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A review by melanie_page
Homestyle: The Complete Series by Michele Feltman Strider
5.0
Set in Bayou La Batre, Alabama, about as far south in that part of the U.S. that you can get without falling into the ocean, we meet Jolene Harris, a twenty-seven-year-old hair stylist who works at her mother’s salon inside a trailer. A steady rotation of customers come in for trims, entire make-overs to become new women, manicures, and a little pampering set-and-style. Each has a story to tell, often of love lost of some two-timing philanderer who made the teller’s life hell, and Jolene, Rhoda, and their nail technician, Thuy, all listen like therapists. The other salon patrons have adroit, “homestyle” advice for each other:
I wanted so badly for Jolene to break up with Keith, but her circumstances are evaluated out by others: she doesn’t have a baby, he doesn’t have babies, so she could do worse. Is that enough? But look around — what else would Jolene expect? She’s not going to transport herself into scholar, career woman, and all-around responsibly adult who stops being a ball of juvenile fun. In a way I didn’t realize until I finished the novel, Michele Feltman Strider doesn’t judge her characters either in the narration or through the mouths of others, even though they nearly set themselves up to be judged. Thus, it’s hard to feel ill-will toward anyone or get too frustrated when they do what I wouldn’t. Not being led to feel one way made the setting and characters feel new because I didn’t know how they would surprise me.
The sensory details created a whole world for me. I found myself getting very hungry every time Jolene and Rhoda ate the rotation of frozen pizza, BBQ, and pork rinds. Each chapter begins with the screen door of Rhoda’s trailer slamming shut when Jolene enters, and I could hear that slap so (I half expected to hear my own parents yell, “Quit slamming the door!”). However, I did wish there were more outdoor descriptions; I kept placing the novel in the Midwest and then reminding myself this is a bayou. Should there be mosquitoes? Alligators? Palm trees? I wanted to see it, to hear the buzz of life. On the other hand, the dialect, idioms, and types of businesses and vehicles all reminded me I was in the south.
Homestyle made me laugh out loud on many occasions, especially the clever quips Jolene adds to a conversation that didn’t fail to remind me of Zora Neale Hurston‘s Florida stories. Yet, I also was left thinking. When the characters are wronged so hard, how do forgive? I’m not sure they do, at least not out loud. There was a tricky social contract even the most heart-broken characters followed that made them empathetic and supportive. Because I typically read before bed, I would lay awake thinking about Jolene, about her hardships and full heart and big personality, and wonder, “What is she doing right now?” as if she were a real person.
This review was originally published at Grab the Lapels. There, you can also find a brief interview with the author!
“It never occurred to me to ask if he had a wife, let alone three.”There’s definitely an overall vibe of down-south poverty: vehicle repossession, mobile homes, drinking all day, baby daddies, etc. Jolene is unusual at twenty-seven for not having children or any divorces, but is dating her own “no-‘count” boyfriend, Keith, whose sole skills for surviving are mooching off girlfriends and scheming. Even Jolene’s mother, Rhoda, has three divorces behind her. Possibly because people don’t see marriage working out around them, Jolene doesn’t appear to take planning her wedding to Keith seriously:
“Oh, you gotta ask.” Nancy shook her head, sagely. “That’s on you. If they lie about it, then it’s on them.”
And we’re gonna yell ‘yee-haw’ and fist bump instead of saying ‘I do.’But I was struck by how not cliche these characters are, and how much I care about what happened next when life seems both desperate and laid back, fun yet oppressive. Jolene rides the highs of a fun weekend in New Orleans with her bestie, returning home to discover the friend was head-banging on the motel bed and got her hair caught in the ceiling fan motor and had to be cut free. Through the lows, Jolene becomes a couch monster, eating cookies and red Kool-aid for dinner while watching her Bears — the Care Bears, that is.
I wanted so badly for Jolene to break up with Keith, but her circumstances are evaluated out by others: she doesn’t have a baby, he doesn’t have babies, so she could do worse. Is that enough? But look around — what else would Jolene expect? She’s not going to transport herself into scholar, career woman, and all-around responsibly adult who stops being a ball of juvenile fun. In a way I didn’t realize until I finished the novel, Michele Feltman Strider doesn’t judge her characters either in the narration or through the mouths of others, even though they nearly set themselves up to be judged. Thus, it’s hard to feel ill-will toward anyone or get too frustrated when they do what I wouldn’t. Not being led to feel one way made the setting and characters feel new because I didn’t know how they would surprise me.
The sensory details created a whole world for me. I found myself getting very hungry every time Jolene and Rhoda ate the rotation of frozen pizza, BBQ, and pork rinds. Each chapter begins with the screen door of Rhoda’s trailer slamming shut when Jolene enters, and I could hear that slap so (I half expected to hear my own parents yell, “Quit slamming the door!”). However, I did wish there were more outdoor descriptions; I kept placing the novel in the Midwest and then reminding myself this is a bayou. Should there be mosquitoes? Alligators? Palm trees? I wanted to see it, to hear the buzz of life. On the other hand, the dialect, idioms, and types of businesses and vehicles all reminded me I was in the south.
Homestyle made me laugh out loud on many occasions, especially the clever quips Jolene adds to a conversation that didn’t fail to remind me of Zora Neale Hurston‘s Florida stories. Yet, I also was left thinking. When the characters are wronged so hard, how do forgive? I’m not sure they do, at least not out loud. There was a tricky social contract even the most heart-broken characters followed that made them empathetic and supportive. Because I typically read before bed, I would lay awake thinking about Jolene, about her hardships and full heart and big personality, and wonder, “What is she doing right now?” as if she were a real person.
This review was originally published at Grab the Lapels. There, you can also find a brief interview with the author!