SUSAN GREGG GILMORE CREATES ANOTHER
SOUTHERN LITERARY TREAT
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Bezellia Grove is Gilmore's best character yet
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Having read Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen
and thinking it was the best debut southern fiction to have come out in a long time, I had great expectations for Ms. Gilmore's second novel. She did not disappoint. Bezellia Grove is a character who, appears to have it all - the fine breeding of being born into Nashville's oldest family, the huge 'castle' that gets her saddled with the nickname 'princess,' servants to take care of her every whim and need, and the name 'Bezellia Grove' given to the first-born girl of every Grove child since the Grove's settled in Nashville. The original Bezellia Grove was said to have picked up her dying husband's musket as the Indians attacked, killing three, then cradling her husband's head laying across her dead husband's body during the cold, long night.
and thinking it was the best debut southern fiction to have come out in a long time, I had great expectations for Ms. Gilmore's second novel. She did not disappoint. Bezellia Grove is a character who, appears to have it all - the fine breeding of being born into Nashville's oldest family, the huge 'castle' that gets her saddled with the nickname 'princess,' servants to take care of her every whim and need, and the name 'Bezellia Grove' given to the first-born girl of every Grove child since the Grove's settled in Nashville. The original Bezellia Grove was said to have picked up her dying husband's musket as the Indians attacked, killing three, then cradling her husband's head laying across her dead husband's body during the cold, long night. In reality, Bezellia Grove does not live the life of a fairytale ~ she is shown no love by her mother - even called 'sister' by her mother rather than her own name! Her father is absent, preferring to spend his days and nights at the hospital saving lives. The only people in her life who do show her love are the repairman/chauffer, Nathaniel and the cook/nanny Maizelle; however, it is the 1960s in the South. Nathaniel and Maizelle can give Bezellia and her sister, Adelaide all the love in the world, but they cannot sit at the dining room table with the girls in proper company because of their skin color.
Bezellia struggles growing up with her huge heart and perceived wrongs against those she loves, ie - Nathaniel, Maizelle, Nathaniel's son, Samuel. The minute she meets Samuel it is like two overly-charged magnets drawn together. The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove
is not just a book about a girl who falls for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, the wrong side of town, the wrong shade of skin. The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove is more about the relationship between mothers and daughters - how we damage those we love in thinking we are trying to protect them. It's about finding that space where you can be content with who you are as a person in this world, as a daughter, a sister, a lover, a friend.
is not just a book about a girl who falls for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, the wrong side of town, the wrong shade of skin. The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove is more about the relationship between mothers and daughters - how we damage those we love in thinking we are trying to protect them. It's about finding that space where you can be content with who you are as a person in this world, as a daughter, a sister, a lover, a friend. The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove is just that ~ about a girl who was expected to attend the cotillion, dress properly, not make mud pies or fish in the lake but who chose to make tough choices in her life with those she loved and with herself so that she could look in the mirror each night and be happy and content with the person she saw staring back.
is just that ~ about a girl who was expected to attend the cotillion, dress properly, not make mud pies or fish in the lake but who chose to make tough choices in her life with those she loved and with herself so that she could look in the mirror each night and be happy and content with the person she saw staring back. -A Novel Source Register
late edition
10/19/2010
p.s. interspersed throughout the book The Nashville Register keeps us up to date on the society pages of Nashville's elite. If, for some reason it did not come across, this book gets 5 out of 5 quills from me!
Sites of Interest: Author Website, First Pages, Additional Blog Reviews
Genre: Literary Fiction/Southern Fiction
Publisher: Crown Publishing | Published: August 17, 2010
Hardcover | 272 pages | ISBN: 978-0307395030
I received this book at the SIBA Trade Show from the author and publisher with my sincere thanks.
This in no way affects my opinion or review.
I thought this book was great too! I've known many women called Sister in my day, so that didn't strike me as all that different, but Bezellia's mother sure was!
ReplyDeleteGreat review darling!
ReplyDeleteI do wish someone would invite me to a cotillion. They sound like such fun and I've never been to one.
ReplyDeleteI love how you chose to write this review. It worked really well!
ReplyDeleteI like a girl who knows her own mind a bit of a rebel! sounds good.
ReplyDeleteI got this book at SIBA, and also got a chance to meet Susan. She is such an awesome woman, and I am so excited to get the chance to read this book! Bezillia sounds like quite a character and I loved your review on this one!
ReplyDelete