The Garden Angel: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: New Voice in Southern Fiction
Review: Mindy Friddle has written an unforgettable novel filled with sharply drawn characters and well-crafted prose. This is a must-read for fans of Southern fiction. A stunning debut!

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Summary: From An Old House, With Love
Review: Oh, Lordy, it's all here -- the Old House, with its intimate graveyard; the itchy old furniture and bad plumbing; the endearingly peculiar neighbors, to whom the big old doors are never closed; the two thankless survivors who want a quick buck out of the place,and the gritty young sister who holds on -- with some of the funniest and most believable deep-down-dirty tricks in the book -- because she can't bear the thought of leaving it. Nor should she have to!
This is the quintessential touching and hilarious Southern book. Yankees may be odd, but not like this. The heroine works her way into the folds of the reader's memory as have few in modern literature, as a symbol of perseverence, guilelessness, generosity, and above all, Keeping the Faith.

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Summary: Southern Writing at its best!
Review: The characters in this book feel so familiar and real! Mindy has a wonderful way of making me feel as though I was actually on the front porch. She captured the true emotion and personality that can only be found in the South. I'm eagerly awaiting the next one!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful debut
Review: THE GARDEN ANGEL by Mindy Friddle
8/1/04

What a wonderful debut! Mindy Friddle's THE GARDEN ANGEL is filled with quirky yet lovable characters, reminiscent of the characters gracing the pages of a Richard Russo novel. In her debut novel, Friddle places two very unlikely women as friends, through a common bond that may ultimately test the two in their very shaky relationship.

Cutter (Catherine) Johanson is fighting her sister and brother to keep the house that has been in their family for many generations. Their family the Harris's, are the founding fathers of their small town of Sans Souci, Florida, and Cutter is not only proud of the family heritage, but this house was their grandmother's, the woman that raised the three of them after their parents left them orphans years ago. Sister Ginnie and brother Barry both want the money they could get from selling the place, and neither seem to care about the family history that is deeply rooted in this old house. Cutter handles two part time jobs to make ends meet, hoping to save up enough money to buy out both siblings so she can keep the house in the family. She knows this is futile, because neither part time job garners much money, but she dreams on, hoping that one day she will no longer have to worry that her real estate agent will be bringing yet another potential buyer.

Ginnie, in the meantime, has discovered she is pregnant by her married lover. "Wife", as Ginnie likes to refer to "the other woman" in her lover's life, is described by Ginnie as an evil woman who is doing things to make her husband Daniel unhappy, and Ginnie is waiting in the wings for the day Daniel leaves his wife Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Byer, a very mentally ill and unhappy woman, lives as a shut-in, pretending to work on her thesis on Emily Dickinson. She is afraid of life and anything to do with it, and rarely leaves the house. Through an anonymous phone-call, Elizabeth learns of Daniel's infidelity, and is pointed to the house where Cutter and Ginnie live. It is through this phone-call that Elizabeth meets Cutter, and their odd friendship begins.

As the two slowly get to know one another, Cutter is able to bring Elizabeth out of her shell, to a point where Elizabeth is now looking forward to spending the day outdoors, and not cooped up in the house as she normally does. Daniel has no idea Elizabeth is making these excursions with Cutter to the Farmers Market or to the Pancake Palace where Cutter works. It's a very tenuous friendship, but through it Cutter is able to help out a woman who was deemed too ill to live without help from others. Elizabeth slowly comes out of her shell. Even Daniel notices the difference.

Cutter is fully aware that Elizabeth is the wife of Ginnie's lover, and therefore Ginnie has no idea that this friendship even exists. But Cutter is sure that the day will come when all is out in the open, and there will be hell to pay. The climax of this story is such a scene, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall while the chaos ensued.

The various friends of Cutter all have quirky little personalities. She spends a lot of time across the street with Father Bob and his Home for Retarded Men. She even has one man, Alfred, clean house for her and brings him to the newspaper where she works. With the help of the men across the street, she and Elizabeth find a way to deter a potential buyer. Elizabeth will do anything for her friend Cutter, and her goal now is to save the house that Cutter desperately wants to keep.

While the reader gets to learn about Elizabeth, Cutter's private life is also put into focus, especially when her relationship with her boss at the newspaper, Curt, develops into something more. As with all her relationships, this one is also based on very shaky ground, but Cutter thinks there is more to it than what it really is.

THE GARDEN ANGEL is most likely going to be in my top 20 list for 2004. I highly recommend this book, and I look forward to seeing more by her. It's funny, sad, whimsical, and such a fast read that you will wish it never ends.

Rating:
Summary: Superb
Review: The Garden Angel is such a special book that after I finished it in one night, I wanted to just curl up with it and go to sleep. Lovely, wise, funny, interesting, unique ... this writers really knows how to please her readers. I love how the author plays around in all the gray areas of life, reminding me that life is to be lived and not judged. This is a superb book club book, by the way!

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Summary: A Fabulous Read!!!!!
Review: The Garden Angel was an absolute pleasure to read. The author has the ability to intrigue you with characters and well as words. This book is one that you don't want to finish. I am enjoying it for a second time around. I can't wait for Mindy's next book...hopefully there will be another!!!!! :)

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Summary: FABULOUS ... Couldn't Put It Down!!!
Review: The Garden Angel was so real to me. I, too, experienced the loss of a baby (at 39 weeks gestation) and found Mindy's description of Elizabeth's journey though grief so real and honest. Her feelings, experiences and subsequent growth from the devastating experience was brilliantly captured. I felt like I was in the old house with Cutter and Elizabeth, like an invisbile character. I found myself rushing home after work so I could finish the final chapters. I'm eagerly awaiting Mindy's next book and highly recommend The Garden Angel.

Rating:
Summary: FABULOUS ... Couldn't Put It Down!!!
Review: The Garden Angel was so real to me. I, too, experienced the loss of a baby (at 39 weeks gestation) and found Mindy's description of Elizabeth's journey though grief so real and honest. Her feelings, experiences and subsequent growth from the devastating experience was brilliantly captured. I felt like I was in the old house with Cutter and Elizabeth, like an invisbile character. I found myself rushing home after work so I could finish the final chapters. I'm eagerly awaiting Mindy's next book and highly recommend The Garden Angel.

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Summary: book is so much more than the title implies...
Review: The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was that it was wordy in too many parts. It was as if it needed some further editing of the story but overall it was a very good first novel.

Cutter, a 25yr old single woman, lives in her family's house and is trying to hold on to it but her siblings want her to sell it. She makes the home look unappealing so buyers won't line up outside. Her sister, Ginnie, is dating a married Professor and ends up pregnant. Elizabeth, 'the wife', becomes good friends with Cutter and this tangled connection seems to work.

The story moves fast but when the long stretches come, it lags abit. Cutter works at a pancake diner as well as writes obits for the newspaper. She was very close to her Gran who died in recent months. The reader feels that Cutter is very much like her grandmother and thus should be in the house for all time.

There are no surprises in this story; it's a simple story but told in a well-written way. I look forward to another book by this author!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful storytelling
Review: This is a wonderful book, written by someone who knows how to tell a story! I picked this book up on a rainy afternoon, found myself wrapping up the words and the story all around me, like a warm blanket, and I couldn't quit reading until the end. Which by the way, I was sorry to get to, I miss the people already. Read this book, you will be glad you did. Ms. Friddle, hurry with your next book, I can't wait.