Doors were never locked, in Tolerance, Arkansas in the 1950’s. Everyone went to church on Sunday and the corner grocer extended credit, never asking for a credit card. Things were good —the age of innocence in America that laid the foundation for the sexual and Cultural Revolution that was to explode onto the scene in the sixties. But for Sarah Jones, a glimpse into the shadows snatched away her … her childhood innocence. Her way of dealing with the despicable acts committed against her threatened to destroy who she truly was. Can she find the inner strength to overcome her past? Can she see that letting go of the desire to punish oneself is often the hardest act of forgiveness?
Content Advisory: This book is intended for mature audiences and contains child sexual abuse and disturbing imagery.
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Growing up is often a painful experience. This young girl learns many lessons of life, not always nice ones. This novel is a very good one. It does contain some bad things but it is true to life. I enjoyed it.
This book was what I expected but at the same time was more than what I expected. It is Sarah’s story. It is Dee’s story. Dee is Sarah Jane’s mother. Sarah is the only daughter in a hardworking farm family. Some might have called it a white trash family. I don’t consider anyone trash but I have heard the term and know it’s usage. The story of Sarah does involve abuse, child sexual abuse to be exact. I knew it was going to be difficult to read because of that and my own history. I expected to go slowly with the book. The scenes were not over the top or gratuitous, in my opinion. I did take breaks after reading them but they weren’t what they could have been. Being ready for them helped me. There is more more to this book than that portion of it.
To me the book is about family and family isn’t always wrapped in pretty paper tied with a bow. It is about society, too. The ways we help, the ways we don’t and the times we ignore. I think the best part of this book was the lesson that we can’t change where we come from, what people do to us or what people say or think about us. Those things are all choices made by others that affect us. Our power is in our choices. Our choice to be a victim or be a survivor. Our choice in accepting or refusing to believe what others think, say or their treatment of us. Our choice in how we respond to it all. It’s a story about the healing power of love and the freedom found in forgiveness.
I cried copious amounts of tears. I recommend having tissues handy. I loved crying so hard. It meant the author forced me to feel something, which only happens when you have been transported to the world between the pages. What that means for me is that I will spend time after I close the book thinking about it. Relating to it. Working on my self improvement because something in the story has me examining myself.
I recommend this book to those who enjoy memoir type books. At times I wondered if this was based on fact. Afterward, in thinking about it, I realized it was. It might not be the authors story or even someone’s that she knew. But out there in the world..it is or was someone’s life.
I had all but given up reading for pleasure. My eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be and I read slowly. In other words, it wasn’t fun anymore. I would start reading, get eyestrain, stop, put the book aside and there the book would stay. I read short articles, newspapers and some magazines. Vicki’s book, however, seemed easy for me to read. Not elementary, easy. It flowed. The story kept me interested. Descriptions of people and scenes were so wonderful I could “see” the story. For me, Vicki painted words on the page. Sarah, the main character, is a sweet young girl and I liked her right away. My liking her gave me hope and someone to root for in life. Sarah has some tough times in her young life, as we all do, but comes through them and ……well, see for yourself. Read this book and give it to someone who thinks they don’t like to read. Ask that person to read just a few chapters and they, as I did, will change their mind.
The American Soul is pictured in this book. I felt myself traveling through the southern United States, driven by the music of the 1960s, in an environment where the Vietnam War marked that generation, and divided the world into two. But that farm girl had her own dreams … and fears.
Somehow I saw a parallel with Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” Sometimes parallel, sometimes the opposite because it is the victim of a crime the main character. Vicki’s book sent me an emotional charge similar to that of the Russian. She has her own style and I believe she will stand out in the American literary scene.