Book Review: South of Broad by Pat Conroy

I've been told by several people that I should read a Pat Conroy novel. I finally got around to it and was not disappointed. I chose South of Broad because I own it -- by "hand-me-down." Not sure who gave it to me.

Our narrator, Leo, loves his home town of Charleston, South Carolina. Leo had a traumatic childhood. He finds his older brother dead from a suicide, wrists slit open, in the bathtub. His life spirals after that. His mother seems to not care about Leo, he ends up being arrested for a crime he didn't commit, he spends some time in a mental institution, and he does his community service by taking care of a cantankerous old man.

His mother is the principal at the high school Leo attends, and in the 1960s desegregation is just beginning. Leo becomes friends with an unlikely group of kids. New neighbors, Trevor and Sheba, who live with there alcoholic mother. Starla, Niles, and Betty live in an orphanage in town. Ike is the son of the new (African American) football coach. And Chad, Molly, and Fraser are from rich, upperclass families from South of Broad, who got in trouble at their private school and must now attend Leo's school.

South of Broad switches back and forth from the 60s to the 80s, as Leo outlines the progression of the relationships within this mismatched group. There seem to be more "downs" than "ups" for most of them. From the racial tensions of the 1960s South, to the aids epidemic in 1980s San Francisco, to Hurrican Hugo in 1989, the story is a saga, as well as an homage to Charleston.

Conroy's writing draws you into the lives of these people and the atmosphere of Charleston in the 60s. If you haven't read any of his novels, I will recommend him -- as he was recommended to me. South of Broad was not one of his better-received novels, although certainly a best-seller, so I'll be sure to seek out another of his novels soon.

Published by Nan A. Telese, 2009
Copy obtained from a gift
514 pages

Rating: 5/5

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Audiobook Review: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Before We Were Yours is an interesting story, both heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Dual perspective is used very effectively, with our first narrator being Rill, beginning in 1939 when she was twelve years old. Rill is put in charge of her four younger siblings when her mother has difficulty delivering her sixth child and must be taken to the hospital. Rill and her family live on a riverboat traveling up and down the Mississippi trying to survive. They are "river gypsies." While her parents are gone, all five children are taken away to a boarding house serving as an orphanage. They are told they will see their parents soon, but that is a lie.

The second perspective is Avery Stafford, a woman who is about to have it all. She is a successful lawyer who is engaged to be married. The wedding promises to be one of South Carolina's most lavish affairs. We are in the present day, and Avery's father, the senator, is grooming Avery to be his replacement if he must retire. Avery is on a political outing with her father when she meets an old woman in a nursing home named May. When May tells Avery she knows her grandmother, Judy, Avery thinks she must be confused. May simply didn't associate with the kind of people that Judy Stafford did. And Grandma Judy is now in a nursing home suffering from Alzheimer's, so she isn't much help.

Avery is compelled to find out why May thinks she knows Judy. As we are exposed to the absurdly harsh and unjust treatment Rill and her siblings are subjected to, we follow Avery as she secretly works to uncover her family's hidden past, revelations that will possibly redefine all of Avery's hopes and dreams for her future.

Before We Were Yours moves at a pretty slow pace and drags even more in the middle, but the story that unfolds is so unbelievable that you can't stop reading. Because it is based on true events, it is even more fascinating.

Each perspective is narrated by a different person, and both of them read too slowly for my taste. It is a story from the South, so the slow, southern drawl was appropriate, I guess, but I'm too impatient. I had to speed it up.

Overall, Before We Were Yours is a worthwhile read, and I would definitely recommend it. Depending on your taste, you may want to choose to read it rather than listen, but either way, you will enjoy the experience.

Published by Ballentine, 2017, Random House Audio, 2018
Audiobook obtained from the library
352 pages

Rating: 4/5

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Book Review: Such a Rush, by Jennifer Echols

Such a Rush was a disappointment with its partly unbelievable plot, and an ending that was fairly predictable.

Leah has moved around a lot, following her mother (who follows various boyfriends.) But one thing is consistent in her life -- their trailer parks are always next to an airport, and Leah has a dream of someday learning to fly. Her mother is rarely around, and Leah manages to get a job running a small local airport on the beach in South Carolina.

One of the businesses flying out of the airport is Hall Aviation. They fly advertisement banners along the beach. Leah saves her money, forges her mother's signature, and manages to get Mr. Hall to give her flying lessons. When Mr. Hall dies suddenly, Leah thinks her flying days are over, but his sons, Grayson and Alec, plan to continue with the business, and Leah, after being blackmailed by Grayson, ends up flying for them. Leah has always had a crush on Grayson, but she's now involved in a scheme that threatens to tear the brothers apart.

Problem: I had trouble getting enmeshed in some of the story. I decided it was because, in some cases, I was "told" things that I should have been "shown." Rather important scenes, such as Leah's mother inviting Mark to live with them, was just glossed over like it was no big deal. And then, we are "told" that he and Leah have not had sex. I would like to be "shown" one of those bedroom scenes. The scene where she threw him out was great -- I just wanted more of that for that whole story line. There were other parts of Such a Rush that gave me the same feeling -- sort of jumping over more important emotional parts so that I couldn't feel what the characters were feeling.

I didn't get why Leah didn't WANT to fly for Hall Aviation. That should have been her dream job -- with a guy she has a crush on, and flying on the beach in the plane she is familiar with. Why was it necessary for Grayson to blackmail her to get her to do it? (But, if there's no blackmail, there's no story.)

I just had a problem with the whole Mark thing. Leah is supposedly crushing on Grayson, but when she gets confronted by Mark, she considers starting a relationship with him....really?

The ending of Such a Rush was easy to determine from the outset. The climactic moments played out pretty much just as I expected. And I thought what Leah did at the end to cause the drama was totally out of character. She was always level-headed when it came to flying, and then she lets her emotions get the better of her? I didn't believe it.

Things just went on too long. I read 196 pages, and really had had enough. So, I skimmed about the next 80 pages, and read the last 50. I'm serious, I don't' think I missed anything in the plot by just reading a few sentences on every third page.

I loved the flying part of the book. I loved the descriptions of flying and the scenery below.  The setting was well described. I liked that things turned out well for Leah in the end. I know that Jennifer Echols is very popular, and Such a Rush is the first of hers that I've read. I'm not opposed to trying another of her books, but this one just didn't do it for me.

I will still recommend Such a Rush to teens who are contemporary fans, especially those who are fans of Echols.

Published by MTV Books, July 10, 2012
ARC obtained from Around the World ARC Tours
325 pages

Rating: 2/5

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