Buster Midnight's Cafe

Rating:
Summary: A Good Old Fashioned Story
Review: Sandra Davis has written a memorable story about three friends that spans the course of their lifetimes. Set in Butte, Montana the three girls become inseparable in their youth. May Anna is discovered and goes to Hollywood where she becomes a "Marilyn Monroesque" icon. Whippy Bird and Effa Commander remain in Butte where they live quiet cozy lives. The trio are separated by distance, but their lives remain intertwined. The novel covers happy and sad times including love, heartbreak and a murder. I think all of us would like to have friendships as cherished as the "Unholy Three". I enjoyed the novel enough that I purchased The Persian Picle Club today.

Rating:
Summary: Inspired and Unconventional
Review: Set in Butte, Montana during the depression, this story is still VERY different from Dallas' Persian Pickle Club of the same era. Whippy Bird and Effa Commander and their friend May Anna meet as childhood friends, and quickly become the Unholy Three. The story revolves around the successful careers of May Anna and Buster, and all of their life journeys of the Unholy ones as they continue down many forks in the road. Whippy and Effa are two unforgettable, completely distinctive characters that the reader just can't help but loving and feeling almost like they are eccentric family members. Perseverence of the spirit and the triumph of friendship (as well as the betrayal) shine through in this very unconventional tale.

Rating:
Summary: Unholy Trio, Indeed!
Review: Strolling through my local SAM's, I discovered Sandra Dallas' trade paperbacks, and I'm hooked, and recommending them all. The Unholy Trio of May Anna, Whippy Bird, and Effa Commander are the real hooks of this wonderful retrospective fiction about the local poor girl who makes it big. It fascinates me to read of the depression era and of the spunk of kids who survive it and live to full lifetimes still linked to one another. Such cleverness and close friendships make me feel as if I know these people/characters. I've never really been to Butte, Montana, nor understood the ways of a mining town, but this delightful tome makes me feel as though I know it just the same. Dallas' characters remind me of the joy I have found in Fannie Flagg's work. I have recommended Sandra Dallas to various readers and found them to be equally pleased. Buster Midnight's Cafe with its secrets and humor is a marvelously relaxing read.

Rating:
Summary: May Sandra Dallas write 1,000 more just as enjoyable !
Review: The last book I read this fast was "The Persian Pickle Club," also by Sandra Dallas. I cried, I laughed, I didn't want the story to end. The adventures of "The Unholy Three" would also make an excellent mini-series or a movie (provided that the author had total control). Sandra Dallas has written a brilliant and very emotionally touching book. Perhaps I'm just a very sensitive person, but to me, reading her books are an EXPERIENCE, not just something to pass the time with. By the end I felt like I had grown up with May Anna, Whippy Bird, and Effa Commander. If Butte is even half as interesting as it is in this book, I want to visit!

Rating:
Summary: May Sandra Dallas write 1,000 more just as enjoyable !
Review: The last book I read this fast was "The Persian Pickle Club," also by Sandra Dallas. I cried, I laughed, I didn't want the story to end. The adventures of "The Unholy Three" would also make an excellent mini-series or a movie (provided that the author had total control). Sandra Dallas has written a brilliant and very emotionally touching book. Perhaps I'm just a very sensitive person, but to me, reading her books are an EXPERIENCE, not just something to pass the time with. By the end I felt like I had grown up with May Anna, Whippy Bird, and Effa Commander. If Butte is even half as interesting as it is in this book, I want to visit!

Rating:
Summary: Buster is a fun , engaging read.
Review: This book is great for a fun Summer afternoon read on the porch swing. It is fun and easy reading. Sandra Dallas pulls you so deeply into each character that you leave the book with new friends.

Rating:
Summary: The reason Southern men are fascinated by Northern Women
Review: This is not one of those southern novels that are written to be sold one after the other.(Adrianna and Fannie etc. etc.) Those looking for that kind of drivel may be dissapointed as this is a real book about real people...Think was first fiction written by author published in 1990. Stories like this may not need to be set up- just written the way they happened so can be believed except for the last page when the 70 year old author decked another author who dared to write as if he knew what had really happend.Gotta admit even I found that a stretch of the imagination

Rating:
Summary: Sorry, not for me
Review: This is our reading group's March selection--otherwise, I'd not have stayed with it. It simply seemed too contrived, from the names (Whippy Bird, Effa Commander--always use the whole name!, Bumbo, Moon, and so forth), to the oh-so-tragic ending of movie star Marion Street. I felt manipulated, after having read nearly 3/4 of the book, to finally encounter the crime and scandal, only to see it brushed over in a very few pages. And then we never exactly find out the true story--who ends up protecting whom in the scandal? For a story purporting to tell the "real story," this one falls short.

Rating:
Summary: Charming, enjoyable book. A fun read.
Review: Very enjoyable read. Colorful, delightful characters. Excellent book. The only downfall is the characters' names - Whippy Bird? Effa Commander? Pink? Chick? They take a while to get used to.

Rating:
Summary: Could have shaved about 100 pages off
Review: When I saw reviews that compared Dallas' writing style to that of Fannie Flagg, I rushed to buy the book. Fannie, my arse. The first 3/4 of the book sets up the predictable last 1/4. There was some humor, but for the most part was pretty dry. You don't remember characters simply because they have stupid names... ie Effa Commander who tells the entire story in first person and Whippy Bird. I did enjoy the way Dallas portrayed the relationship between the two and Marion Street but would have liked less set up about how they'd become the "Unholy Three" and more story line about them actually being the "Unholy Three." I finished it and stuck it on a book shelf, feeling like it was a waste of a weekend and $.