Rating: 
Summary: Crazy & Fun
Review: This was my first Michael Lee West novel and I want to read more of her writing. This is a story about a family of women who live just outside the norm. Miss Gussie is strong and practical but lives her entire life under a cloud of fear that a dark secret will one day be revealed. Her daughters, Dorothy and Clancy Jane, are both interesting and quirky. Whatever dark seed was planted in Dorothy continues to insinuate itself into her perceptions of life. Clancy Jane makes mistakes but she knows about love and commitment and fighting her own demons. Their daughters, Dorothy's Bitsy and Clancy's Violet, are both grappling with the realities of life and love, growing up with different expectations and ideas about their futures only to end up more similar than anyone could have imagined. The sixties are woven into the story like threads of gold and silver in an intricate brocade with the use of authentic lyrics and events. Michael Lee West tells us a story that moves easily along its way, taking us on a trip which makes us feel the sorrow and joy of these crazy women.
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Summary: Entertaining Southern Flair
Review: If you liked the Ya-Ya books,then you will enjoy this one. It is fashioned in the same manner. I really enjoy the element of getting all of the character's views on the events going on throughout the story. It was captivating enough to read cover to cover, but I felt a little slighted at the end when one of the main character's fate was never revealed.
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Summary: And you thought they were crazy in Alabama !
Review: What a terrific book. Having personally lived in most of the places outlined in the story I'm impressed with the effort the author made to give an accurate geographical depiction. There is no crazy like southern crazy. The story is well told. It's funny, sad, bursting with emotion. The characters are well-formed, realistic women. Their love, hatred, passionate distrust and longing for one another's respect are evident on every page. One customer review said it was not a funny book but a sad book. It's a realistic book. The glass is either half full or half empty and the attitude of the reader is reflected in the way the reader reviews the book. A must read!
Rating: 
Summary: caught in a month of talk shows
Review: This story grabs you on page 3 and lets you go after chapter 4. I feel like I have been reading about a month's worth of talk show topics: Murder, teenage pregnancy, cancer, alcoholism, affairs, divorce, abusive husbands, depression, attempted suicides, living in poverty, runaways, eloping, burying someone alive, paranoid schizophrenia, dramatic childbirths, drugs, rape, hippies, war, protests, amputations, not paying child support, jealousy, prejudice, violence, etc. I read this because of the comparisons to the Ya Ya's. There was no humor. It was depressing. The characters were not developed. I couldn't wait to finish the book. I was even more disappointed with the way the book ended. The main characters in the end were not the main characters. Bizarre book.
Rating: 
Summary: REALLY GREAT!!!
Review: Couldn't put it down. Best book I've read this year. If you loved Crazy in Alabama, The Bingo Queens of Paradise, or Divine Secrets of the YA YA Sisterhood, you'll flip for this.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I Read This Summer
Review: I fell in love with this charming tale of mothers and daughters. There's never a dull moment, and the characters are so real, you can almost smell their perfume. Their escapades took me through a rainbow of tears, laughter, and smiles. If you loved FRIED GREEN TOMATOES and STEEL MAGNOLIAS, this is the book for you. It's southern in spirit and utterly beguiling.
Rating: 
Summary: No light at the end of the tunnel for characters
Review: I had a hard time deciding who to like in this story. I thought the characters were unbelievably cruel to Dorothy. Who doesn't invite their daughter/sister to Thankgiving knowing that she had no other place to go and she lives next door. I kept waiting for one of the characters to stand up for Dorothy. The discovery of the skeleton was anti-climatic, and nothing was resolved at the end of the book.
Rating: 
Summary: They're no Ya-Yas
Review: I saw an ad for this book in the New Yorker this spring, touting it as the precursor to the Ya Ya Sisterhood novel. It started out that way, but fizzled into nothing at the end. One of the most colorful characters was not addressed at all in the final chapter; we were left wondering what happened to her, when everything else was tied up into a neat little package. And the storyline of the dead body in the back yard failed to materialize into anything interesting at the end of the book.But those complaints aside, the characters are very vivid, and I catch myself thinking about them from time to time. I especially liked one of the grandaughters of the matriarch, the girl who survived her drunk, hippie mother. That struck a cord with me. All in all it's a good read full of wonderful characters, but the end is a bit of a disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: I'm predicting the next Oprah book!
Review: I decided to by this book on a whim, I always buy books greatly recommended to me, however who could refuse a title such as 'Crazy Ladies'? So indeed I purchased, read, and fell in love with this book. Molded by generations of women from this lovely family shows how crazy everyday people can be. If you liked ya ya, little alters everywhere, and tara road... buy this book immediately!
Rating:
Summary: The Sins of the Mothers
Review: Just before WWII Gussie is wronged in the most horrible way, but she defends herself heroically and survives. Solutions often lead to more problems, and such is Gussie's fate. Her husband lacks the courage to either help or support her, and Gussie resorts to an equally horrible wrong to save her family. This crime becomes a dark secret that molds and shapes the lives of four generations of women in Gussie's family. The ladies go through their mundane existences, make mistakes, wed, divorce, and have children, and all the while flowers cover Gussie's secret. Some of the ladies are likeable. Some are not. None are perfect. The story, however, is compelling, and the suspense builds as the listener awaits the seemingly inevitable discovery. Then, as the Vietnam War winds down, a series of events involving leukemia, a dog, and a gazebo brings the story to a rather paradoxical close. Not being particularly drawn to this type of story, I wouldn't have listened to it, but for a long car trip my wife and I took. The trip introduced me to a capable wordsmith who has crafted a compelling story, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to broaden my literary horizons.
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