South Carolina Books

maggie of course is the follow up to THE DEAD DON'T DANCE and like it, it is very well written and very hard to put down...another winner in my book, pun intended...jr

Charles Martin is such a realistic writer. His stories are so "human", in that things happen in his books that actually happen to "real people". In "Maggie", his sequel to "The Dead Don't Dance", he writes in such a way you can enjoy this book, even if you didn't read the first one. I had read the first one, which made the second one very exciting!
Mary Lee Howard, Andalusia, Alabama

This book is not what you expect in a series. It picks up and tells a very different story than the first book. Martin writes by painting with many different colors and textures, and presents places and images with a unique and fresh talent of expression.
Distinctive among many excellent Christian Fiction novels, Martin uses memorable characters that readers can relate to, which are everyday people feeling the pain and struggles of everyday life and celebrate in the simple pleasures of living.

Maggie was the second book in a two part series by Charles Martin. The series was great and Maggie particularly compelling.
Charles Martin is a young author who needs far more recognition in my estimation.
His books are compelling, thoughtful, inspirational, and well written. I have read all of his works, and have ordered the new one which will come out this month.
Hope he goes far and writes for a long time.

This book is a great sequel to The Dead Don't Dance. Charles Martin is a talented author who really gets deep into his characters' lives. His stories are riveting and uplifting.

I've got to say it took me forever to get into this book. I just finished it 30 seconds ago ... and I'm glad the long journey has come to an end. Usually I am so engrossed in a book I can't put it down ... this one I had to force myself to keep reading. But I finished it ... it kept calling me back, I wanted to know the end and I'm glad I did. This book had some laugh out loud parts to it ... and it had a surprising depth, that you wouldn't expect from such a sleeper of a book.

I'm a little wary at starting Lost in Rooville ... but hopefully it will surprise me like A Delirious Summer did.

After reading Flabbergasted, I quickly became a fan of Ray Blackston and his quirky characters. And he impressed me even more with Delirious Summer. There is such an element of fun in his decriptions of the many wacky characters in this book that I could not help but be amused. Unlike other writers in the Christian fiction genre, Blackston doesn't try to shove oversimplified moral lessons down his readers' throats; he offers us instead insight into the minds of normal, flawed people and how they approach their relationships with God. Who wouldn't want to read about a man who climbs roofs to talk to God, a mentor who uses a tangelo to instruct young men about the nature of love, or a girl with a piercing who has a milkshake ministry? Great book. Great author.

This was something that I charged into head on. I can easily say that I took the same route with "Flabbergasted", and I found an author that I want to keep up to date. I didn't exactly blast through this like I can do with other reads, but I did finish it, and I can say that I recommend it. I can easily see why this might be a favorite for some, yet I can also see how others might have been in some spots and this and thought, "COME ON! Let's pick up the pace, Blackston." There are times where I'll pick up what I'll label a mediocre read, yet it'll leave me craving for more in the end. That's how this was for me.

So, is this where we depart with Jay Jarvis? Probably not, but we do meet Neil Rucker. By the way, Jay is the slowest Spanish student that Neil has EVER had to endure. You'll join Neil on furlough to South Carolina. I think my major disappointment was that I expected a whole lot of wacky stuff, just like in book #1. But while it wasn't filled with that, there were instances where I was able to laugh out loud a few times. So when Neil meets Jay's friends, (Darcy, Steve, Alexis & Lydia) they all go on a beach trip. Neil is personally looking to find love, while others might be looking to rekindle old flames amidst fire. Take another ride in Lime Sherbet! Through it all we learn a little bit about crabbing, maybe a lesson with a tangelo, but ultimately we learn a huge lesson about change. This is about learning how to hit the curve balls that God throws at you. Yeah, you may hear of some church hopping here and there, but that isn't exactly the main idea here.

So, was I glad I made this journey when it was all over? Yeah, I really was. I just didn't realize it was going to be such a long trip! I personally thought there were a few too many unanswered questions. Oh well. Will this keep me from reading Ray Blackston in the future? No way. I look forward to my next read by him, and I'm really looking for a big surprise! My hopes are indeed up, Mr. Blackston, and I'll be diving deep into the next read with more gusto than ever.

While this wasn't my favorite read, I can still say thank you for the change of pace. Keep on keepin' on!

Christian Spanish Teacher Dude (& friend of formerly-Agnostic-Stockbroker-turned-Christian-Missionary Dude) braves newly-charted Christian Singles dating scene waters until Ecuadorian tragedy strikes.

I guess I'm in the minority in saying that this book wasn't one of my favorites.

I'm not particularly interested in the "lad-lit" type of books. I did like the humor, but there didn't seem to be much depth to the characters or the storylines. It seemed that the main point of the guys was to get a woman and the women were church-hopping just to find a man. It was like THE most important thing. And that all seemed to ignore the point of going to church--to worship God among believers.

It seemed whenever a storyline or character looked promising, the author seemed to stop exploring yet. I started to take an interest in Neil and Alexis when they talked about their parents, how Alexis was rejected by her father. But after the one conversation, the storyline didn't develop. The same with Darcy and her parents, who threatened to cut her off because of her Christian beliefs. I thought the fire at the missionary story showed promise, but that seemed to end and didn't seem to indicate that it would go anywhere.

So, I was not to excited about this book. Others might enjoy it though. At least the humor and the relationships were clean, and not trashy as in a lot of books these days.

This is a lawyer's book -- a good one.

In April 1956, a Marine drill instructor led a platoon of recruits on a night march into the tidal waters of Ribbon Creek in the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina. Some of the recruits strayed into deep water; six of them drowned. The public news media cried out for punishment of the responsible party. The public furor also was a threat to the continued funding of the Marine Corps. The most obvious target of this wrath was the drill instructor, Sgt. Matthew McKeon, who was all but abandoned by his commanding officers in a rush to judgment.

The book follows the ordeal of Matthew McKeon from his immediate arrest and public condemnation by the Commandant of the Marine Corps, through a court of inquiry and then a general court-martial. The author is a retired judge of the family and probate court in Essex, Massachusetts, and also a former Marine who went through boot camp in Parris Island in 1957. In preparation for this book, Judge Stevens reviewed the official records of the government and also conducted interviews of many of the persons involved.

Interestingly, the main character in the book is not Sgt. McKeon. The main character is Emile Zola Berman, an experienced New York civil trial lawyer who represented McKeon in the general court-martial without charging a fee. In contrast, General Randolph McCall Pate, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, is portrayed in a negative light and General Wallace Greene, who led the court of inquiry, is more or less given a free pass.

The court-martial lasted more than three weeks; forty-eight witnesses testified. There were many rulings on the admissibility of evidence and on strategic and tactical matters. The author does an outstanding job of condensing the testimony and explaining the significant legal issues and trial tactics, even though he sometimes overuses adjectives in that effort. For example, the word "clever" is frequently used to signal that an important concept is about to be discussed. Nonetheless, trials are complex things and there is bound to be some repetition in the telling, particularly where there are two separate but similar proceedings, the inquiry and the court-martial.

On the other hand, there is a tendency for the author to make his own determinations in ex cathedra fashion. For example, he flatly states that the law officer erred in allowing testimony of the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Corps' most colorful general officer "Chesty" Puller because the subjects of their testimony were not properly subjects of opinion evidence. While that is sometimes a valid objection to expert testimony, courts across the country allow such testimony every day. Besides, this was not a trial with a judge and jury; it was a court-martial with a board and a law officer. Suffice it to say that this question - and others - are arguable and it is for appellate authority to say whether or not the ruling was wrong.

The court-martial board consisted of seven officers, including six Marines and one member of the Navy Medical Corps. We are told little of the background of the board members except that three of the Marines were initially trained at Parris Island and one of the others had been assigned to the construction of the rifle range near Ribbon Creek. The first thing that a trial lawyer wants to know is about the members of the jury, their experience, knowledge and general background. More information about these men would have been helpful.

Finally, one wonders whether the average reader understood the distinction between negligent homicide and involuntary manslaughter, which was a critical distinction in Berman's "clever" defense argument. Absent evidence of gross negligence, civilian jurisprudence would have treated this incident much like a fatal automobile accident. It is hard to understand why McKeon was confined to the brig through this entire ordeal.

I am so glad to have found this book. I am the illegitimate daughter of Charles Reilly whom I knew nothing about since he died one month before I was born. This book not only took me through the trial but also gave me incite to the person he was. Through the years I have only had a home town newspaper article of the incident and was never recognized by his family.
I am sure McKeon did not march the whole platoon into the marsh with the intent that some would surely die and do feel that he has been justly punished for his bad judgement on that fateful night. I could almost feel like I was at the trial by the way Stevens writes. As a former wife of a Marine who spent four years living the "life", I, too, would like to see this depicted on film. I would also like to locate some of the surviving members of Platoon 71 who might have more information of any kind about my father.

I have not yet read this book, but after reading the reviews, I thought a further recommendation might be helpful. My grandfather, Colonel William B. McKean, was in command of the weapons training battalion at Parris Island when the Ribbon Creek incident took place. He wrote a book about his experiences and impressions called Ribbon Creek. It is out of print but still possible to find through used and rare book stores.

Drill Sgt. Matthew McKeon had consumed some quantity of vodka, beer, and whiskey on April 8th, 1956 when he decided that the best way to instill "discipline" in his laggard platoon was to march them, at night, through a treacherous swamp that he had not reconnoitered. Several platoon members could not swim, a fact known to Sgt. McKeon, who nevertheless still plunged foolishly and criminally into the muck and mire of Ribbon Creek where six young men quickly drowned. Sgt. McKeon was arrested and ultimately convicted of negligent homicide and an alcohol-related offense. His nine-month prison sentence was reduced by the Secretary of the Navy to time already served in pre-trial confinement and his Bad Conduct Discharge was rescinded. Sgt. McKeon, now Private McKeon, was permitted to remain in the Marine Corps until he was medically retired in 1959.

Judge Stevens correctly portrays McKeon as a stand-up guy who immediately knew the enormity of his actions. It appears that McKeon spent his remaining time in the Corps, and has lived his civilian life, atoning for the conduct that cost six lives. It can not have been easy living with these unquiet ghosts for so long. The Secretary's decision to spare McKeon further jail time and to allow him to remain in the Marine Corps was correct: so was the guilty verdict, for actions this far beyond the pale deserve, and demand, the censure of a criminal conviction. Judge Stevens' slender volume, however, questions both the verdict and the decision to try McKeon in the first place. True enough, the Commandant did proclaim this presumptively-innocent man guilty within days of the incident. Yet this same Commandant later appeared at trial as a defense witness and was allowed to opine that perhaps the proper verdict should be guilty of the alcohol-related offense only and the proper punishment should be the loss of a stripe. Judge Stevens maintains that McKeon was thrown to the wolves for doing nothing more than following established precedent for dealing with a bad training platoon, sort of a "just following orders" defense with a scapegoat twist. Further, it is as hard to portray McKeon's lead civilian counsel, a wealthy personal injury lawyer, as a defender of the constitutional rights of the downtrodden as it is to portray a career Marine as downtrodden, yet that is the tack Judge Stevens takes. The Marine Corps may indeed have a "...propaganda machine that is almost equal to Stalin's," as President Truman once observed, but the Corps is not an evil monolith that would sacrifice one of it's own to the false god of public opinion. Sgt. McKeon was convicted of exactly the charges he was guilty of. Not only was the court's verdict correct but so is the verdict of history.

"Court Martial at Parris Island," though far too breezily written for so weighty a subject, bogs down repeatedly in trial-evidence minutiae. And how many times can McKeon's attorney be described as "clever" before the word ceases to have meaning?

I want to begin my comments by saying this is an excellent balanced book and that Stevens deserves a lot of credit. I would further recommend it to any Marine or others interested in Marine Corps history.

I will also state it is my opinion that S.Sgt. Matthew McKeon was a good man who made a tragic mistake. The factors leading up to the events of the evening of April 8, 1956 are manifold and can only be fully understood by reading Stevens' book.

My personal perspective comes from having served in the USMCR and the USMC from October 1956 until August 1962 when I was Honorably discharged as a Corporal E-4. I went to Parris Island in early February of 1957 and my recruit training virtually overlaps the events of a year earlier, putting me at the rifle range at about the same time of year.

Like all of us who went though boot training, I too pulled butts at the range. The discipline and control there was far different than back at main side so on several days I took the opportunity to spend my entire lunch break walking all over the Ribbon Creek area. I wanted to understand this incident.

Definitions from Webster...

Marine: Of or relating to the sea.

Amphibious: Able to live on both land and in water.

Swim: To propel oneself in water...To float on a liquid...

DI Motto: Let's be damn sure that no man's ghost will ever say "If your training program had only done its job."

And from Chesty Puller we learn the mission of Marine Corps training! "...success in battle..."

When I got to Parris Island, I was shocked to see recruits who could not swim had joined a service called the Marine Corps. I also thought it strange the USMC would accept anyone who could not swim, but I guess the Navy does too. How much W.W.II footage have you seen with Marines wading ashore under heavy fire when the Peter and Mike boats could not make it to the beach? Or, in jungles up to their chests and necks in water at Guadalcanal and then all over the south Pacific and Vietnam as well.

HELLO! This is the mission!

In training "...the nonswimmers had been taught how to float, tread water, and dog paddle. All recruits in the platoon had received ten hours of swimming instruction before April 8."

Platoon 71 got themselves into trouble by not following McKeon and by "joking, kidding, and slapping others with twigs while yelling "Snake" or "Shark! Suddenly there was a cry for help and panic broke out..."

I had looked closely at Ribbon Creek while at the rifle range and my "vivid" reaction then was someone would need to be retarded or radically incompetent to drown in that area! Several in platoon 71 fit this description.

"About three-fourths of the platoon was squared away. But the remainder were foul balls." "For example, eight of the men in Platoon 71 were either illiterate or had General Classification Test scores - approximately equivalent to an IQ test - below 70."

McKeon's colorful assessment that 25 percent of the platoon were "foul balls", may not have been far off the mark based on the testimony of several members of the platoon at the trial and in later interviews"

"The quality of some of the men under McKeon's tutelage may also be measured by their behavior after completing boot camp. At the time of the court-martial, two men were AWOL from Parris Island, one was AWOL from Camp Lejeune, one had deserted, one was in the brig, and one was awaiting punishment by his commanding officer." Remember these men did not complete their recruit training under McKeon, so other DI's also had a chance to make these guys good Marines.

SDI Staff Sergeant Huff had basically washed his hands of the young men under him...Stevens states "McKeon was failing, and he knew it." I think it was SDI Huff who was failing.

As far as the charges of being drunk the testimony is flawed and inconclusive. "Not until the court-martial nearly four months later would Dr. Atcheson admit that there was no clinical evidence of intoxication."

His own recruits "...testified that there was no evidence that Mckeon was drunk or impaired by drinking". Of all the recruits in the platoon who had made statements "...not one...had anything negative or critical to say about Sergeant McKeon".

McKeon was victim of being a nice guy by helping Scarborough with his bottle, allowing him to leave it in the barracks, driving Scarborough to the NCO club and accepting congratulattory drinks he never finished. Granted, McKeon used bad judgement but he was certainly not a bad guy.

S.Sgt. McKeon was the first person in the water and he was the last one out. He was leading, not just ordering recruits into an unknown situation. It is empirically obvious that if they had just followed him, as instructed, they all would have gotten back safely. Basic for military training!

Bottom line, McKeon was a new junior DI carrying virtually the whole burden of squaring away this platoon. When I got there a year later there was a "Motivation Platoon". I don't know if this approach existed in 1956 but what I saw of the "Motivation Platoon" regimen would have straightened out these "foul balls".

Although busted to Private, McKeon was allowed to stay in the Marine Corps. He attempted to rebuild his career, capitalizing on his W.W.II carrier experience. He worked with an all-weather fighter squadron and supplemented his private's pay by working nights in the kitchen of the EM club. Remember he had a wife and kids!

Earlier that year he had earned his squadrons "Marine of the Month" award.

"With one exception, all of the men interviewed forty years later spoke as highly of their former drill instructor as they had at the trial."

Enough said!

Marietta Cook, has always wondered why she wasen't the color of her light father, instead being color of her non present father. After her mother dies Marietta leaves her small home town in South Carolina, to try to find her Uncle. She ends up meeting playboy Sinbad, and getting pregnant, returns to her hometown. Marietta gives birth to twin boys. Marietta leaves again, and is introducted to the game of football from her neighbor who watches it all the time, Marietta see's football as her twin sons way out, and a way to be respected. The two boys end up pro, and she moves with them, and have to get use to the city left. This book is so good, you want regret reading it, it's like you is there with Marietta the whole time.

This novel fails in the last 1/3. The author could have made this a tightly-woven tale about individual and collective community in low-country South Carolina. Instead, she took the easy way out -- Marietta Cook's sons succeed in football, are drafted by the Rams, and her problems end. Life doesn't work that way. As the story progressed, Marietta searched for her roots -- she gave up that search when the boys moved here to LA. There was a glimmer in the novel when Marietta was cleaning house for a rich Charleston white woman who referred to a piece of furniture as having been inherited from her great-grandmother. The author should have kept Marietta in low-country SC; she and the rich white woman could have discovered that the white family owned the plantation on which Marietta's "gran" and "gran-gran" were slaves -- together they could have searched for their roots and discovered the intertwined black and white communities of the plantation South -- Marietta's "gran-gran" likely polished the same table. The author's southern California background does not allow her to understand black or white Southern communities.

Incredible book. Funny, heartbreaking, brave, fearsome.
Marietta, the protagonist, is a large, "blue-black" pregnant teenager in the Gullah speaking region of South Carolina. Big Ma (her granny) delivers her of a set of surprise twin boys (a scene that I, a midwife, found particularly engaging), and the rest of the book is Marietta's struggles to do right by her two hulking sons. Not to give the end away, but football becomes their salvation.
The daring part of the book's construction is that huge sections of dialogue are rendered in accurate Gullah dialect. It takes a little getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, it flows beautifully and adds immeasurable richness to the reading.
Don't miss this one.

Initially, I was impressed by the fact that a white author could capture the Black voice so accurately. But as I got deeper into the book, I got over the race issue and I was simply impressed. It was a unique and fascinating story with characters so real, I could almost see and hear them. And I know that I'll be thinking of Marietta, Calvin and Nate long after I've moved onto my next read. I'm looking forward to reading more of Straight's work.

I began this novel for a book club assignment specifying books written about South Carolina, or by South Carolina authors. As I had lived in Charleston, SC, during my early adult years, I was excited to find a book that would evoke my memories of the black culture and language that I had become so familiar with. When I discovered that the author was a white woman with no apparent ties to Charleston or it's black subculture, I began the book with the expectation that it would be as authentic as southern accents are in Hollywood movies. Was I in for a surprise! The Gullah language was accurate enough to affect me for weeks on end, as my sentence structure and word choice reverted back to my Charleston days. But it was the term "blue-black," and its racial connotations, that completely convinced me that this author knew intimately the world she was portraying. Surprisingly, white people are relatively peripheral to this story and never directly abuse the main character or her sons, with the exception of a white child playing with her toddler twin sons as if they were pets of some sort. Marietta likewise distances herself from the Civil Rights movement and when asked to participate in a lunch counter sit-in, she sneaks out through the kitchen when things heat up. She had just wanted to be included, for once, and be a part of the black cultural family despite having no interest in Civil Rights per se. Because she is so black and so large, she is looked on with fear by her own race, who, in a sort of reverse prejudice that exists still, look down on those who appear most African. Browner skin tones, "good" hair, and less African features are all looked on as more attractive and desirable compared to Marietta's very dark countenance. This is the reason Marietta pushes her boys into succeeding at football. Their size and apparent fierceness is an asset in football but a liability in the world otherwise. Even as small children, her boys are routinely challenged to fight by other boys at their school, and Marietta fears that her sons will have an even harder time fitting into society than she does. Although she has fared well working as a domestic, she fears that her huge, very black sons may have problems with white culture, where, she has heard, cars have swerved off the road to hit black people walking along the road side. Although the book is criticised for the apparent superficiality of the California portion of the story, I felt the writer evoked the superficiality of the California culture and Marietta's struggle to once again fit into a culture that was foreign to her. Although appearing "African" made her assimilation into Charleston culture difficult, her appearance was accepted and even applauded in California, where diversity had a head start on the south. A white man, slightly drunk, approaches Marietta at a ballgame and askes her how she likes America, as he assumes from her African headwrap, bright clothing, and physical appearance, that she must be visiting from Africa. As the mother of celebrity pro football players, her "look" is accepted without question in California. She eventually is able to find a black community where she fits in, with a lake for fishing, and she leaves behind the world of row-on-row condos where people walk for exercise only, and to get anywhere you have to drive a car. Marietta comes to love herself, to accept her often difficult life, and to realize that no matter how much of an outsider she had felt herself to be in the past, she could always find "family" for support and help, no matter where she lived. This book is a wonderful coming-of-age story about a woman who is too black, too large, too "hard," and too silent (she never liked "she-she" talk) for even her own race to get to know, much less learn to understand her. The story immerses you in the Charleston black subculture that hasn't changed all that much since the time frame of the story. But my original question remains: How the heck does Susan Straight know so much about Marietta and her people?!

This book is not so very well written, apart from the fairy tales spaced throughout it. The story is forced, and the psychological development too shallowly described.

Reading a fairy tale within the pages of a novel just doesn't work for me. Also, the main character was not likeable.I didn't care about anyone in this book and although the author seemed to be using the fairy tale written by the main character's mother as a means to pull the reader in, for me, the method failed and the "mystery" was not very intriguing.

Benedick Hunter makes for a readable anti-hero in this novel which uses the fairy tale as a detective lens to look for the roots of suicide and madness. The subject matter Craig picks is ripe for overstatement so it is wonderful that she manages to get the tone just right. She stays tight and economical with her language and as a result the images that she does use are striking and well-crafted. The ending is a trifle precious and pat. I understood the point, but acknowledging the illness is only the first step to recovery. Aside from this minor quarrel, In a Dark Wood makes for a fine and moving read.

Benedick Hunter is having what at first appears to be a middle-aged crisis. He's an actor who hasn't had any steady work recently. His wife is divorcing him and he bickers constantly with his pompous father. He finds little joy from taking care of his imaginative, but demanding young children. Benedick lives off from the small amount of royalties from his mother's children's books. After rediscovering one of these collection of fairy tales he begins reading the stories for deeper personal meanings. He's compelled to follow a trail of his mother's old friends who are scattered over Britain and America like a trail of breadcrumbs. The mysteries contained in her subversive fables lead him to his mother's childhood home and the truth about his family that has been hidden from him. Gradually he learns that his alienation from society and erratic behaviour has its roots in a mental illness. But he has to descend into the darkest psychological depths in order to learn how to live with this disorder.

In this beautiful and moving novel, Craig manages to write very convincingly about a man's perspective of the world. Benedick's personal aspirations are clouded by despair in a way that prevents him from also appreciating all the loving people he has in his life. Unfortunately, he has also inherited a lot of pain and bitterness from his mother's life, many of the facts of which have been hidden from him. We are also given many funny details about the cultural differences between America and England. What the author also does so extraordinarily well is show a blend of light and dark in this central character's psychology. He does a number of detestable things. Yet we are given insight into them and understand they are acts of desperation brought about through a mental illness he can`t control. Craig pays tribute to the important and complex work of Angela Carter who was dubbed the Fairy Godmother of British fiction. She does this by insisting that fairy tales have a much deeper meaning than what appears on the surface. The raucous emotions and terrible violence they depict just may be a greater reflection of reality than we care to admit. The psychological demons which hound many people are indeed more terrifying than the creatures who lurk in the dark woods of fairy tales. By blending the story of Benedick's travels with a number of creative fairy tales, Craig gives us a lot of insight into this while producing an enthralling story.

Having suffered from clinical depression and known others with manic depression, I was hooked by the idea of a novel about it - and amazed to find it not only deeply sensitive to the condition but a great piece of fiction too. What nobody so far has mentioned is that it's very FUNNY. Craig has segued the idea of someone going on an Oedipal quest to discover the truth about himself with the confusion many men feel about their place in a world increasingly dominated by women. I laughed so much at Benedick's attempts to cope with his kids, his failing career as an actor, even his self-pity before being plunged into his heart of darkness. There are so many smart observations, but this is a deep book about our need for stories, and about finding sanity and hope in the midst of despair.

This is the first book I've read by Karen White. It was a wonderful story of the Carolina lowcountry with rich detailed characters and an intriguing storyline. Family secrets and sister's connections come to the surface after an accident that has forced one of them to come home. My only bone to pick was the multiple narrations. While I enjoyed the adult characters' perspectives, I found the young boy Gil's to be a bit out of place. It didn't 'ring true' for me. None the less, I'm passing this gem along because I know my friends will snap it up and love it for a fun summer read!

This is a wonderful book. The characters were believable and likeable. I would definitely read something else by this author.

I was entranced with this story. A family with a history of bipolarism, secrets and tragedies.
Mystery and supsense will keep you turning the pages. I found it disturbing but insightful. A mothers love with a fine line of insanity.

Gripping novel...
Reviewed by Debra Gaynor for ReviewYourBook.com
Sixteen years ago, Marnie's mother drowned. She could not remember everything that happened that fateful night, but she knew she had lost two things that day that she dearly loved, her passion for sailing and the love of her sister. She escaped to the dessert pledging never to go near the ocean again. A call for help brought her home again. Marnie was determined to help her nephew but had to work through her own problems to do so.
The Memory of Water by Karen White is not a fast read. This is one of those books that you want to savor every word. The plot is gripping. The characters are multifaceted. Diana and Marnie are sisters that at one time dearly loved each other. The Memory of Water explores the relationship of sisters and the dynamics of living with a person that is bi-polar. The sisters are forced to face ghosts from their past. Karen White draws readers in to her plot. She successfully moves from one narrator to another, each telling their part with a distinct voice, fitting together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. There are several twists that will keep the reader turning pages. I found this book to be captivating. If you enjoy high drama this is the book for you.

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What a pleasure to read a novel that has it all together - characters that are real and easy to see, a setting that draws you in and wants to keep you there, and a plot that keeps you wondering right up to the last minute. This was not a book I plowed through at breakneck speed. I was savoring it too much - it's one of those ones you really don't want to end. The surprising thing I learned when I completed the book was that Karen White doesn't live anywhere near the water - and she has never sailed! You will swear that she is sitting in an oceanfront cottage writing this story - with her sailboat tied to her dock. Bravo, Karen, for all your research. The rich detail of the characters, home, town and sailing experience, is perfection!

Karen has a wonderful facility for leaving a trail of information that eventually adds up to a plausible conclusion. I love those "Aha!" moments and the pleasant re-thinking one goes through as the pieces fall into place. This is my first Karen White book, so I now have the pleasure of looking forward to reading the others!

I saw this while browsing the library shelves, so I had to check it out. Once I started reading, it took me a minute to realize that this is fiction and not the author's life story. That darn picture on the cover totally fooled me. Once I got that straight, I just muddled through until the end. I can't explain it. I usually find something appealing about stories about Black southern life, but this one did not move me one bit. I didn't even become slightly more interested until I got toward the end and the situation with Gayla's husband. I still am perplexed about how growing up 'nigger rich' was germane to the story. The main character still had to endure the prejudices that were prevalent during her childhood. The wealth her family had only seemed to allow for more material possessions, if anything. Maybe it was just too deep for me. I did like the writing style, though. Oh, well. Back to my usual fluff. 2 stars.

This is a really great book, from the beginning you are hooked to read more of the book. this is a type of story you think you solved the story then you mind something out and you are total lost. but you are easily but back on track. this book is very detailed and has alot of scenery. what i think is so good about this book is that the Stephen King allows you to get inside of the charactors' head and let you see what they are seeing and thinking. I am also impressed with all the drama that takes place in the story.

This is an enlightening story about the social strata and racial prejudice that existed in a small southern town. The story focuses on a prominent African American professor, Gayla Tyner, who returns to her home after many years of living up north. She finds that although she has grown, the old town has remained the same. The time there allows her to slow down, reflect back on her life and rediscover what really matters.

this is the kind of book that once you start reading it you can't put it down because it speaks the Gospel truth on things.the book in so many ways reminds of you are getting to big for your britches.or have you forgotten who you are?I truly enjoy Her Showcasing Her Intelligence for something more&greater to me still in this Society there is nothing more Dangerous than a Black Person that happens to Be Smart&On the Ball.throw Success into the Mix&"Haters" both Black&White are Scared.but for different reasons.I enjoyed this Book fully.

Gwendoline Y. Fortune's novel Growing Up Nigger Rich seems at first to tell a straightforward, simple story. College professor Gayla Tyner pays a visit of determined self-discovery to her parents and hometown. Caught in the ambiguities of a troubled marriage relationship, she contemplates her family relationships, connects with old friends, considers her options.
But scratch the surface of Fortune's story, and you find a commentary full of wisdom and experience that proves the old saying that the personal is political. Gayla embodies the peculiar social and economic history of this country. She is a daughter of privilege, yet as vulnerable as any African American to the insults and outrages of racism. Through her story, we see the history of social change in this country and are confronted with troubling questions that remain. Who are we? What have we gained, and what have we lost? And most importantly, where are we going?
Growing Up Nigger Rich is about reconciliation: Gayla's need for personal reconciliation with herself, her father, her husband's infidelity; but also America's need for reconciliation of its present with its past. Thanks to Gwendoline Fortune's skill as a storyteller, this is an alternately painful and exhilirating, ultimately enriching and most engaging process.

(c)2002 Jan Maher

Have read several of her other books and was once again happy with her. Would love to know what happens next.

This was a fabulouse read. A great beach or by the pool book. It keeps you engaged till the end. I can't wait to read the other two in the series! I found another new writer to add to my favorite's list!

If you have ever walked through divorce or have someone walking through divorce (as I do my oldest daughter), Stealing Home, will help you to experience the pains and problems that a person feels. Maddie is not prepared for her doctor husband to tell her he is leaving her and her three children because he has gotten his nurse pregnant. Maddie is torn because she thought her marriage was going fine and had no clues there was anything wrong. Bill, the doctor husband, reaps the chaos he has sown upon his family when the nurse realizes he does not love her and is still in love with his ex-wife or so she thinks.
But by then Maddie has moved on and regained her self-confidence. She has friends who stand by here through all the struggles she faces. She comes out a much stronger and better person.
Cal Maddox, coach of the baseball team, coaches Maddie's oldest son. When Ty is going through a hard time and about gives up the joy he loves in baseball it is the coach who helps him out of the slump.
Cal takes it slow getting to know Maddie.
But living in a small town (as I do) gossip is the biggest the problem. People stick their noses in where not needed and gossip and jealousy rage until the coach almost loses his job. But as in any small town, the outcome of a board meeting assures Cal that he still has his position as he declares his love for Maddie.
There is so much I could relate to living in a rural community and my daughter walking through divorce although my daughter relocated.
Sherryl Woods has a way of drawing you into all the feelings that people endure as they go through a divorce and try to rebuild their lives. This book is hard to put down.

when I picked up this book from the library of the recommendation of a friend, I had no idea I would like it so much. The witing is wonderful...it seems to give a very realistic picture of the turmoil that is caused among children of divorced families, and the adjustments they need to make. Most of all,the book didnt try to play nice...it potrays very clearly the insensitivity of the spouses who cause the divorce, in terms of expectations regarding the children ..and how they are expected to behave towards their n ew loves. The best part comes initially in the book when Maddie wants to "curse Dr. Phil" and all those therapists who dole out inane advise about the "best interests of the child". The writing is very fluid and humorous as well. I cant wait to read her other books.

I did like this book - but it would have felt much fresher if I hadn't read it right after reading Jennifer Crusie's TELL ME LIES, which tells a similar story of a cheating husband and a wife who finds a new flame. The Crusie book has more levels, plus a convoluted mystery, although it does not get into the head of the cheating husband as Woods does. I really liked the dialogue, especially for the teen-age and younger kids; it rang true. The small town atmosphere was also well-rendered, with just enough love of gossip and willingness to believe the worst to make it a less than idyllic place to live. The overall tone and the ending were cozy, even if several elements were rather sad. But, then again, divorce is sad no matter how happily some people end up.

This book is so great. I had read "The Beach House" and was so happy to find there was a sequel. Now Id love a sequel to "Swimming lessons". The characters are so real and alive in this book, Id hate not to know what happens in their lives.

This absolutely wonderful sequel to "The Beach House" brings together all the "turtle ladies" whose mission it is to rescue endangered sea turtles who lumber up onto South Carolina's beaches once a year to lay their eggs in a timeless ritual. Civilization being what it is, the nests would be destroyed, purposely or not, if this dedicated band of women (and men) were not there each year to tirelessly make sure that doesn't happen.

Like "The Beach House," this book is based on fact; Monroe herself is a self-proclaimed turtle lady. The plot revolves around the characters we met in the first book: Single mother Toy now has her degree and a job at the aquarium, which is about to get much more prestigious. Her darling little girl Lovie, named after the matriarch who passed away in the last book, is a precocious, wonderful 6-year-old, a self-proclaimed "LITTLE turtle lady." Cara and Brett, who fell in love in the last book and married, are trying hard to have a baby. Irrascible Flo is getting older and too proud to ask for help. And in this book, the menacing father of Toy's child, Darryl, suddently reappears, wanting to connect with the daughter he abandoned before her birth.

All of this makes for a quick and interesting page-turner, but the backbone of the book is the conservation of the giant turtles, and for me, that's the grabber.

"Swmming Lessons" is the perfect summertime book, whether you're at the beach (how more perfect could it get?), around a pool, or just lazing on your front porch. I urge you to grab it and gobble it up!

Mary Alice Monroe does it again in exploring relationships and real life. As a fan for many years now I couldn't wait to read this new novel. I read "Swimming Lessons" with a thirst to be quenched and wasn't disappointed in any way!!! This author is fantastic!!! Having lived on the SE Georgia coast for almost 25 years now I could relate to the surroundings and the pictures painted with Monroe's words were music to my soul. I visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island a couple of weeks after finishing the work and found the exact turtle rehabilitation set-up that was described. As I went around the Center and then to the Nursery I had to tell everyone that they needed to read "Swimming Lessons." Bravo, Mary Alice!!! Please create us some more to read!!! You not only write well but you make a difference with your stories as well...definitely a book worth reading and life well lived...

Swimming Lessons is a wonderful sequel to The Beach House. It has such wonderful relationships among the characters themselves and with the loggerhead turtles and the coastal environment.

For several years, I've enjoyed the work of Mary Alice Monroe. And when I noted that Swimming Lessons was coming out, I knew I needed to catch up on my reading and start with the Beach House (the book that introduced us to the Swimming Lessons characters). As usual, the author didn't disappoint me and created a lovely book about mother/daughter relationships that I could easily relate to. But more than that, I became equally intrigued with Loggerhead Turtles. So the follow up book - Swimming Lessons, was an added bonus to keep involved with the characters. Again, wonderfully written, you form a deep attachment to the characters and get caught up with the lives of the turtles -- this time from a different perspective. I highly recommend Swimming Lessons, but also recommend you start with The Beach House.

A good read for those who want to know the true story of what happened!

Kibler brings back a slice of the Old South with detailed research and rich, descriptive narrative. Some may accuse him of romanticizing but recent scholarship places him much closer to reality. The Hardy's (the original family of the home Kibler himself restored) while atypical of the prosperity of the larger South are representative of their class. A good read & highly recommended.

This work by Dr. Kibler reveals the history of this family, their life style, the impact that the members of the family had on southern society during that time period, and the impact of that time period on the family.

As an ancestor of the Hardy family he so elequently describes, I thank Dr. Kibler for the efforts he relentlessly pursued in order to reveal the life of this southern family.

Additionally, I thank the reviewers - all of you, pro and con - that have taken the time to extend their personal thoughts and feelings about Dr. Kibler's work.

I assure each and everyone one of you that the ancestors of this proud Southern family are alive and well, and that the history of the Hardy family is a Southern history that ALL of us share that reside here in the deep south. It will always remain a vital part of this family, and of this culture, through all time.

My children are well aware of their heritage, and are filled with pride to be personally related to the family that lived and survived in this historical, colorful past. My brother and sister, both residents of South Carolina, are just as proud.

God bless all of you.

Allen Key Hardy

Dr.Kibler told me that the most common remark he heard when he was signing books for his first promotion of Our Father's Fields was "this is my family's story." I believe anyone from the South who has knowledge of their ancestral past can say the same thing after reading this book.It does have a common theme of settling,nurturing,and loving a land and the people who helped make that land what it was and to some extent,still is today.Painstaking research was done over many many hours as detailed in this book.Having visited this home twice I can tell you that you feel the history and people here. The only warning I would give you is do not buy this book if you are looking for the usual pablum issued forth by the New York Times best sellers about the South.However,if you want a healthy dose of truth about her and her people then you can't do better then Our Father's Fields.

James Kibler does a masterful job of relating the story of a South Carolina family and their home on the Tyger River. Not only does Kibler tell a compelling story, he conveys the uniquely Southern question of the property ownership. ýDo you own land or does the land own you?ý In the South, one does not just own property. He does not simply possess a piece of real estate. The land has prior claim and possesses its owner. In turn, the owner of record becomes its custodian and responsible for all that came before him.
In Massachusetts, when Bob Villa fixes up an old house, he is simply fixing up on old house. In Atlanta, (unlike the real South) they fix up an old house and call it ýproperty rehabilitation,ý just another investment. But outside the metro-monstrosity, to rescue an ancestral home is to rescue history itself. To work in its gardens and find an occasional arrowhead or musket ball is to experience a piece of life. To salvage the work of a long ago carpenter (even though you cannot immortalize him) is to save his efforts and art for the future to enjoy. Saving someoneýs refuge from history is to become a part of history yourself, yet another tale that must be rescued from the condos and strip malls.
Unlike the rest of Americaýs empire, the South remains conscious of its history. We cannot ignore what we tread on every day. We live our lives up to our necks in the results of history. In turn, there is no greater honor than to be a part of our history and its land. If Yankee legions could not destroy the land and its story, then modern corporations and termites havenýt got a prayer. Here we do not measure history with years; we measure history with lots, acres, family and true Christian friends.