Nina F. (ninafel) reviewed on + 88 more book reviews
From Publishers Weekly
With young Bitsy Wentworth's nose-shattering blow to her philandering husband Claude's handsome face (motive: self-defense; weapon: frozen rack of baby back ribs), West launches this warm but overloaded chronicle of three generations of Southern female eccentricity and spunk. It's August 1972, and Claude is out cold, so Bitsy flees Crystal Falls, Tenn., with their baby, Jennifer, a move that will lose her custody of (though not contact with) her daughter while setting in motion her evolution from girl-wife to worldly interior decorator 20 years later. This follow-up to West's debut, Crazy Ladies, reunites readers with familiar characters, including Bitsy's mother, Dorothy McDougalâwho from a Nashville mental institution wages a letter-writing campaign to Pat Nixon on Bitsy's behalfâand Dorothy's sister, Clancy Jane, a hippie cafe owner. Despite well-wrought moments of reconciliation between estranged women throughout (Jennifer's ultimate gesture of forgiveness for Bitsy is especially understated and touching), the novel bogs down in endless female feuding and repetitive male faithlessness (i.e., Claude; Bitsy's second husband, Louie; and Jennifer's almost-husband Pierre). Quirky minor characters and subplots overcrowd this 500-plus page novel, but when West focuses on the complexities of familial or romantic relationships, the novel is at its most heartfelt.
From AudioFile
The return of Girls Raised in the South (GRITS), introduced in West's bestselling first novel, CRAZY LADIES, is reason to rejoice. Author and reader West voices her main character, Bitsy, with both a headstrong attitude and an aching longing for true love. Bitsy's mother, raspy from her propensity for bourbon and cigar smoke, is a certifiable "crazy lady" who corresponds with America's first ladies. West's winning way of turning a Southern phrase tickles the ear like a firefly on a summer night. As effortless and engaging as gossiping with neighbors over the back fence, listening to the stories of these mad girls is both amusing and thought-provoking. R.O. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
With young Bitsy Wentworth's nose-shattering blow to her philandering husband Claude's handsome face (motive: self-defense; weapon: frozen rack of baby back ribs), West launches this warm but overloaded chronicle of three generations of Southern female eccentricity and spunk. It's August 1972, and Claude is out cold, so Bitsy flees Crystal Falls, Tenn., with their baby, Jennifer, a move that will lose her custody of (though not contact with) her daughter while setting in motion her evolution from girl-wife to worldly interior decorator 20 years later. This follow-up to West's debut, Crazy Ladies, reunites readers with familiar characters, including Bitsy's mother, Dorothy McDougalâwho from a Nashville mental institution wages a letter-writing campaign to Pat Nixon on Bitsy's behalfâand Dorothy's sister, Clancy Jane, a hippie cafe owner. Despite well-wrought moments of reconciliation between estranged women throughout (Jennifer's ultimate gesture of forgiveness for Bitsy is especially understated and touching), the novel bogs down in endless female feuding and repetitive male faithlessness (i.e., Claude; Bitsy's second husband, Louie; and Jennifer's almost-husband Pierre). Quirky minor characters and subplots overcrowd this 500-plus page novel, but when West focuses on the complexities of familial or romantic relationships, the novel is at its most heartfelt.
From AudioFile
The return of Girls Raised in the South (GRITS), introduced in West's bestselling first novel, CRAZY LADIES, is reason to rejoice. Author and reader West voices her main character, Bitsy, with both a headstrong attitude and an aching longing for true love. Bitsy's mother, raspy from her propensity for bourbon and cigar smoke, is a certifiable "crazy lady" who corresponds with America's first ladies. West's winning way of turning a Southern phrase tickles the ear like a firefly on a summer night. As effortless and engaging as gossiping with neighbors over the back fence, listening to the stories of these mad girls is both amusing and thought-provoking. R.O. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine
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