The Rock Orchard

Rating:
Summary: Sexually Charming
Review: I have to be honest with you - I'm not sure why I liked this book, but I did. From beginning to end. THE ROCK ORCHARD tells the stories of the people in Leaper's Fork, Tennessee focusing on the Belle family of women. What I liked best about the story was how it became a series of connected short stories, like pieces of material all pulled together into one beautiful quilt.

Even though this is a little simple, a little hokey, a little quirky, it is definitely worth reading. Sit back, relax, and enjoy your visit to Leaper's Fork.

Rating:
Summary: It Ain't Mayberry
Review: Leeper's Fork, TN ain't Mayberry, but I've known and been related to almost every quirky character in town. I laughed out loud, and shook my head with the knowledge that Paula Wall was related to these people too.

This fast paced southern tale of small town life is laugh outloud funny, a flutter of angle's wings touching and break your heart sad.

If you love Deborah Smith then you must read Paula Wall.

Rating:
Summary: A delightful read!
Review: Reading Paula Wall's debut novel, The Rock Orchard, is akin to sitting down to a Sunday dinner with Southern fried chicken, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes and `nana puddin' for dessert.
The Belle women, Musette, Charlotte, Angela and Dixie Cup, of Leaper's Fork, Tennessee, are at first glimpse, an odd family of enormously rich, freethinking and determined females. Stunningly beautiful, they tend to be the frosting on every man's desirability cake.
The ultra-strong Charlotte and Angela Belle are both surrounded throughout by an array of memorable characters that provide both texture and flavor and move the plot along at atypically Southern speed.
The Yankee doctor, Adam Montgomery, has chosen medicine for all the wrong reasons and sets up practice in Leaper's Fork hoping to be a big fish in a little pond. The beautiful Lydia is his vacuous trophy wife.
Widowed Baptist preacher, Thomas Jones, comes to town to replace the hellfire and brimstone spouting Reverend Lyle. Disillusioned with life, apathetic Thomas walks around like a corpse until he sets eyes on Charlotte Belle. Before he can recite the Ten Commandments, his charisma peaks along with his libido and the church pews begin to fill.
Boone Dickson, the handsome young Jack-of-all-trades, is dirt poor and hails from the wrong side of town. He is blessed (or cursed) with an enigmatic animal magnetism that ultimately lands him a welcomed spot inside the good doctor's mansion, if only in the closet.
Throughout the book, Wall deftly strings together complete opposites. The rich and poor, black and white, good and evil, even holier-than-thou and cynical non-believers. Wondering how these characters can possibly blend, will keep you turning pages.
It is a beautifully written book by a serious writer who knows when to inject a line or two of humor, when to take her characters down a notch or two or snatch `em bald-headed. Wall is adept at lacing plot and characters together so that the story comes out just right.
The Rock Orchard is indeed comparable to Sunday dinner in the South. While you perceive a variety of textures and tastes awaiting your palate, you somehow intuit that, by the end of the meal, every morsel will have gone down as easy as cornbread and buttermilk.