet a single black person, like she mentioned on page 149. That doesn't seem plausible for big cities like that.

The book definitely got better for me as I got further in. Once we started trying to reconnect with Dena's past, I was able to get more invested. It took me a while to warm up to Dr. Gerry O'Malley. He was one of the more cartoonish in the beginning, the way his love for Dena was described, but by the end I could get behind him. Possible because in my mind he looked just like Dr. George O'Malley from Gray's Anatomy who I like quite a lot.

4/5

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen - Susan Gregg Gilmore

looking for salvation at the dairy queen
susan gregg gilmore
c. 2008
250-ish pages
completed 7/31/2008

*may contain spoilers*

I loved this book. I started reading it and couldn't put it down. It was so funny. The characters were great, they were all really well written. There were the usual small town weirdos and stereotypes, but they weren't so outrageous as to make them unbelievable. Catherine Grace's voice was wonderful, giving lots of insight and back story to every character and event.

What was especially impressive was the Christianity of the book. And by that I mean, this is a story about a preacher's daughter in small town Georgia. There was a lot of church talk and biblical references, but it was never too "preachy." And even though everyone learned to love one another and be good Christians after Catherine Grace gave her eulogy, I loved that she was like "let's be for real, that wasn't going to last long."

There were only two small things I wasn't thrilled with.

The characterization of Flora made me slightly...uncomfortable. It was a little too much of a stereotype for me. Of course this book was set in Georgia in the 70's and maybe I'm too much of a Seattle girl of the new millennium to know if that was just "how it was."

Also, the storyline of Lena Mae coming back from the dead was a little abrupt for me. I understand how it fit with the story, but there wasn't really enough explanation of why she left and couldn't come back. I know why she left, but why couldn't she come back? And then in the end, she just slipped away again.

Even with those two small issues, I still loved the book. And I look forward to more to come.

5/5

Quite a Year for Plums - Bailey White

quite a year for plums
bailey white
c. 1999
240 pages
completed 7/29/2008



I really don't have a whole lot to say for this review. I almost didn't finish this book. It wasn't that it was bad, it was just...forgettable. It took me about a week to finish and I can't really tell you anything that happened. Because nothing really did. There was no conflict. There was no character growth.

Nothing happened.

2/5

Standing in the Rainbow - Fannie Flagg

standing in the rainbow
fannie flagg
c. 2003
544 pages
completed 6/18/2008

*may contain spoilers*

As a disclaimer before I actually review this book I want to point out that it was read primarily for the Southern Reading Challenge (see sidebar), however, during the reading of this book I learned that according to the author this book is NOT set in the South. I didn't realize Missouri wasn't considered the South. I have always considered it part of the South. Not the Deep South, like Alabama and Georgia and South Carolina, but the South none the less.

I have done some research and apparently it is one of the border states, like West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, something to do with them being part of Southern region of the US according to the Census Bureau but they didn't secede from the Union during the Civil War. So sometimes Missouri is part of the South and sometimes it's part of the Midwest. I guess they get to pick and choose. Being as I was born in West Virginia and grew up in Delaware I feel I also get to pick and choose and since my roots are in South Georgia and North Carolina, I like to think of myself as a bit of a Southerner. And for the purpose of this challenge, Missouri gets to be Southern, too.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little wary going into this book seeing as I wasn't totally thrilled with the other Fannie Flagg novel I tried, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (despite my total love of the film), but it turns out I was pleasantly surprised. One of my main issues with Fried Green Tomatoes was it's lack of structure, that each chapter jumped from story line to story line and jumped back in forth in time. The book similarly jumped between characters and story lines, but seemed to follow a much more stable flow of time. Time was always moving in basically one direction.

I thought this book was mostly very sweet. Most of the characters were completely lovable. There was no big plot, just little life stories from people in a small town. I think I loved reading about Mackey and Norma and their Aunt Elner the best. The Oatmans were a little too much at times, but I think that was part of their charm. The Smith Family was charming and entertaining, especially the misadventures Bobby would get himself into as a child.

I think probably the most involved storyline was that of Hamm Sparks and Betty Raye and the political races. This was a little unfortunate since this was the storyline I liked the least. I just couldn't like Hamm Sparks. I thought there was just nothing redeemable about him. I think the author tried to portray him as someone honest and unbiased in politics, but I think she fell short of that goal. The author tried to portray him as honest in his politics, but he lost all credibility to the reader for continually not keeping his word to his wife and eventually taking a mistress. And he was supposedly unbiased towards this "little man" (I know he said there's no such thing as the "little man"), but his politics continually painted those who were well off as nothing but evil and corrupt which is a bias in itself. And I think his character really unraveled at his speech about the Vietnam War at (I think) UC Berkley, though I actually think (due to the reaction of the people in the story) that the author intended for his speech to make him look better. To me, it made him seem uneducated and thoughtless.

Even when Hamm Sparks first made his appearance, I thought he was a little too slick. His courtship of Betty Raye was not romantic, it was borderline harassment. Yes, at the end of the courtship the author said Batty Raye was in love, but I almost think she wasn't. That she said yes partly out of exhaustion or not knowing what else to say. Also, I thought from that first Valentine's Day during her senior year in high school that Betty Raye should someday marry Jimmy. I like to think that they did in the end, when he went to live with her in her little red brick house.

One other part of the book that bothered me was the character of Cecil Figgs. I didn't like his depiction. To be honest, I was at times a little offended. I...THINK he was supposed to be a gay character, but this was never expressly said. If I remember correctly, I think when we went to New Orleans it was mentioned that he wanted to stay because of the pretty boys. But I didn't like that he was on more than one occasion referred to as a fairy. And he was portrayed as annoying, not really a man, obsessed with decorations and planning events. And then he ended his life by pretending to be dead so he could recreate himself as Mrs. Boom Boom and headline a nightclub. As if that great joy was the best thing a gay man could aspire to. I don't know. I wanted to like his character, but he got more and more ridiculous as time went on. And maybe I'm reading to much into his character.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed that it was basically a series of anecdotes, almost as if you were reading the "best of the neighbor Dorothy show."

4/5

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe - Fannie Flagg

fried green tomatoes at the whistle stop cafe
fannie flagg
c. 1987
395 pages

*may contain spoilers*

This book was a little hard for me to read since I grew up loving the movie so much. I still watch it all the time, especially when I'm upset about something. It's one of those movies that makes anything seem better. As long as I have Ruth and Idgie, I'll be okay.

I think what irritated me, was the lack of structure. Now, that's not entirely the right word, but what I mean is, in the movie you have two stories: the story of Evelyn and Mrs. Threadgoode, and the story that Mrs. Threadgoode is telling Evelyn, that of Ruth and Idgie. Both stories go in a straight line. In the book, however, there are so many other elements. It really is like talking to a little old lady and listening to her stories of how it used to be. Things don't really go in chronological order. We kind of forget about one story and jump to another. And I got irritated because while it was fun to read the stories about when Idgie brought Miss Fancy, the elephant, over to see Naughty Bird, or about when Stump and Peggy got together, I wanted the story of Idgie and Ruth and the murder of Frank Bennet.

Had I not grown up loving this movie, I probably would have enjoyed this book a lot more. But I came into it expecting one thing and got something different.

3/5