Rating: 
Summary: Read this book and you'll want to be a Geechee girl, 'eah!
Review: Having loved Dorothea Benton Frank's second novel, Plantation, I was anxious to go back and read her first one that I had missed. Thankfully, this one is just as good and as much of a can't-put-down-book as Plantation was.The author takes us back and forth in time between 1999 and 1963, the pivotal year that forever touched the life of Susan Hamilton Hayes. When we meet her in 1999, she is a harried working woman with a handsome husband and a hormone-driven teenage daughter. When Susan rushes home on her lunch hour one day and finds her husband in bed with another woman, life takes an unexpected turn. You'll cry a lot and laugh even more as Susan takes life with its unexpected slap in the face yet retains her humor and resourcefulness. You'll love going back in time to seeing Susan as a young girl growing up in a family of six children on Sullivan's Island. Her older sister Maggie and her brothers Timmy and Henry will touch your heart as they stand strong and united against an abusive father and a weak and helpless mother. The writing is fast-paced and so mesmerizing that you will smell the water of Sullivan's Island, taste the red beans and rice, gaze into the magical mirror, and yearn for a housekeeper like the wonderful Gullah woman Livvie who is the saving grace in the Hamilton family. The author not only gives us wonderfully unforgettable characters, but heart-tugging situations involving raising teens, reconciling with a wayward husband, coping with terminal illness, and, oh yes, the importance of having a pedicure before sex. Mainly, this book is about love and finding that real love transcends death, heals hearts, changes minds, and gives us courage. So pick up this book and get involved in Susan's life---from her first bikini wax to her final talk with Livvie, this one will have you begging for more from a great new writer I'm happy to have discovered.
Rating:
Summary: Worth 10 Stars!
Review: At the risk of sounding cliched, I really hated for this book to end! What a brilliant, beautiful story Dorothea Frank has written! From the first page to the very last(including the author's notes at the end)I was mesmerized by the story of the Hamilton clan from Sullivan's Island. For a first novel, I found this to be a towering achievement for Ms. Frank. Clear and concise writing, with a lead character that stands out on every page you can't help but cheer her on as she faces every obstacle that comes her way, whether as a grown woman in 1999 or as a young teen in 1963. I especially enjoyed the character of Livvie, the Hamilton's housekeeper who was of course a wise old sage who kept the children in line and always dispensed good advice. If only Hollywood would take notice and consider this for a film, with Dorothea Frank writing the script, of course. In closing, I would have to say that Ms. Frank is a major talent and I eagerly look forward to reading her 2nd novel, The Plantation. Way to go, Dot Frank! Long may you write! Very highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Love all her books...
Review: Yes, I'm a Carolina Girl. I also was an English major in college, and I love a great book. And I really love to see it when we have beautifully-written books about my home state come out. It is a whole culture that those on the outside never understand. Conroy is a master storyteller whom I adore, but it is so nice to have a fresh, funny female voice on the scene. With each novel, she only gets better for me. But this was the first, and it is dear to me. I would recommend it to anyone anywhere. This particular novel of hers reminds me of Bridget Jones in the South for some reason. But the best thing about Frank is that once you start one of her books you can't put them down. Her anecdotes of family life and relationships when all you can do is laugh at what is going down in your life are wonderful. Her colorful settings and characters recreate the ambience of South Carolina...where anyone who has grown to love the pace and beauty of the palmetto state can't help but to revel in. And those who read it who aren't familiar with the state, I believe will find themselves wanting to visit. Curl up and relax with this book and you'll never be sadder than when one of Frank's books ends, because you just want it to go on! It is so sad when Frank's characters go out of your life and you know they keep on living their lives without you, but you feel nevertheless blessed to have had a peek into their insights and experiences for a moment! Her other book Plantation, was even better for me than this one, although my mother enjoyed this one more. I just can't wait to get my hands on "Isle of Palms!"
Rating: 
Summary: High Marks for the Lowcountry
Review: I'm sure that I'm meant to be a "little bit Geechee." This book has made me certain that the South is where I should be! I could have been another sister, in fact, I think that all those girls are my sisters!! How I wish I would have had a Livvie to help me through some tough times as a child. She was honest, loving and God-fearing. Sharing the Gullah way and still respecting the Hamiltons was her way of helping to raise six children. I was quite taken in by she and all the others in Ms. Frank's book. I hope Ms. Frank considers continuing the saga of this family. I had a ton of questions about Tipa and her husband, Susan's mother and her relationships with Hank and Stan. How did Maggie and Grant meet, what about their children? What happened to Simon? I'm ready to sit on the porch listening to more stories about Sullivan's Island. I'd like to go again to the sunlit beach, feel the cool salt air, and be wrapped again in the warm loving arms of Livvie.
Rating:
Summary: A real Southern woman
Review: Sullivan's Island is a dramatic and comedic tale about growing up and living in the Carolina lowlands. Mrs. Frank is an exceptional writer--she captures the heart and soul and daily life of a South Carolinian, full of passion, strength, stubbornness and pure grace. I could not put this down for even a second! This book made me want to laugh and cry (sometimes at the same time!) through the main character's life struggles. Susan is a strong, rebellious, and yet modern woman with goals and ambitions. Her character is typical of true Carolinians, who are strong people in general. Having grown up not too far away from the area, it is refreshing to see that the women in this book are not portrayed as the stereotypical, whimsically impractical types that often appear in contemporary Southern literature. I would compare Ms. Frank's writing style to that of Pat Conroy: poignant, descriptive, clear, and purposeful with the ability to easily manipulate the reader's sympathies. I will purchase her next novel without hestitation.
Rating: 
Summary: Drawing Strength from the Past and from Family (3.5 *s)
Review: Sullivan's Island follows the hurtful and distressful changes in the life of middle-aged Susan Hamilton Hayes within the context of the culture of Charleston, SC and more so the Low Country culture of Sullivan's Island. An unfaithful husband and a life thrown into disarray is the stimulus for Susan to turn to her family, mostly her older sister Maggie, and to reexamine her childhood lived on the Island in a large, much added to, house now occupied by Maggie and her family. The author is a bit too facile in creating events and characters that strain in-depth reflection. In the midst of the racist South of 1963 Livvie arrives in the Hamilton household as a daily housekeeper, who is both exceedingly wise and kind and willing to put aside the prevailing racial divide, all the while developing a great loyalty to the Hamilton household. The origin of the suggested racial progressivism of Susan's father is unexplored and is somewhat undermined by his wanton philandering and his quick temper resulting in the abuse of his wife and children. Her mother, largely confined to bed with chronic depression and too large dosages of meds, is startingly renewed as a pseudo-socialite in the pursuit of the physician father of a border that has been taken in as a means of making ends meet after the sudden death of Susan's father. And Susan and her young siblings seem to have a remarkable understanding of these various dysfunctions. The author steps between the past and present using the device of similar scenarios as connectivity. For example, it is during fierce hurricanes that important actions occur in both Susan's past as well as the present. Reviewing the past is certainly rejuvenating to Susan. In her pre-infidelity days, Susan was a frumpy, overweight woman victimized by her husband, mother to a rebellious teenager, and employed in a thankless librarian's job. She emerges with a new svelte body gained from walking to work along with other appearance enhancements, a command of her separated husband, a repaired if not idyllic relationship with her daughter, and a new job as a syndicated columnist of humor pieces. Part of the redemption process for Susan is the remembrance and heeding of the Gullah philosophy dispensed by Livvie, and the discovery through some fortuitous evidence that members of her childhood community associated with the Klan murdered her father. The book is not without its appeal. It is a nice package of island culture, the essentiality of family, and moving beyond disappointments. The writing is brisk and non-taxing.
Rating:
Summary: What a Wonderful Read
Review: I enjoyed this book so much that for the entire time of reading it I found I talked with a southern accent. What a great closeness these sisters had. I found the characters so real, that when Susan started walking to lose weight, I did the same! I gave this book to friends and we all felt the same -- we didn't want it to end.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling!
Review: This is one of the best books I've read in very long time. It has everything imaginable, including some mystery, some mystique and lots of real life events. I laughed, I cried, I remembered similar incidents from my childhood and adult life. Susan is a wonderful character, full of life and love and humor. I have just now purchased Plantation and Isle of Palms by Dorothea Benton Frank and am anxious to read them too. Like sorbet between rich meal courses, I'll have to read something totally different first to prepare my pallet!!
Rating:
Summary: This is a great book!
Review: I am from overseas and was not familiar with the term "low country". Well now that I have read this book, I swear I might have been there many times! This is beautifully written, with great humour (one date Susan went on springs to mind) and a good mix of romance and family issues and growing up. Kind of like real life! It is very similar in story line to 'Crowfoot Ridge' by Ann Brandt - in fact, I confused the two on many occasions. I tried reading 'Plantation', also by D. Benton Frank, and could not get into it. I actually never finished it, and that is unusual for me. I'm going to look around and see what else she was written though.
Rating:
Summary: A fantastic read...a exciting author
Review: I received Sullivan's Island in the mail this afternoon and have nearly finished it already. It has been along time since I have read a truly entertaining book such as this one. She is able to combine the trials and tribulations of life with such a wonderful humorous twist...one moment the character is devastated but finds a humorous twist to her otherwise dismal situation. I have just ordered 'Plantation' and cannot wait to read it. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a fantastic read when you can't put the book down to go do bed!
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