The Same Sweet Girls

Rating:
Summary: A TOUCHING STORY OF FRIENDSHIP
Review:
The word "girls" is often used as an euphemism, and it is again in Cassandra King's touching second novel. The girls are six women who have been friends since college. To celebrate this bond they meet twice a year to fill each other in on what has gone on in their lives and enjoy each others' company. This story is told by three of the women whose voices are adroitly captured by actress Patricia Kalember. A veteran of stage, screen and television, Ms. Kalember inhabits the personas of a rambunctious, fun loving gal, a rather proper governor's wife, and an avant garde artist. She does all of this with grace and charm.

Ms. King is an author of considerable talent as she has the ability to both move and amuse with a turn of her pen. Many will remember with pleasure "The Sunday Wife," in which it was discovered that she had the ability to evoke Southern scenes as skillfully as her husband, author Pat Conroy.

The girls in Ms. King's latest novel are now reaching 50 and coming to terms with many of the decisions they have made in life. The first lady of Alabama, Julia Stovall, has joined her husband at the pinnacle of their state's political life, yet she has obligations that either bore or weary her and her husband's bodyguard may be irresistible.

Lanier Sanders is separated from her husband. Evidently, temptation was too difficult to resist. And, Corrine Cooper, while she has attained success as an artist is plagued by depression and an ex-husband who seeks to keep her from her son.

While these problems are challenging, they become almost inconsequential when one of the group faces what for all of us would be the most difficult crisis of all. How they band together at such a time is warm reminder of the value of true friendship.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Cassandra King takes her writing to a new level
Review: I marvel at women I know who still are friends with girls they knew in college, high school, junior high and even grade school. Many still have "girlfriend getaway weekends" with these pals where they do regular catchups on each other's lives. Others share weekly or monthly phone chats or emails. They have celebrated each other's weddings and children together, and yes, often shared many tears.

While I have lots of girlfriends, I do not have a posse of girls who I have traveled through life with. Thus, when a book like Cassandra King's THE SAME SWEET GIRLS comes along, I read it as a voyeur trying to get a handle on why these relationships thrive and what nourishes them over the years. The jacket of the book told me that King belongs to a real life Same Sweet Girls group, which reunites every year. Reading this book I know she is writing from the experience of being a lifelong girlfriend not just in name, but from the heart.

While I have never been a girlfriend like this, King has created characters who I related to, and enjoyed, and she crafted a story that I was eager to get back to each time I was called away.

There are six "same sweet girls" --- Corinne, Julia, Lanier, Astor, Byrd and Rosanelle. We quickly learn that Rosanelle is not one of the original six, but rather she has "replaced" Dixie Lee who died in a tragic accident. Readers are told that these remaining women felt that being five was not as complete as being six and the loss would be too huge unless they "filled in the gap" with someone else.

The women are paired like they were as roommates and certain bonds within the groups are tighter than others, much as you see when any group of women gathers. They meet twice a year for a reunion where they celebrate their traditions of electing a queen complete with a hokey ceremony and costumes. Sure it's corny, but you can visualize them taking part in it.

As the book begins the SSG are 48 years old, have been friends for 30 years since the day they all started college at a women's Methodist school, and are looking upon their upcoming "big birthday" at 50 with nostalgia and a sense of what has been done --- and a longing for what is missing. Each of these women has something to complete or correct, as the book opens. How they will do that is how the story takes its shape.

Narration comes from Corinne, Julia and Lanier, and they relate the stories of Astor, Byrd and Rosanelle. These three voices at the beginning are not distinctive enough for me, but as the story fleshes out they each do adapt separate styles and tones that work and allow the reader to hear them more clearly.

Corrine is a well-respected and well-known gourd artist. As an aside, creating this character to not just be an artist, but rather one with a specific talent, King gives readers background on this art and why it is special, which lends another dimension to the book. Julia is the first lady of Alabama who is trapped in a world of datebooks, schedules and responsibilities. Lanier is a nurse, who is living apart from her husband, and is trying to figure the direction her life will take.

One of the characters will go through a life crisis that "the girls" cannot solve --- even if they all band together. From this moment of reality each of the SSG will look at her own life and face what needs to be done. It's like this moment has served them all as a call to pay attention to all that matters to them. What they find more than makes up for what they have lost in previous years and also redefines and strengthens their friendship.

King writes great Southern women. She nails the voice, the attitude and the endless small nuances that make one sure that you are listening to Southern women instead of a woman from the North. There is a "right" way to do everything, and even when these Sweet Girls do not conform, they know they are breaking the rules that have been passed down by Mama and Grandmammy. This is one of my favorite lines from Corinne --- "The illusion of sweetness, that's all that counts. We don't have to be sincerely sweet, but by God we have to be good at faking it. Southern girls will stab you in the back, same as anyone else, but we'll give you a sugary smile while doing it."

I really enjoyed King's previous book, THE SUNDAY WIFE. In THE SAME SWEET GIRLS I feel she takes her writing to a new level. And now I really look forward to seeing her next book.

--- Reviewed by Carol Fitzgerald

Rating:
Summary: Somewhat disappointed
Review: I really like "The Sunday Wife," and I couldn't wait for this book. Now that I've read it, I am disappointed. I thought the conversations were too glib and the "crisis" situations handled with too little real poignancy. I also couldn't understand why two SSGs like Astor and Rosanelle had been tolerated for 30 years. The episode of Astor meeting Cal (or whomever) after hours was never really addressed to resolution. Maybe I was looking forward to this book too much - sort of like a Christmas that can never meet the expectations. I found it to be average and I expect more of Cassandra King.

Rating:
Summary: Same Sweet Girls - Different Review
Review: I wasn't very impressed with Cassandra King's first book, THE SUNDAY WIFE, and I expressed that opinion here. But for some reason THE SAME SWEET GIRLS appealed to me so I thought I'd give it a try. I'm glad I did. I love southern fiction and wasn't disappointed this time. The relationships between these six women are complex and unpredictable and I liked that. They are all very different as individuals and different in terms of what they're doing with their lives. This is no "Desperate Housewives" - it's better (and I like Desperate Housewives for the most part).

Being a fan of Michael Lee West (Crazy Ladies) and Rebecca West (Divine Secrets of the Yaya Sisterhood) I can't say that Cassandra King is quite there yet, but nearly so. I'm already looking forward to her next novel and am planning to go back and read her 2nd one that I skipped.

Try it - not too sweet and you might just like it!

Rating:
Summary: A Same Sweet Theme
Review: In the tradition of other women's bonding books like The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, Talk Before Sleep and Outer Banks, Cassandra King in her new book, The Same Sweet Girls, provides readers with a candid look at 6 college friends. Six women meet at a women's' college in the South. When one of them dies another woman is added. For the most part there friendships are defined by who they roomed with during college. That and the fact that they really aren't quite that sweet, rather sassy if the truth be known.

Spanning three decades, these women, meet twice a year to reminisce about their past lives but more importantly to share their present day secrets and adventures. The book is told through the voices of three women. Julia is the wife of the Governor of Alabama and mother to a disabled daughter as the book opens. Despite that she knows better, she is highly attracted to her husband's body guard. Corrine, who has battled depression and suicide attempts is now separated from her husband who was originally her therapist. While she knows she's better off without him, she fears that her husband has turned their son against her also. Finally there's Lanier who never has gotten her act together despite marriage and motherhood. When an old neighbor arrives next door to what was once her parents summer cottage, it opens her eyes to new possibilities or maybe old ones instead. Then word reaches the other SSG's, as they refer to themselves, that one of them is in serious trouble and the others must put aside their petty differences to once again be there for a same sweet girl.

The book initially hooked me although midway I felt it was awfully reminiscent of other books with this theme and was rather predictable. Still I enjoyed the characters and will continue to read this author in the future.






Rating:
Summary: endearing story
Review: Same Sweet Girls is a fascinating story of five friends who share bi-annual moments together. For so long, the friendship has been tested and proven to be deep and genuine. It portrayed their different lives, failures, sucesses, hopes, dreams, regrets, pains and convictions.An inspiring page turner, Same Sweet Girls has a great plot and marvellous characterization. Above all, ist shows the strength of friendship, of having someone who has your back.

Also recommended: DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE, GIRLS IN PANTS