Under the Bayou Moon

by Valerie Fraser Luesse

Dakota County Library paperback 324 pages

Published: 2021

Genre: Christian historical fiction

 

We had a lovely book club discussion on Monday night. Luesse is a delightful author and she wrote this story so that each of us could see what she was describing. 

 

Main character Ellie Fields is a teacher heading into Louisiana's bayou country. Originally from Alabama, she's like a babe in the woods in New Orleans before heading into the small community of Bernadette to teach. Raphe is the man who has seen beauty (the white alligator) and horrors (the loss of most of his family in a hurricane) in the bayou. Heywood is a genial man Ellie meets in NO and then encounters again in Bernadette.

 

Though many of us at book club anticipated different paths (the center of conflict, what occurs at school vs. elsewhere, etc.), we all enjoyed the book and had different take-aways.

 

Page 49 - "He really thought French speakers were holding back the whole state. It's an unfortunate quality of human beings that we're prone to condemn the unfamiliar."

 

This observation made me think of POTUS #45 and Mexicans . . . 

 

Page 71 - "Cajuns didn't worship alligators anymore than Catholics worshiped statues. The very idea that such a misguided notion might destroy something so purely beautiful as the white alligator was more than he could stand."

 

I liked that first line. People (including me) can be quick to judge . . . but we need to think about some of our thoughts, words, and actions before casting about and causing distress.

 

Page 142 - "The thought of a life without her made the hole in his heart so deep that nothing could possibly fill it. And yet he had to ask:Where does love end and selfishness begin? Or could it be possible for one to overcome the other if you loved somebody so much that their happiness was your own?"

 

The first line of this is NOT what caught my attention. His contemplation of  love and selfishness, of truly showing love by wanting that person to have the best - that I like.

Page 237 - "But it was typical of small Southern communities. Things went on as they always had, with nobody ever questioning the reason why."

I don't think it's just in small Southern communities. A lot of human groups - churches, organizations, businesses, families - continue to do what they've "always" done without questioning why. Tradition and familiarity can be very comforting.