A memorable look at the joys and tribulations of growing up in a small town during a bygone era.
A historical novel offers a collection of stories about life, love, and family in the rural South.
Evangeline “Vangie” Tanner has returned to her girlhood home in Collins, Mississippi, to mourn the loss of her beloved father. While digging through her memory box, Vangie uncovers an assortment of knickknacks that trigger sweet and poignant recollections of her childhood. Her memories are a window to the past, small moments that allow glimpses of larger social issues through a child’s eyes. There is ample humor throughout the novel, as Vangie recalls incidents such as her father slapping the preacher after the man startled him awake. There’s a thread of nostalgia as well, as Vangie muses on first dates and crazy relatives. But the cozy reflections do not mask the darker realities of a Southern community in mid-20th-century America. Women are expected to “get married and have a passel of children.” An African-American youth named Willie T. Clifford breaks off his friendship with Vangie because of their differing skin colors. The story about Rachel Katz, Vangie’s Jewish neighbor, is particularly striking. When Miss Rachel is attacked for her Jewish heritage, the neighbors murmur about the shame of it all. Vangie astutely observes the display of hypocrisy by most residents of Collins who refuse to take responsibility. This charming novel, a 2017 Faulkner Finalist, goes down like sweet tea on a warm summer night, a glass of refreshment and comfort. Pittman (Pony Tales, 2014, etc.) is an evocative writer. Her characters are well-defined, springing to life from the page in witty conversations and vibrant descriptions. Each story could stand alone, though they are all tied together through Vangie’s memory box. And each tale moves Vangie’s own life forward, eventually landing the small-town girl in Europe, where she discovers her future path. The author admirably balances the lightness of some stories with heavier themes of race, religion, heritage, and family.
A memorable look at the joys and tribulations of growing up in a small town during a bygone era.Pub Date: June 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-73231-740-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Serendipity Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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