Search This Blog
April Reviews Link-Up
May Reviews Link-Up
June Reviews Link-Up
July Reviews Link-Up
August Reviews Link-Up
September Reviews Link-Up
October Reviews Link-Up
November Reviews Link-Up
December Reviews Link-Up
2024 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)
2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
Friday, March 20, 2015
Overly Ambitious Southern Novel Just Okay
1:00 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
When a freak bicycle accident takes her husband's life, Vidrine Bell snaps. Needing "time to think," she dumps her 11-year-old daughter in Louisiana, at the home of the girl's paternal grandmother. Liberty "Ibby" Bell has never seen anything like New Orleans, let alone the giant, crumbling mansion in which she's going to be living. Then, there's Frances "Fannie" Hadley Bell, Ibby's eccentric grandmother who's been in and out of the insane asylum for years. Queenie, the maid who "came with the house," warns Ibby never to bring up Fannie's past and never to ask questions if Fannie brings it up.
Intrigued by all the secrets swirling around the big old house, Ibby slowly learns about her family's history. Under the tutelage of Queenie and her outspoken daughter, Dollbaby, she also gets an education about how to get along in the 1960s South. As Ibby's friendship with Queenie's granddaughter grows, she gets a taste of the vicious racism of which some people are capable. Despite the friction, Ibby feels her new home and family growing on her. What once was foreign is now not just familiar, but also comforting. As her definition of family changes, Ibby wonders what will happen when—and if—her mother comes to take her away. Can she leave behind The Big Easy, with all its charms, secrets, and people she's grown to love?
Told in the alternating voices of Ibby, Dollbaby and Fannie, Dollbaby by Laura Lane McNeal oscillates between the past and the present. It tells a compelling story, made even more layered by the different voices through which it is filtered. The novel definitely rambles in a way that feels unfocused and over-reaching, like the author's trying to cover a little too much territory. Much of it feels cliché as well as predictable. While these things tarnished my enjoyment of the novel, overall, Dollbaby kept me reading. In the end, I didn't love it, didn't hate it, just found it okay.
(Readalikes: Reminded me a bit of The Help by Kathryn Stockett)
Grade:
If this were a movie, it would be rated:
for language, violence, depictions of illegal drug use, and sexual innuendo/content
To the FTC, with love: I bought a copy of Dollbaby from Amazon with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Ha ha.
Subscribe to:
Posts
(Atom)
Reading
Listening
Followin' with Bloglovin'
-
The Last Word by Gerri Lewis1 hour ago
-
-
Top 5 Tuesday ~ Green Books3 hours ago
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday-Spring Into Books4 hours ago
-
Top Ten Tuesday6 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
Top Ten Tuesday: Spring TBR | 20249 hours ago
-
TTT – Books On My Spring 2024 TBR9 hours ago
-
Daily Prompt 18 March monday14 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
Books from the Backlog #81 day ago
-
-
Don’t Foget Me by Rea Frey2 days ago
-
-
-
Sunday Post3 days ago
-
-
Timeline by Michael Crichton4 days ago
-
33. Ferris4 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
Witch Hat Atelier: Kitchen, Volume 11 week ago
-
Catching up1 week ago
-
Review: Dating Dr. Dil1 week ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?5 months ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra8 months ago
-
-
-
Sundays with Sam – The Sunday Post11 months ago
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ▼ 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ► 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)