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A review by banrions
The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew
4.0
I picked this up because of the cover. I know the rule is don't judge a book by its cover, but I do. Not always, I mean if it sounds good but has a stupid cover whatever, but I love good looking books. Also titles. I love me a good title. This book, has both of those things, plus, it happens to be a very well written novel. It reminded me a little bit of The Secret Life of Bees mixed with The Help and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Those are all stories that I liked, and I enjoyed this one as well.
The narrator is a 13 year old girl named June Bentley Watts aka: Jubie and she is fantastic. She is smart, caring, thoughtful, observant, all good things. But she also takes a lot in from what she sees and learns from it. Jubie is the second oldest child in a family of five, her older sister Stell (Estelle) is polite, pretty, religious, does most things right, where Jubie does not. Her younger sister Puddin (Carolina) is adorable and sweet, and her toddler brother Davie can do no wrong because he is a baby, but more importantly, he is a boy. Jubie's father seems to single her out in punishments (spankings, beatings etc.) and her mother tends to ignore her children, letting their maid, Mary, take the reins. The novel starts at the beginning of the summer and Jubie and her family (minus her father) are going to stay with their uncle for vacation. Their maid, Mary is coming along. This being 1954 in the south, they run into race issues. But the novel is not about race, its about Jubie and the people in her life.
Jubie is an interesting and lovely character to get to know, her world feels very real and the author (first time) really knows her stuff. Its a great read, with a very pretty cover:)
The narrator is a 13 year old girl named June Bentley Watts aka: Jubie and she is fantastic. She is smart, caring, thoughtful, observant, all good things. But she also takes a lot in from what she sees and learns from it. Jubie is the second oldest child in a family of five, her older sister Stell (Estelle) is polite, pretty, religious, does most things right, where Jubie does not. Her younger sister Puddin (Carolina) is adorable and sweet, and her toddler brother Davie can do no wrong because he is a baby, but more importantly, he is a boy. Jubie's father seems to single her out in punishments (spankings, beatings etc.) and her mother tends to ignore her children, letting their maid, Mary, take the reins. The novel starts at the beginning of the summer and Jubie and her family (minus her father) are going to stay with their uncle for vacation. Their maid, Mary is coming along. This being 1954 in the south, they run into race issues. But the novel is not about race, its about Jubie and the people in her life.
Jubie is an interesting and lovely character to get to know, her world feels very real and the author (first time) really knows her stuff. Its a great read, with a very pretty cover:)