Rating: 
Summary: Pure dreck
Review: PURE DRECKThis trite, formulaic novel is filled with cliched Southern woman, a 20-something blonde bimbo homewrecker, a fabulous gay hairdresser and, most egregious, a wise, nurturing, lovably bossy mammy-a pure stereotype that fairly drips with inadvertent condescension and sentimentality. It is no exaggeration to say that this is a character that could have sprung straight from the pages of "Gone with the Wind" (see p. 119, where the character says: "These men don\222t know nothing about babies but I can deliver that chile myself iffin I have to, so move over!""). Perhaps even more egregious than its literary weaknesses, however, is the fact that the representation of South Carolina Lowcountry culture is woefully inaccurate here. More specifically, the notion that white children, growing up in the late 1950's and early 1960's on a sleepy but nonetheless relatively developed island a 20-minute drive from downtown Charleston, would have "spoken Gullah" is nothing short of ludicrous. And yet that is precisely what this book, in a transparent attempt at constructing an "exotic" setting, would have us believe. While the narrator concedes that Gullah "mostly used English words in our lifetime," we are nonetheless expected to accept at face value white, urban characters in their 40's who actually "speak Gullah" to each other in 1999. It is of course entirely plausible that white children raised in a household in which a domestic servant whose first language was Gullah was employed might have picked up a few turns of phrase here and there-- and perhaps a slight inflection-- that hinted at some Gullah influence. Even more likely is that such children might have clumsily played at "speaking Gullah," in a sort of dubious running joke amongst themselves. However, to find white children genuinely "speaking Gullah" or even in a true version of the "Geechee" accent that grew out of the Gullah language, one would have to go back at least one full generation prior to the children of the 1950's and 60's being represented in this novel (and even then, it would have been considerably more likely in a more geographically and culturally remote rural setting such as Johns Island or Wadmalaw). The laudatory blurbs from such established authors as Pat Conroy, John Berendt and Bret Lott on the cover of this awful piece of work are puzzling. Don't believe the hype: Sullivan's Island is pure dreck. y\222all.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, to be a Geechee girl!
Review: This is a book for everyone! It has humor as well as mysterey. It exhults family and history! I picked it up because I've been to the Island; I couldn't put it down. The caracters are so real I felt they were my life long friends, or at times, my own family! I could hear the screen door slam. I can't wait to see what Dot Frank does next.
Rating:
Summary: My all time favorite
Review: This must have been one of the best books that I have read in a really long time.Would highly recommend it. In fact, I passed it on to my daughter. Will read anything else that Ms. Frank writes.
Rating:
Summary: Southern storytelling at its best!
Review: Dottie Frank is a born and bred Southern who inherited some of the best traits known to Southerners -- a biting wit, a charming, poetic tongue and a penchant for grandiose storytelling. She has a passion for the South and its history and all of that reveals itself in this richly detailed book. In other words, she does the South and its women proud! In fact, all Southerners will be proud. Sullivan's Island is a celebration of southern culture and its colorful people. Job well done.
Rating:
Summary: Super Woman's Read
Review: This was one of the best new novels I have read! It had it all...history, romance, tragedy humor...a tongue in cheek read...humanity..one of those "how did I get here and why did I get here" books..it jsut got my attention and it was not one of my normal murder and mayhem book...nor a Lawyer thing...just good old human conditions! Am waiting for her to write another book!
Rating: 
Summary: A Southern Island Kind of Story
Review: Pat Conroy, one of my favorite authors calls "Sullivan's Island" "hilarious and wise, an up to date report on what it is like to be female in the South Carolina low country today." He may be right. Dorothea Benton Frank has written this book which
may be a story of her life or someone's life she knows very well. Susan Hayes life falls apart when she finds her husband in her bed with a young blond. She recovers sufficiently enough to kick him out of the home. She and her daughter Beth move on to their own recovery with the help of Susan's sister Maggie. They are bound up within the life of the family. As the book proceeds we discover that Susan has another story to tell, that of her childhood, Of life on Sullivan Island near Charlestown. It is a life of abuse and neglect in some ways, but also a life of redeeming qualities. This life in some ways is similar enough to Pat Conroy; the same type of very angry father, meek wife and 6 children who receive the brunt of the abuse. However, the redeeming quality is Livvie, their black housekeeper. Livvie saves their lives. She will not allow for any abuse of the children as long as she is in the house. She of the gleaming floors and tables, clean washed white sheets and tables full of mouth watering food. As long as Livvie is around there will be some parenting and love. But Livvie is not around all the time and the abuse and beating goes on. A kind hearted sheriff steps in and threatens the father and it works for a bit. The father is a man with demons as you might well expect. Except in this story we are to believe that he is also a man who tries to help the black community. A little too far fetched is this part of the story. A little too much of the chance of romantic encounters that must make the love of a life time. A little too much of everything must be fixed and psychoanalyzed and set right. There is a mystery to be solved, but it is not much of a surprise. This book has a wonderful setting with characters to be believed, but then something is out of context. Everyone must be happy, and everything must be fixed. Dorothea Benton Frank has a way with characters and a way of writing that excites us. She has a tale to tell but tells it too completely. I agree with Pat Conroy, this book has one of the funniest sex scenes I have read. prisrob
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Wonderful
Review: I read this book on the beach, and when I say I was in hog heaven, you gotta believe it, heah? (One of the most fun things about Frank's books is that she teaches you, and uses, the "Gullah" language of her native Low Country, and it's a hoot!)
Here is the story of Susan Hayes, a really nice woman in her 40s with a teenaged daughter (very accurately portrayed, for those of us who have suffered through raising a 14-year-old female) and a handsome hunk of a husband...who suddenly manifests a VERY wandering eye.
So now we have the suddenly-single-woman-with-child making it on her own, except this book is so original, so completely different, that it's like the tale is being told for the very first time. Interspersed with Susan's efforts to pull herself together in the here and now are long forays into her childhood, growing up "geechee" (native Low Country) in the segregated South, when her dearest, closest, most loving human is her family's housekeeper, a black woman named Livvie. This wise and wonderful woman saves Susan's and her siblings' souls in more ways than one...and the strength she gave them allows Susan to find the strength to get back on her feet in the here and now.
I can't say enough about this book. It was the first for Frank, and you would never know it. I hope she writes hundreds more--Dorothea, you hear me, girl? Pick up a copy and love it to death. I know you will.
Rating:
Summary: A Strong 4.5++ Stars
Review: A very entertaining read located in a rich southern setting with delightful characters, and yes, the absolutely funniest sex scene I've come across in many years! There really isn't much not to like about this book.
Rating:
Summary: loved it!
Review: I love this book as well as her second one, Plantation. I have yet to read her 3rd one, Isle of Palm. I knew from reading the first chapter of Frank's debut novel, that I would be a fan forever. Keep writing those books Ms. Frank!
Rating:
Summary: A Southern Island Kind of Story
Review: Pat Conroy, one of my favorite authors calls "Sullivan's Island" "hilarious and wise, an up to date report on what it is like to be female in the South Carolina low country today." He may be right. Dorothea Benton Frank has written this book which
may be a story of her life or someone's life she knows very well. Susan Hayes life falls apart when she finds her husband in her bed with a young blond. She recovers sufficiently enough to kick him out of the home. She and her daughter Beth move on to their own recovery with the help of Susan's sister Maggie. They are bound up within the life of the family. As the book proceeds we discover that Susan has another story to tell, that of her childhood, Of life on Sullivan Island near Charlestown. It is a life of abuse and neglect in some ways, but also a life of redeeming qualities. This life in some ways is similar enough to Pat Conroy; the same type of very angry father, meek wife and 6 children who receive the brunt of the abuse. However, the redeeming quality is Livvie, their black housekeeper. Livvie saves their lives. She will not allow for any abuse of the children as long as she is in the house. She of the gleaming floors and tables, clean washed white sheets and tables full of mouth watering food. As long as Livvie is around there will be some parenting and love. But Livvie is not around all the time and the abuse and beating goes on. A kind hearted sheriff steps in and threatens the father and it works for a bit. The father is a man with demons as you might well expect. Except in this story we are to believe that he is also a man who tries to help the black community. A little too far fetched is this part of the story. A little too much of the chance of romantic encounters that must make the love of a life time. A little too much of everything must be fixed and psychoanalyzed and set right. There is a mystery to be solved, but it is not much of a surprise. This book has a wonderful setting with characters to be believed, but then something is out of context. Everyone must be happy, and everything must be fixed. Dorothea Benton Frank has a way with characters and a way of writing that excites us. She has a tale to tell but tells it too completely. I agree with Pat Conroy, this book has one of the funniest sex scenes I have read. prisrob
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