Rating: 
Summary: Quite a lively group....
Review: I like books about the extraordinary in life. My husband found this book for me and I devoured it in one sitting. Much like Truddi Chase, the body of Toni Beauchamp is occasionally inhabited by some very strange characters. In this story, however, the characters are inherited from her mother, not as the result of child abuse, as in Chase's tale. These "gods" were Toni's mother's burden for years and when she dies, they choose to take up residence in Toni's body. The entire story is well-written...and it was difficult for me to believe a male had written it because of his great insight into the workings of the female mind. I liked the story and would read anything by this author again. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Quite a lively group....
Review: I like books about the extraordinary in life. My husband found this book for me and I devoured it in one sitting. Much like Truddi Chase, the body of Toni Beauchamp is occasionally inhabited by some very strange characters. In this story, however, the characters are inherited from her mother, not as the result of child abuse, as in Chase's tale. These "gods" were Toni's mother's burden for years and when she dies, they choose to take up residence in Toni's body. The entire story is well-written...and it was difficult for me to believe a male had written it because of his great insight into the workings of the female mind. I liked the story and would read anything by this author again. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: Strangely Unfamiliar
Review: A magical-realism-Southern-family-saga, with voodoo thrown in, thought it's never called voodoo, and isn't the popular image of voodoo...and many, many intriguing twists. Set in Houston, it's the story of the daughters of Elena, recently deceased, who could foresee the future, cast small spells, even raise the dead, but mostly--terrifyingly--is the host to six Riders, small gods, the eerie fetishes of which she keeps in a chifferobe in the living room. When she is being Ridden, then it's these small gods' turns to walk around, change lives, give advice or orders which no one would think opf disobeying...And after she dies, it's the responsibility/curse of her elder daughter, a practical, plain, money-making actuary, to take over...
Really well done. Strange and intriguing without being mad-slasher-esque.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best Fantasy Novels Of The Year
Review: I really enjoyed this book, zombie frogs, voodoo Riders, and all the perils and tribulations possible while being pregnant when I wasn't pregnant yet. After getting pregnant, though, man, it's *really* funny and it's really obvious that the man did some real research into the problems. Mockingbird is more easy going than some of Stewart's other books, warmer, funnier, and much more involved with the everyday things that go with someone's life with all the complexities, absurdities, and joy that goes with it. It still has that touch of magic he brings to everything, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: The dysfunction dance
Review: If you grew up in a dysfunctional family--and have developed a gallows humor about it--you should find something to relate to in this novel. Even if you did manage to escape the dysfunction dance while growing up, Stewart's characters are so true to life and the magic is woven through the story in such an easygoing and natural way that the novel is very entertaining--and believable. Toni Beauchamp lives in present day Houston and has always been the responsible one in her family, taking care of everyone, and cleaning up the family's dirty laundry when her troubled mother is periodically possessed by one of the voodoo gods who inhabit the household. But when Momma dies, Toni's responsibility takes on new, unwelcome and magical dimensions. It couldn't come at a worse time, as Toni has just gotten pregnant. She is forced to confront a range of emotions and a whole new set of experiences. Most of the major characters in this novel are women and Sean Stewart did not hit a false note, in my opinion, in the portrayal of these very different feminine psyches. Stewart manages to make you laugh at the wreckage without downplaying the pain, to lament without getting maudlin, and--without lapsing into melodrama--portrays the razor's edge between love and hate which exists in many families. Strangely enough, this novel is a kind of loving tribute of the messiness of families, showing how surviving the source of our weakness and terrible pain is also the source of our individuality and our ultimate strength. It is an admirable tightrope walk, sometimes profound, sometimes laughable, very human--and fun.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, funny, touching
Review: It is hard to create and sustain a sympathetic belief in a protagonist who is literally riding to hell in a very small handbasket. But Sean Stewart manages this task and grants us a viewpoint in to many skewed and fragmented lives with great charm and power. Simply the finest fantasy produced this year.
Rating:
Summary: Witty, thoughtful and cleanly-written
Review: Mockingbird's protagonist is Toni Beauchamp, who lives in Houston. Her mother has just died at the start of the book, but her forceful character looms over the plot, gaining importance as Toni realizes she has inherited some of her mother's magic. It's an unwelcome gift though: the "riders" are something like ancestral spirits, except that it's not clear they give a hoot about Toni's well-being--most of the time, anyway. They take over Toni's body, as they did her mother's, whenever they feel like it. This is not fundamentally a book about magic, though, or about multiple personalities, though it has a little of that feel. It's about Toni learning to cope with life; coping with her sister, with her love-life; with her job, and most of all with the memories of her mother. Stewart doesn't put a foot wrong with his characterization of Toni; a remarkable feat for a man and a sign of his skill. The writing is clean and clear, and frequently very funny. However, in some ways I think the book is a failure. I think Stewart wanted Mockingbird to be meaningful and deep. He was aiming at being Isabel Allende, but in the end I think he only achieves humour, affection and interest. It feels a little unfair to criticize the book for not being brilliant, but I think Stewart can do even better than this. Meanwhile, this is a fine novel, and I unhesitatingly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Witty, thoughtful and cleanly-written
Review: Mockingbird's protagonist is Toni Beauchamp, who lives in Houston. Her mother has just died at the start of the book, but her forceful character looms over the plot, gaining importance as Toni realizes she has inherited some of her mother's magic. It's an unwelcome gift though: the "riders" are something like ancestral spirits, except that it's not clear they give a hoot about Toni's well-being--most of the time, anyway. They take over Toni's body, as they did her mother's, whenever they feel like it. This is not fundamentally a book about magic, though, or about multiple personalities, though it has a little of that feel. It's about Toni learning to cope with life; coping with her sister, with her love-life; with her job, and most of all with the memories of her mother. Stewart doesn't put a foot wrong with his characterization of Toni; a remarkable feat for a man and a sign of his skill. The writing is clean and clear, and frequently very funny. However, in some ways I think the book is a failure. I think Stewart wanted Mockingbird to be meaningful and deep. He was aiming at being Isabel Allende, but in the end I think he only achieves humour, affection and interest. It feels a little unfair to criticize the book for not being brilliant, but I think Stewart can do even better than this. Meanwhile, this is a fine novel, and I unhesitatingly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Mockingbirds Magic
Review: Mockingbirds Magic
The Book Mockingbird is set in present-day Houston Texas. Written by Sean Stewart, this novel is about a woman and her life becoming a mother while accepting her mother's last gift to her, a sip from the mockingbird cordial.
Toni Beauchamp, the main character, never wanted to accept that her mother was different in the sense that she had magic. She thought of her mother, Elena Beauchamp, as living in her own little world, at times temporarily completely controlled by the "Riders," one of the six gods. When her mother died, Toni thought that she was rid of all of her mothers silly magic except for the magic that her sister, Candy, inherited which was the ability to see happy thing in the future.
It is easy to understand why Toni does not want her mother's powers. One day, she and Candy went to the Galleria, a shopping mall, to buy clothes. By this time Toni was already artificially pregnant. She had already spent approximately 6 thousand dollars on clothes, when Sugar, one of the "Riders" mounted Toni. Sugar had complete control over her body. She spent an extra 28 thousand dollars on clothes. These clothes were Sugars, not Toni's even though they were spent with Toni's credit card. Anything that you buy while one of the "Riders" mounts you is theirs. Two hours later when Sugar left her body and Toni regained control over herself again, she felt dizzy and quiet sick. This is just one episode out of many when the "Riders" come in contact with Toni.
Throughout the book Toni describes short clippings of a story that her mother used to tell her when she was little. The story is about a lost little girl (who is also another one of the "Riders"). The lost little girl is trying to find her way home after her mother has left her. Through the whole story, the lost little girl has encounters with all of the other "Riders" at some point in the story. Toni soon finds out that the story her mother used to tell her plays a very important and a very real part in her life. She finds out several extremely shocking things that she would have wanted to know earlier on in her life. Then she figures out that almost everyone knows except for her and her sister, Candy.
Stewart's novel has an overall great supply of detail and thoroughly describes the acceptance that the characters have to accept and the relationships between mother and daughter.
Rating:
Summary: Mockingbird
Review: This book is top notch, the character development is fantastic and the story so real that it turns into a roller coaster of emotions.... Top Notch!
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