“Sometimes life is just like paper wings. Fragile, easily torn apart, and often there are too many pieces to pick up.”
In the tradition of the best Southern fiction—from Bastard Out of Carolina to Where the Crawdads Sing—Sherry Parnell’s Let the Willows Weep is a heart-wrenching portrait of hardscrabble, humble lives in rural America. A keenly-observed and unflinching look at the life of Birddog … keenly-observed and unflinching look at the life of Birddog Harlin as she grows up in her dysfunctional family, this novel explores the line between destruction and redemption.
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‘Birddog’ is the nickname her brother gave her when she was a baby. She’s now old enough to realize that her brother, Denny, and her father are the only people in her world who truly care for her. Her mother is always critical and cruel to her and her other brother is a bully. Her mother is always nasty to her father for not bringing home enough money and causing them to live in a small shack and he works as many hours as possible at the coal mine to try to make life better for her. The only person that her mother appears to love is her older brother Denny. Denny is also her best friend and her protector. Overall this is a totally dysfunctional family. Then the worst thing possible happens, her father is killed in a cave- in at the mine and to support the family, Denny gives up his dreams of a better life and goes to work in the coal mines. After her father dies, Birddogs life gets even worse. Her mother is more critical of her and her brother is no longer around to help protect her. She wants to find someone to love her and by accident, she meets a man at the cemetery who is interested in her. She begins to blossom and feel good about herself but that feeling quickly disappears as life in her small town becomes violent.
I thought Birddog was a well written character who lived in a sad home with an overly critical mother who didn’t love her. She managed to stay strong no matter what life threw at her until the last terrible act that determined how she was going to handle the rest of her life. I’d have liked a little more information about her mother and why she was so critical of her daughter and husband but on the other hand it would have taken away from Birddog’s story. Overall this was a beautifully written Southern novel with a strong female main character. Her life was full of confusion and sorrow but at the end, she was able to find redemption.
“I want to read everything that Sherry Parnell writes. If I’m not mistaken, this is her first book. This book is up there as one of my favorites. I think it would be a great book club book, too! Five stars, this is one I will tell my friends about.”-Green Gables Book Reviews
Let the Willows Weep by Sherry Parnell
Author Sherry Parnell has written a fabulous book that you won’t be able to stop reading. It is a book that touches on many topics, like growing up in poverty, verbal and emotional abuse, grief, racism, stereotyping, and love. It is a heartbreaking story, and while it is fiction, it may be more of a look at reality than many of us would like to know.
I felt so many emotions while reading Let the Willows Weep, and as a mom, it is hard for me to grasp the demeanor of Birddog’s mother. She was extremely harsh with the main character Birddog, always, with rarely a kind word, touch, or any love shown to Birddog from a very young age. Unfortunately, Birddog’s older brother, Caul, picked up on this and continued it. Brothers often tease sisters, but this teasing seems so calculated and beyond mean.
Thankfully, Birddog did have love in her life, in the forms of her oldest brother, Denny, and her Daddy, who worked tirelessly as a miner. They were her protectors, hero’s, her friends, and honestly, the only family that loved her.
As the reader, I felt like I knew Birddog, and I wanted to reach into the pages and help her! Birddog didn’t have an easy life. At times, she was misunderstood or not allowed to explain anything that happened. She is so likable and someone I will remember for her strength, determination, and values. Readers get to watch Birddog go from a young girl playing with bugs in the dirt to a young woman who falls in love. But, her love comes at a cost. She makes a choice, and it has many heartbreaking consequences.
And, when Birddog is going through one of the most pivotal times in her life, an unexpected person enters is there, who becomes her friend, takes care of her, and loves her unconditionally when everyone else is gone.
I want to read everything that Sherry Parnell writes. If I’m not mistaken, this is her first book. This book is up there as one of my favorites. I think it would be a great book club book, too! Five stars, this is one I will tell my friends about.
I received this book for free to read and review. I appreciate the opportunity I was given!
Book Clubs, please look at Sherry Parnell’s website to schedule your time with her!
Book Review: Let The Willows Weep by author, Sherry Parnell
Let The Willows Weep is a Southern Fiction, coming of age narrative of one young girl’s quest of mere survival in a home filled with displeasure and in trying to hold onto the beauty of the world that surrounds her beyond the four walls that cage her. A heartbreaking story of a delicate young life and the need for love and acceptance. The Story of “Birddog.”
The Harlin Family~ A mother who has no interest in her youngest child and is quick to chastise and demean due to her own misguided beliefs and faults. A father who trudges into the coal mines day by day in order to provide for the family he loves so dearly. An older brother who is “Birddog’s” world, and she, his… and another that would do anything to mistreat, bully and abuse her. The young Miss Harlin must find her way in the world with very few to depend on.
Ms. Parnell has written a beautiful yet sorrowful story that is poetic and descriptive to the point she brings you to tears and makes the heart swell, but also lends to her reader the more intense emotions based on difficult and abusive situations that burrow into the soul.
Let The Willows Weep engages the reader with its stark sense of dysfunction, loneliness and hardships of the time, but also leads you to hope and redemption with an ending that will satisfy as to its strength and courage with one particular character that will certainly surprise you.
I thank the author for my personal signed copy of Let The Willows Weep, a truly moving story~ one I enjoyed reading and reviewing.
4 Stars
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Wild Sage Book Blog
I did weep, indeed! Sherry Parnell’s book “Let The Willows Weep” made me sad, but she also opened my eyes to the strength an individual can find through hard times and the courage to continue the life that was handed to you. I was not only sad, but also angry and dismayed at the heartless feelings a mother could have toward her only daughter. But, on the other hand, the author gives the reader a simple reminder that kindness doesn’t judge; a simple act of kindness goes a long way.
I wanted to give the main character, Birddog a great big hug. She feels her Mother doesn’t love her. “… I reached my arms to hug her. She looked at me then turned back to the sink. I let my arms drop back to my sides and went to my room.” Birddog tries to make her Mother proud of her; longing for acceptance with open arms. Life is hard and complicated for Birddog. All she wants is to find peace and happiness.
Sherry Parnell is a new author to me. She has a beautiful writing-style that had me reading the pages effortlessly; her words awarding me with vivid scenes of rural America. If you’re looking to read book of hope, strength and courage, read this book with a box of tissues by your side.
~This book was given to me in a giveaway by the author in exchange for a fair and honest review.~
Very poetically, lyrically written — heavy emphasis on colors and the passage of time (one month at a time). As we approach the end of the book, the reason for this becomes apparent.
I’m not sure of the setting (region) nor time period that the story takes place. My original thought was Kentucky in the early 20th century (before the Great Depression), but a telephone is mentioned at the very end.
I liked the story very much, but I don’t think the first and last chapters were necessary — in fact, the opposite. They confused me and I had to read each twice as I tried to figure out who “I” and “she” were in them. And the huge gap in the story between the second-to-the-last chapter and the final one? How did Birddog get to that point?
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The years of our youth form the times of our elder years. Between those years is the experiences that Sherry Parnell explores in her book “Let The Willows Weep”.
A youth learns from harshness and kindness while finding her own self awareness within the story. Family is the basis for such growth for a young girl who experiences the range of these characteristics between her Mother,Father and brothers. She grows and develops but how does all her early treatment during childhood shape her and influences her choices as an adult?
Parnell writes with an emotionally strong style. She wraps her words around your heart and takes you through a tale that makes you examine your own lives’ experiences. Backdropped in the Deep South the book is an experience well worth investing ones time.
I hope anyone looking for a truly stirring, soul searching story, that will keep ones attention from beginning to end, will find a copy of “Let The Willow Weep” to have as their own.
I was given this ARC copy for a fair and unbiased review.
I received a free ARC electronic edition of this southern novel from BookSiren and Sherry Parnell. Thank you so much for sharing your hard work with me. I have read this novel of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. I will keep Sherry Parnell on my favorite author’s list. Her words ring in your mind like a gospel song. There is at least one place in every chapter that brings me near to tears with just the picture of the southland with all her trials and gifts.
I could not in this novel solidify the period, the years – this is an anytime picture of the deep south, a heritage we all hope has evolved, as did our mothers, our grandmothers. It is a slice out of time that bridges into our modern age but doesn’t quite reach the ground on this side. Something we all have to keep working on, that bridge.
We are situated in this tale in a small Southern town with dirt roads and everyone employed works at the coal mine. BirdDog is the nickname coined by big brother Denny for our leading lady in this first-person tale. She has other nicknames – her nemesis at school called her Peacock, brother Caul never used her name as he abused her, and her mother called her a disappointment. She was a Daddy’s girl through and through, and when he died in a cave-in at the mine when she was nine, she was adrift with no help, no hope but Denny – who has to quit school and work at the mine to support the family. And in time, she was finished with school, still living with just her mother and working as a helper to the town seamstress, Ms. Tarmara. Denny was now a man, married to a woman too much like their mother who discouraged any contact with his family, and she had no one. Until she met Samuel and his brother, Diggs. And maybe Ms. Tarmara…
I loved this story. It conjured up so many emotions as I read it. Birddog as she is fondly called by her older brother has endured so much in her young life including a mother who deemed her as a disappointment. Her father worked hard for his family but brought in little income and her mother is a harsh woman who is also superficial. When tragedy strikes the family they undergo financial duress where her birddog strength will be tested again as it is all through out the story. It is compelling and will have you empathizing with birddog as she navigates her life choices. I voluntarily agreed to receive an ARC of this book for an honest review.