Rating: 
Summary: An admirable debut novel
Review: Florida is hardly the place one would look to find the hotbed of violence and hatred that was the Ku Klux Klan in 1951. However, as Susan Carol McCarthy tells us in her highly effective debut novel, at that time, it was. Reesa McMahon's nightmare begins in spring of that year when a nineteen year old black youth named Marvin Cully is killed. Marvin was her friend and worked as citrus picker in her father's orange grove. This event sets off a wave of violence throughout the state. Bombs explode and people are killed as far south as Miami. The NAACP and FBI get involved and eventually Reesa's father, Warren, is involved as a sympathizer for the blacks. This leads to an eventual clash between Warren and the local black community versus the KKK.
Susan Carol McCarthy displays a prodigious talent at writing realistic historical fiction. There is much to be admired in this work. The civil rights era is brought fully to life in her hands. There is a great sense of place in that the reader could almost smell the fragrant citrus groves of this small central Florida town. However, most impressive of all is her depiction of the characters. They are both empathetic and realistic including the dialogue they speak. In a sense, it is a coming of age novel. It represents a clash between childhood innocence and the harsh realities of the adult world comprised of racial bigotry and hatred. Remnicent of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, LAY THAT TRUMPET IN OUR HANDS is a microcosmic saga that reveals the triumph of good over evil in the framework of a small southern town. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: My Aunt
Review: Hey Aunt Susan I don't know if you read these reviews but it was a really good book, for all you other people you should get this book its awesome. My Aunt wrote it.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I don't see the rating that I put on this book for the last time so maybe I didn't rate it at all. Why? I don't know. This book was one of the most excellent and intriguing books I've ever read in my life. It was so interesting to hear about a white person's perspective on the KKK and the plot was fabulous. Although I wish she wouldn't have had reason to write this story, I really did appreciate it. Thanks again!
Rating:
Summary: Deja Vu
Review: I don't see the rating that I put on this book for the last time so maybe I didn't rate it at all. Why? I don't know. This book was one of the most excellent and intriguing books I've ever read in my life. It was so interesting to hear about a white person's perspective on the KKK and the plot was fabulous. Although I wish she wouldn't have had reason to write this story, I really did appreciate it. Thanks again!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating History
Review: I have lived in Central Florida for 5 years and, until I read this book, had no idea how prevalent the Ku Klux Klan was here in the 1950s. Reading this book prompted me to go online and research the Klan here at that time and what I found amazed and appalled me. Anyone who has lived in the area north of Orlando, and especially in Lake County, should read it!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating History
Review: I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and this book definitely rates near the top of my list.While reading Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands, I was stricken with many emotions. Susan Carol McCarthy weaves a heartbreaking story of life in central Florida during the years of 1951-1952. It begins with Reesa McMahon a young northerner who resides in Florida with her parents and two younger brothers. When her best friend Marvin, a young black man who worked in her parents' orange grove, was murdered by the KKK, Reesa is thrown into a world where she is forced to come to terms with the deception and brutality of the local government and become an adult when she should be enjoying childhood. If you're like me, this book will amaze you with what we didn't learn in history books. I'm not sure why, but I never thought of Florida as a "Southern" state. This book reveals the truth behind one of the worst times in the Civil Rights Movement, and introduces new heroes who will forever be remembered! You WILL love this book! ...
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Breathtaking!!! I couldn't put it down!
Review: I'm a huge fan of historical fiction and this book definitely rates near the top of my list. While reading Lay That Trumpet in Our Hands, I was stricken with many emotions. Susan Carol McCarthy weaves a heartbreaking story of life in central Florida during the years of 1951-1952. It begins with Reesa McMahon a young northerner who resides in Florida with her parents and two younger brothers. When her best friend Marvin, a young black man who worked in her parents' orange grove, was murdered by the KKK, Reesa is thrown into a world where she is forced to come to terms with the deception and brutality of the local government and become an adult when she should be enjoying childhood. If you're like me, this book will amaze you with what we didn't learn in history books. I'm not sure why, but I never thought of Florida as a "Southern" state. This book reveals the truth behind one of the worst times in the Civil Rights Movement, and introduces new heroes who will forever be remembered! You WILL love this book! ...
Rating:
Summary: Great story teller
Review: Reading this book was like being in central Florida in the 1950's. Carol McCarthy is an excellent story teller. I've read the book twice and put it up on the shelf to pull down in a couple years to read again.
Rating:
Summary: a practice in humiliation
Review: Several of the reviews outline the plot...it is the powerful feeling and emotion that can be shared with the characters. I believe it is truly a lesson in the feeling of humiliation and shame for having this be a piece of our history. The inability to relate comes with upbringing and the joy that you cannot relate to the KKK. It is suprising how our author weaves this tension and builds and builds. You really want some sort of resolution to spare pain for the family and the reader. WOW.
Rating:
Summary: The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement
Review: This novel is a glimpse into the world of 12-year-old Reesa and her family, a Northern family living in Central Florida during the early '50s.
Based on actual events, the story covers some of the atrocities committed by the KKK in Florida in 1951, beginning with the brutal slaying of Marvin, a dear friend of Reesa's family, who is African-American, and who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Marvin's slaying is only the first in a string of violent events that include bombings in Miami, and the murder of the Moores, a couple who worked to bring the vote to Florida's African-American population.
Determined to bring Marvin's murderers to justice, Reesa's family sets off a string of events that eventually lead to a federal investigation and federal trial of many of the town's KKK members.
Why don't they teach this in school? I had no idea of any of these events until I read this novel. How very sad.
| 
