Memphis Reads Archive

Fiction/Mainstream

Sara Ellen Reid reviews OPEN HOUSE by Elizabeth Berg (Random House, 2000)

Samantha Murrow's husband of twenty years has suddenly left her. Feeling bereft and desperate, Samantha (Sam) goes on an uncharacteristic spending spree before she finally settles down to begin the process of rebuilding her life. Two pressing problems she must face immediately are the demands of rearing her son alone and a shortage of money. To help ease financial woes, Sam decides to open her home to boarders. Particularly endearing is Lydia, an elderly woman who becomes a comforting presence in the lives of both mother and son. Sam's new friend, King, a very unconventional man, is also a steadying influence as he shows her the enjoyment and freedom of living a simpler life.

This is a winsome and witty first-person narrative about a woman rediscovering herself, and finding, in turn, that there is indeed life and love after divorce.


Sara Ellen Reid, Parkway Village Branch Library

Labels: Mainstream Fiction, Reviews by Sara Ellen Reid

Fiction/African-American

Sara Ellen Reid reviews A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest J. Gaines (Vintage Books, 1993)

In the fictional community of Bayonne, Louisiana during the 1940s, Jefferson, a young, uneducated black man, has been unjustly accused of murder. He was with two acquaintances when they killed a white storekeeper who refused to extend them credit. Now Jefferson has been tried, convicted, and sentenced to die by electrocution. In court, his own attorney poorly represented him and labeled him a mentally incompetent "fool" and, even worse, a "hog" that was incapable of planning a robbery or murder. "What justice would there be to take his life? Why I would as soon put a hog in the electric chair...."

Miss Emma, Jefferson's godmother who reared him, is deeply hurt by this portrayal; she enlists Grant Wiggins, a local plantation school teacher, to help Jefferson cope with the reality of the situation and to die with a sense of humanity. Mr. Wiggins, the story's narrator, is clearly unhappy about the assignment, but finally agrees to talk with Jefferson out of loyalty to Miss Emma. He has no idea how to proceed. Wiggins is dealing with his own issues--his discontent with his lot in life, his uncertain faith in God, and his sense of futility. Ultimately, the two men forge a friendship and both learn important lessons about living, as well as about dying with wisdom, courage, and dignity.

A Lesson Before Dying is a deeply moving, thought-provoking story which deals with life and death issues common to mankind. It was honored with the National Book Critics Circle Award and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.


Sara Ellen Reid, Parkway Village Library

Labels: African-American Fiction, Reviews by Sara Ellen Reid

Fiction/Westerns

Sara Ellen Reid reviews THE MAN FROM SHADOW RIDGE by Brock & Bodie Thoene (Bethany House, 1990)

It was 1861 and Tom Dawson, a rugged individualist and man of high moral character, had become increasingly uncomfortable in his Missouri army regiment, the Marion Rangers. Pro-slavery sentiment had asserted itself and the Rangers had joined the Confederacy. Tom had been grateful when brother Jesse's letter arrived asking him to join Jesse's family in California where they had a homestead. Jesse could not afford a hired hand and Tom's help would be extremely valuable in running the small ranch which ran below the eastern slope of Shadow Ridge Mountain.

The past two years had been good ones; Tom had found a measure of contentment far from the chaos of the Civil War back East. But now word has come that a stagecoach in the area has been robbed and six people have been brutally murdered. Southern sympathizers who were stealing Union gold for the South have been blamed. The peace-loving brothers get embroiled in the war's turmoil that has now extended far to the West. A series of harsh events make the townspeople fearful and the Dawson family is particularly tried through a tragic death and a kidnapping. In the end, Tom draws on his faith and finds the courage to go against a wealthy, influential, but duplicitous town merchant and his gang of thugs.

This is the first in a series called "Saga of the Sierras." The Thoenes are an award-winning writing team whose books are especially notable for their detailed research. The fact that the authors make their home in the Sierra Nevada Mountains adds to the realism with which the book was written.


Sara Ellen Reid, Parkway Village Branch Library

Labels: Reviews by Sara Ellen Reid, Westerns

Fiction/Mystery

Sara Ellen Reid reviews THE UNEXPECTED MRS. POLLIFAX by Dorothy Gilman (Doubleday, 1966)

Sixty-something Emily Pollifax of New Brunswick, New Jersey is a widow with two grown children and grandchildren when she tires of volunteer work, garden club meetings, and her "sensible" life. Mrs. Pollifax has always longed to do something significant for her country, so she decides to contact the CIA to offer herself as a spy! This unlikely spy candidate is, of course, initially rebuffed, but through a series of miscues she is actually given a "simple" assignment! She is to travel to Mexico as a tourist, go to El Papagayo Libreri on August 19, and request a copy of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. The book (presumably containing secret documents) is then to be brought back to Washington to Mr. Carstairs of the CIA. Predictably, the plan quickly goes awry as Mrs. Pollifax finds herself drugged, bound, and imprisoned on a remote mountaintop in Albania. Although a novice, the clever Mrs. Pollifax proves to be formidable adversary who is grossly underestimated by both her captors and the CIA.

WHY YOU'LL LOVE IT: The central character, Mrs. Pollifax, an older, charming, highly intelligent woman who repeatedly outwits the enemy and amazes her cohorts is the book's main appeal.

Sara Ellen Reid, Parkway Village Branch Library

Labels: Mystery, Reviews by Sara Ellen Reid