Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - Sweeping Up Glass

Sweeping Up Glass
Sweeping Up Glass
Author: Carolyn Wall
Destined to be a classic, Sweeping Up Glass is a tough and tender novel of love, race, and justice, and a ferocious, unflinching look at the power of family.Olivia Harker Cross owns a strip of mountain in Pope County, Kentucky, a land where whites and blacks eke out a living in separate, tattered kingdoms and where silve...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780385343039
ISBN-10: 0385343035
Publication Date: 4/28/2009
Pages: 336
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 41

4 stars, based on 41 ratings
Publisher: Delta
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed Sweeping Up Glass on + 39 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
When I first started this book I thought it sounded a bit too "Little House on the Prairie" style for me to enjoy. But, the story started to interest me and before long I was saying "just one more chapter" to myself. By the end of the book I felt as if I were holding my breath as I read the exciting end. I love the writing style, the characters and twist and turns in this book. I'm very glad I read it.
perryfran avatar reviewed Sweeping Up Glass on + 1221 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Finished reading this one last night - a very powerful story about a young girl's struggles growing up in rural Kentucky during the 1930s and 1940s. At first, the story seems to be a straight forward narrative about rural life in Kentucky including the hardships of surviving during the depression, issues regarding race and color, and family problems. But then the story evolves into a kind of mystery/thriller involving some very wicked people. I don't want to give away too much but this one kept me turning the pages right up to the surprising climax. I would give this one a strong recommendation.
reviewed Sweeping Up Glass on + 39 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I read a lot of books. Sometimes, when I'm not sure I want to finish a book, I skip to the back of the book and see what happened. With some books, this habit suffices, and I am able to finish reading the book and am satisfied with skipping the middle of it. With this book, things were a little different.

SPOILER ALERT - do not read further if you don't want to know a crucial detail of the book.

So, I'm reading along and I get the gist of things, kind of a sad story about a girl who didn't get too many breaks in life after her insane mother returned from the asylum when she was a pre-teen. Then, the father she loves passes away...so I'm reading it basically for the characters (this book has some interesting characters) and decide to skip ahead. Imagine my surprise when I turn randomly to a page that says something along the lines of ...and so I visited Pap in the prison...UM, HELLO? I thought he was dead. So of course I had to go back and read the whole thing. Yeah, it only took me a few more hours to finish the book. There's a whole mystery type thing going on in this book and it is worth the read!

Also read the little author mini-bio at the end. It sheds light on some of the characters and the direction of parts of the story. Bravo to the author for writing a multi-dimensional story. Very interesting read!
Read All 6 Book Reviews of "Sweeping Up Glass"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

bothrootes avatar reviewed Sweeping Up Glass on + 207 more book reviews
This is the story of a poor family in the Kentucky mountains. Olivia's mother is committed to an asylum when Olivia was a baby. Olivia is raised by her father until her mother returns 13 years later and totally disrupt Olivia's life with her father. This is a great book about discrimination, love, unwed mothers's, murder and more.


Genres: