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Summary: Read this book and you'll want to be a Geechee girl, 'eah!
Review: Having loved Dorothea Benton Frank's second novel, Plantation, I was anxious to go back and read her first one that I had missed. Thankfully, this one is just as good and as much of a can't-put-down-book as Plantation was.The author takes us back and forth in time between 1999 and 1963, the pivotal year that forever touched the life of Susan Hamilton Hayes. When we meet her in 1999, she is a harried working woman with a handsome husband and a hormone-driven teenage daughter. When Susan rushes home on her lunch hour one day and finds her husband in bed with another woman, life takes an unexpected turn. You'll cry a lot and laugh even more as Susan takes life with its unexpected slap in the face yet retains her humor and resourcefulness. You'll love going back in time to seeing Susan as a young girl growing up in a family of six children on Sullivan's Island. Her older sister Maggie and her brothers Timmy and Henry will touch your heart as they stand strong and united against an abusive father and a weak and helpless mother. The writing is fast-paced and so mesmerizing that you will smell the water of Sullivan's Island, taste the red beans and rice, gaze into the magical mirror, and yearn for a housekeeper like the wonderful Gullah woman Livvie who is the saving grace in the Hamilton family. The author not only gives us wonderfully unforgettable characters, but heart-tugging situations involving raising teens, reconciling with a wayward husband, coping with terminal illness, and, oh yes, the importance of having a pedicure before sex. Mainly, this book is about love and finding that real love transcends death, heals hearts, changes minds, and gives us courage. So pick up this book and get involved in Susan's life---from her first bikini wax to her final talk with Livvie, this one will have you begging for more from a great new writer I'm happy to have discovered.
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Summary: Marvelous!!
Review: What a great book. The characters and storyline are very realistic and alive with humor and grace. I am so glad I took my time reading it. I actually hugged it when I was through. Warmed my heart and made me wish I was a Geechee girl!
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Summary: Delicious Book!
Review: I picked this up in a bookstore on a snowy (!) day in South Carolina while we were vactioning. . wow, it certainly warms you up quickly! Loved it, the characters are so very real and offer their happenings and lives to you in a real Southern way. . full of feeling! I think everyone will enjoy this great first novel! I certainly did! Bravo!
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Summary: There's no place like home
Review: Susan Hayes is a character that you can't just forget ... nor is this a book you can just put down and forget. No sir. Susan is a woman in her 40s dealing with an ex-husband who strays and a turblent teenage daughter and in the process, finds herself again. Set in the steamy and stormy landscape of South Carolina ~~ Susan deals with her troubled childhood and finds the truth that set her free as an adult. Traveling back and forth between Charleston and the Island, Susan finds comfort and refuge in her childhood home and with her sister, Maggie. And though written with droll humor ~~ this book will keep you in stitches. It's wonderfully written and a wonderful book to keep you turning the pages. It's not just a light read ~~ it's a book about life that most women go through in their journeys in life ~~ and it's a fanastic book. Susan is the woman you dream of having as your best girlfriend ~~ someone to giggle with and cry with. And though difficulties beset her ~~ she was always armed with humor. And the memories of her suggorate mother, Livvie, keeps her going. It's a fun book to read and just like Frank's second book, The Plantation, it's full of humor and sass. You have to read this book and lose yourself from the realities of life in the harsh winter of the north for a few hours. It's a fun read ~~ one that you can read again and again. 1-23-02
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Summary: Now aint the South great!
Review: This is one of those books you should start to read at the beginning of a long weekend because once you get started, you won't want to put it down. Entertaining, funny, insightful and most of all, makes me feel like I'm not the only babyboomer, single mom in the world who knows that some times it's just better NOT TO ANSWER THE PHONE. Before I settled down to read for my second marathon day yesterday, I went on the internet; got a great recipe for red beans and rice and put it on the stove to simmer away for 5 hours. It just made me enjoy the book a little more, knowing I was doing my part to support southern tradition.
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Summary: Sullivan's Island
Review: Recently, a friend presented me a copy of "Sullivan's" to read. It is not the genre I would normally choose to read, nevertheless, I decided to read the novel based on the positive reaction by the supplier. The book has a strong multidimensional character in the protagonist, Susan, who helps the reader remember that laughter and humor are the recipe to surving joyless times especially when dealing with family, love and despondency. The book is better than a mere beach book because of Frank's quality of writing. It is a good book.
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Summary: Tears in my eyes the whole time
Review: This book is so creativly written. I couldn't keep it out of my hands. I laughed, I cried, I sighed. I totally reccommend this book!
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Summary: great book
Review: This book is wonderful. There's humor, hope, sadness, anger,... just all the emotions. Because the chapters switch from present to past, you find yourself always wanting to read more to find out what happens in the past (or present). I found myself really identifying with the main character (Susan), but also with several other characters; they are all written very well and multideminsional. There's a lot of Southern humor in the book too what with all the "big" dishes to bring a family after a funeral, it being indecent for men to wear sandles [hairy toes, hee hee], and the constant references to iced tea. Wish it was co-cola and note coca cola, but hey, can't have everything. I also with that in the bit of history about the actual island, there was information about it being the "ellis island" of African Americans as it was the main place of slave importation in colonial America. Loved the stuff about Gulluh people and the actual bits of that language. Think I'll keep this book to reread someday if I ever forget it enough for it to be a "surprise" again.
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Summary: Fun, cute, and entertaining
Review: I thought that this book was a pleasure to read. It was very entertaining and fun. I especially liked the relationship between the mother and daughter, they were very close and seemed to be good friends. The way that Frank alternates between two different time periods added to the story. It made you think more and piece together the story of her life. Overall this was a very good book, filled with humor and real life situations. I highly recomend it.
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Summary: A Novel to Savor
Review: Let Dorothea Benton Frank take you to Sullivan's Island where you will meet Susan, both as an adult and as a child. Along with Susan, there is a lively cast of characters. The Hamilton children were a rowdy and rambunctious group. Coupled with an always angry father and an emotionally weak mother, the children were left to their own devices, until Livvie was hired as the housekeeper. Susan Hayes, (nee Hamilton) has had a difficult life, many childhood losses; raising children before her time; a lost true love; and the betrayal of the one she ended up marrying. Travel with Susan as she reflects on her childhood and on her present trials with both class and grace. Join Susan's journey as she discovers more about herself than she has ever known. Sullivan's Island is an enjoyable read, it is not a quick page-turner, rather it is a novel that deserves to be savored. Read Sullivan's Island and share it with your friends!
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