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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
This book rocked me. From time to time, I had to put it down for a bit so that I could absorb it and take a break from its power.
The story begins with two children dying in the arms of their mother, Hattie. Hattie is the backbone of her family and these vignettes. Each chapter/story documents a time in the lives of her offspring.
I wish I could write a better review for this book because it deserves one, but it has left me at a loss of words. Read it.
The story begins with two children dying in the arms of their mother, Hattie. Hattie is the backbone of her family and these vignettes. Each chapter/story documents a time in the lives of her offspring.
I wish I could write a better review for this book because it deserves one, but it has left me at a loss of words. Read it.
This book is well written, though sorrowful in theme. The title led me to imagine a sweeping epic, but I was disappointed and felt a little conned, actually, to discover it is more of a series of interconnected short stories/character studies of each of Hattie's children. Once a character's chapter was over, it was rare he or she would make another appearance.
Despite that, I am interested to see what Mathis produces in the future, this being her first book.
Despite that, I am interested to see what Mathis produces in the future, this being her first book.
I didn't finish the book and don't intend to. I made it about three-quarters of the way through the audiobook but decided to be done with it. I just couldn't stay focused on the story at all. Going into it, I knew that the story would be about Hattie and her children, however, each of them seemed overwhelmingly depressed and uninteresting to me. Each chapter is written from the perspective of each of her children and it is through her children or her children's circumstances that we learn anything about Hattie. I would have liked to have known a little more about Hattie before the chapters with her children started.
I enjoyed the author's style of writing, but the story fell short for me.
I enjoyed the author's style of writing, but the story fell short for me.
I normally read books in hopes that I will be frustrated that they are over so soon, which is exactly how I felt with this one. I related to every character in some way, and didn't at all mind the format since the book ended up reading like an interconnected collection of abstract short stories. Well worth the buy!
Does it matter that life doesn't wrap itself up neatly at the end? Does it matter that drunkeness, adultery and mental illness haunts us along the fringes? What is to become of this family, this tribe of peoples scattered that barely recognizes its own brothers &sisters in the shadows?
I must admit I was a little disappointed in how the book came to a resolve. Hattie Shepherd was a hurt woman and her hurt passed down to her children and grandchild. I think the author really wanted us to see the hurt through the main characters tribe but I would have liked to see it more through her eyes. I don't really know if i cared for the book as much as i wanted to before I read it.
I liked this book when it started. I thought the writing was exceptional and engaging...I couldn't put it down. But then, somewhere along Alice and Billups and/or Cassie and Sala it just fizzled and lost me. I felt like she or her editor didn't know a way out at the end or it was left unread. Powerful... Then poof. I was disappointed; but I did enjoy it... Is that possible?
The final two chapters of this were fantastic. But the chapters, each essentially a short story about one of Hattie’s children, felt incomplete.
Characters just weren't developed enough for me to feel much for any of them.