what a story, the strength of women ( )

This was really gorgeous--it took a little bit to get into, but once I got going with it, it was really beautiful and tender while holding all these complicated characters in their entirety. The conclusion really felt right in the larger scheme of things--grappling with the trauma in the family in a way that really both felt real and like resolved without being magically cured. It's just a really beautiful look at the complicated way that love in families happens, the aftermath of that, and what beginning to heal might look like, and I really liked it a lot. ( )

I've resisted Dorothy Allison for a while, actually for no particular reason, but finally decided to read her. She has a marvelous way with words, an ear for Georgia speech and the rhythms of the land. A sensory world, someone said, and I agree. Once can see Cayro, Georgia, and know the women who live there. Life changes us and what we don't talk about perhaps changes us the most. ( )

There was a little too much religion in this book for my taste. That would have been entirely fine but it's not what I was looking for. There was also too much random information about stuff the just didn't matter. That being said it was just an ok read. ( )

I picked this up after having read Allison's most famous work, Bastard out of Carolina, which was one of the most harrowing emotional reading experiences I have ever had. This book is not nearly so rough to read, but it is still a cutting, insightful and frank exploration of the small-town lives of people often dismissed as "white trash." Not my usual favorite topic, but Allison is an absorbing and talented writer, really able to draw the reader in.
I am STILL impatiently waiting for Allison's promised sci-fi book - an 'excerpt' was published in 1996 which was a truly great story... I don't know if she never finished it, or didn't find a publisher (seems unlikely!)
No fantastic elements in this book, although the main character is a science-fiction fan, and there's enough titles/authors mentioned in the text to send a lot of people in the right direction! (It's not a big part of the story, though.) ( )