From an award-winning author comes a wise and tender coming-of-age story about a nine-year-old girl who runs away from her Mississippi home in 1963, befriends a lonely woman suffering loss and abuse, and embarks on a life-changing roadtrip. Whistling past the graveyard. That’s what Daddy called it when you did something to keep your mind off your most worstest fear. . . . In the summer of 1963, … .
In the summer of 1963, nine-year-old Starla Claudelle runs away from her strict grandmother’s Mississippi home. Starla’s destination is Nashville, where her mother went to become a famous singer, abandoning Starla when she was three. Walking a lonely country road, Starla accepts a ride from Eula, a black woman traveling alone with a white baby. Now, on the road trip that will change her life forever, Starla sees for the first time life as it really is–as she reaches for a dream of how it could one day be.
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I loved everything about this book! Beautifully written, thought provoking and overall just a wonderful story!
I really enjoyed reading this book. Now this is the second book by Susan Crandall that I have picked up. The first one was The Myth of Perpetual Summer. I wasn’t disappointed in both of books that I have picked up by this author. The way Susan writes is amazing you almost feel like you are watching a movie instead of reading a book. I never get bored reading her books. And fall in love or sad with characters. How Susan brings the characters to life is amazing. This book brings up things that happened in the 1960’s. Racism and how real it was back then. And now in 2019 how it still effects people.
About Book:
This story takes place in 1963 in Mississippi. Our main character is a little named Starla who lives with her grandmother. Well her daddy works on the rigs and her momma lives in Nashville. Starla and her grandma really don’t have a good relationship. Starla is always getting into trouble. Starla decides to runaway to be with her mother. When starting her trip she meets a older black woman name Eula. Who tells Starla she can help her get to her mother. That’s when things start happening to these two. And Starla starts a kinda mother/daughter relationship with Eula. These two find themselves going to Nashville together. And never giving up and remaining close. I love how the author bought these two characters together. How they looked after each other no matter what happened. I highly recommend this book and any other of Susan Crandall books.
One of the best books I have read in the past year. Loved Starla and all the characters, enjoyed the lessons taught and liked how the evils of segregation were discovered through a child’s eyes/heart. There wasn’t anything about this book that I didn’t just love! Thanks to Susan Crandall for such a wonderfully crafted tale!
I thought at first it would just appeal to young women but boy I was wrong. It was to me , more about a young girl or just as easily had been a boy, searching for her past, Mom. And she faced several trials and learning about how some in the South were treated just because or the color of their skin. And her reward wasn’t what she thought it would be and her outlook on life changed.
Great read.
Yesterday was the day set aside to honor Martin Luther King. Hearing and reading of the struggles of blacks during the 60s reminded me of the book Whistling Past the Graveyard by Susan Crandall. In this book you follow a young girl, Starla just learning of the prejudices found in southern United States. I highly recommend that you follow Starla’s journey in the this book.
I listened to the audiobook version of this story that was originally released in 2013. Since it is historical fiction and takes place in the early sixties, the story holds up. It never felt old-fashioned or outdated. The narrator, Amy Rubinate, was competent with diverse accents, and she read the story well. It’s a poignant tale about a time not so long ago when there was a strict divide between classes and races in the southern states of Mississippi and Tennessee where the story takes place. Starla is nine years old and doesn’t feel appreciated in life. She certainly doesn’t want to go to reform school where she’s just sure she’s headed after hearing how bad she is from the grandmother who is essentially raising her. Her mother left years ago to seek her fortune in Nashville. Her father is away from home working in the Gulf. So when Starla decides she will have to take matters into her own hands in order to avoid reform school, she sets off on her own for Nashville to find her mother. Along the road, a very kind black woman stops to help her. And that’s where Starla’s real adventures begin. The story is funny in places. But mostly, it is full of lessons for Starla who finds out more about what the real world is all about. The memories she will make will last a lifetime. And her eyes will be opened by a world she didn’t know existed.
4.25/5
I love this author’s writing. Although from Indiana, she writes with an amazing sense of the Deep South. Her writing is both lyrical and heartfelt, and her characters insightful and heroic.
The story is set in 1963 Mississippi and features an adventurous 9 year-old named Starla. She embarks on a road-trip odyssey (to escape her tyrannical grandmother who is her guardian while her father works the oil rigs) from MS to Nashville to find her fame-obsessed mother Lulu who left when she was 3. She meets Eula, a young black woman with her own troubling problems, and together, through a series of dangerous mishaps, they come to realize that society’s touting of their differences only make them unique not “separate” and discover a whole new definition of what it means to be a family.
While I loved this story, her more recent book “The Myth of Perpetual Summer” is my favorite so far. And I look forward to reading more from her.
Whistling Past the Graveyard – “You know, making a racket to keep the scaredness and the ghosts away.” This book was full of “scaredness and ghosts” for sure. I am going to admit that I could not identify at all with the main character in this story. Starla was a 9 year old girl with fiery red hair and a “red rage” inside her to match. She was a spitfire with an attitude and a mouth that was hard to tame and got her in trouble more than once! (I was shy and quiet as could be.) Granted, life had lent her a raw deal and she had lots to be angry about! Her mom had left home for Nashville to become a “star” singer. Her dad worked on the oil rigs, so was gone most of the time – which meant she was left with her grandmother who had no real desire to be her caretaker!
The best part of this book to me was the writing. Life in the south during the 60’s came alive through the words of the author, Susan Crandall. The racial injustices came through loud and clear when young Starla hooked up with Eula – a young black woman, married to a man with a heavy hand – while on her quest to find her mother “the star.” Who knew that their unusual kinship would bring them both back full circle to what they both wanted most – family.
I loved the way the author demonstrated the southern vernacular through Starla’s expressions
like “whopper-jawed” or “crap on a cracker”. I might not have been able to identify with her but she sure did make me chuckle a time or two!!
Starla Claudelle misses her mother! When she thinks her strict grandmother is going to send her to reform school, she runs away towards Nashville and her mother. The story is set in 1963 in Mississippi and Starla’s journey reveals some of the racial tensions of the South in the 60’s. Ultimately the story is about love and kindness and it is a wonderful story!
Lovely “coming of age” book set in 1960s Mississippi (and Tennessee). It’s enlightening to see that era through a little girl’s eyes, and horrifying. Starla changes her perception throughout the book, landing in a word far wiser than the one she left. Never terribly graphic, it only scrapes the edges of the truth of those times.
This book takes place in the South during the time of segregation. A young girl named Starla runs away from home in search of her mother and along the way she encounters many obstacles and meets people who will have an impact on her life. I really enjoyed this book so much. Watching Starla as she becomes stronger and wiser, persevering no matter how hard things got. I liked the strong female characters that are in this book: Starla stubborn and sassy, EULA resilient and caring heart, and ms. Cyrena is intelligent and full of wisdom. As I read this book I imagined the characters all speaking in a Southern accent. I loved the bond that formed between EULA and Starla as they fought through obstacles together and helped each other to grow and become stronger people and Starla learned that being a family doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to share the same DNA.
I definitely recommend this book.
The plot and characters are so believable. Nine-year-old Starla has her eyes opened to racism and learns that everyone has value, no matter the color of their skin.
I liked this book mostly because it’s protagonist is from my era – The Most Famous Generation. The mid-century southern setting and cultural references were spot on and I could practically see/feel all of them. I had hoped for a lighter story than the twisty-turny darker one presented, but the writing was seriously tasty. I’ll jump at the chance to read a story as wise, but maybe one lighter and more fun by the same author.
Sharon Crandall’s book is basically a “road story” of a young white girl and a middle-aged black woman, both “runaways” from their world in Mississippi. They team up and set out for Nashville together to find Starla’s long-absent mother, along with a white boy foundling. Along the way, their encounters, both positive and negative, help them to grow more confident and mature. Their disappointments, fears and anxieties are resolved when Starla’s father takes the situation in hand and creates a new home for everyone back in Mississippi.
The main character will steal your heart, the story will consume your time, the author will earn your respect.
I won this book and loved it. I have passed it on to may friends who also enjoyed it.