Rated of 5
by Susan Fantastic Read
During the first few pages of this book, I kept putting it down - I didn't think that I could read it. However, once I learned all of the major characters, I got totally engrossed in it. I didn't want to read it too fast and miss anything. The book is fantastic and would be a great book club reading project....there are so many areas of the book that could be discussed in a group. The book presented a true picture of life in the south during the Depression...but it was more than just a picture of the South. It was a mystery and a deep look into Olivia's life and thoughts. It wasn't a page turner like many mysteries - instead it was a slow immersion into Olivia's thoughts and daily life. It was a fantastic book and I really enjoyed it.
Rated of 5
by Molinda Great story!
This story seems on the face to be one of cliches that we have seen too often recently--southern white girl who is close to black townsfolk in the segregated south battling entrenched racism in her town. But "Sweeping up Glass" draws you in from the first page. There is a mystery to be solved and its elucidation is where the story gains its momentum. Drama is created through character interaction and dialogue. Carolyn Wall is a master story teller. Read this book!
Rated of 5
by Beth A griping story with unforgettable characters and a surprising end
Carolyn Wall's debut novel is told in the simple, rural language of a poor mountain town in Depression-era Kentucky. The beginning of the book started slow but soon I was sucked in to the powerful narrative. It 's a heartfelt story filled with quirky, unforgettable characters and their loves, family secrets, and transformations.
Olivia Harker Cross is the center of this suspenseful story. She is proud, head strong and a survivor. the title refers to the shattered lives that need cleaning up. Olivia lives with her beloved grandson, Will'm in the small grocery store they run. When her daughter returns to reclaim Will'm, trouble intensifies and Olivia fights to save the life she's built. I grew to care about the unusual cast of characters. I kept reading anxious to know how their lives unfolded.
Themes of love, loss, betrayal, bigotry, death, and forgiveness give this book surprising depth and intensity. The ending was not what I expected which made me all the more impressed.
Rated of 5
by Janice Sweeping up Glass
This is one of my favorite reads so far this year. The story and characters are memorable making the book hard to put down. It takes place in Kentucky when segregation was accepted. There are many threads that get connected in the end - a mother who was committed to an asylum only to return home and wreak havoc, lynching, young love lost, prostitution, living a hard scrabble life and poaching, just to name a few story lines. I will be recommending this book to my reading groups and can't wait to read it again.
Rated of 5
by Erica Extraordinary Debut
Carolyn Wall does a fabulous job with her debut novel, Sweeping Up Glass. I could not put this book down and couldn't wait to get out of work to read more. The characters were so clearly described that I wish we could have learned some of their stories as well. This book could have been far longer because there are so many side stories that remain a mystery. Carolyn could write an entire new novel from Ida's prospective, there are so many questions to answer about her past. It would be a great book for book groups because there are so many different angles and points of view to discuss.
Rated of 5
by Donna Wonderful Book
From the very first page the language created such clear pictures that I was immediately drawn into each scene. The setting is the 1930s in Kentucky, and I could feel what the times were like.
Olivia is the appealing main character, and the surrounding characters add great dimension. The book has such an honest feel to it that one can't help but get attached to all of them.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
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