The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can Eat

By Edward Kelsey Moore

Libby audiobook 12 hours

Read by Adenrele Ojo and Pamella D'Pella

Published: 2013 (this version also 2013)

Genre: mostly realistic fiction

 

Apparently, this has been made into a movie. I am a bit surprised at how many notes I jotted as I listened to this in the car. I finished it almost two weeks ago and liked some aspects and disliked others. I'm also surprised that it was written by a man. It's primarily told from women's point of views.

 

Odette, Clarice, and Barbara Jean were nicknamed "The Supremes" as teens in the 1960s. The three women have shared a lot of life in the decades since. 

 

Odette was my favorite. She was born in a sycamore tree, the source of her strength. She was married to James and could see and talk with ghosts, including her mama and Mrs. Roosevelt.

 

Clarice was a piece of work, always trying to control situations and people. But her husband Richmond's infidelity was legendary (as was her dad's) and her mom Beatrice kept encouraging her to just ignore it.

 

Barbara Jean was married to Lester. But NOT the Lester (Payne) who was her mother's pimp! Why on Earth would the author do this?! There are so many names you could choose. I almost went back to re-listen to all this because initially I thought she married the pimp. Lester. Different Lester. Barbara Jean's mom tried to extort four different men as baby daddies. Yuk. Barbara Jean slept in the library of her fancy house and tried to decide whether to hit the bottle (vodka) or open the Bible when she couldn't sleep. She dressed in sexy, tight clothes.

 

I wrote the word "dreams." I think this is in reference to the recurrent dreams Barbara Jean had about a river and a child, but I'm not sure.

 

Big Earl was married to Thelma. When she died (before the start of this book), Earl married Minnie. Minnie is a crackpot fortune teller. She also provides a lot of comic relief. Big Earl's and Thelma's son Little Earl and his wife Irma Mae took over the diner, while Big Earl helped out until his death. Big Earl's funeral was at one of the Baptist churches. It had the "sexiest Jesus."

 

Ray "Chick" Carlson was the "prettiest white boy" and hired by Big Earl back in the day. He and Barbara Jean fall in love as teens. A lot of the back story was revealed as the book went on. 

 

When Odette gets diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, she tries to keep quiet about it. But as she loses weight, sleeps more, and lacks energy, she shares her determination to fight the disease. Her story was my favorite thread in the book, though all the women's lives are intertwined.

 

Clarice's cousin Veronica - ugh. As teens and worse as adults, these women can be catty. As she ropes Clarice into helping her plan her daughter Sharon's wedding, the women are trying to outdo one another regarding their daughters' weddings. (Clarice tried to make her daughter's wedding fancier than Odette's daughter's and then Veronica took it to the next level.) 

 

Clarice bugged me the most. How she put up with her cheating husband and acted like she had it all together - ugh. "Feeling bad about yourself is the entire point of going to church, Odette!" Clarice's Calvary Baptist was led by a pastor who told her it was her duty to stand with Richmond no matter what. What?! Why wasn't he telling Richmond to stop sinning?! 

 

First Baptist and Holy Family were the other women's churches. 

Lester Maxberry (Barbara Jean's husband) loved cars!

Clarice's mom Beatrice was yuk! "Suffering to earn the Lord's favor." Do these people not read their Bibles?

 

They all have their coping mechanisms. For Odette, it's food; for Clarice, playing piano; and for Barbara Jean, it has become alcohol.

 

I love Odette.Threatening to kill Richmond if he messed with Barbara Jean was extreme, but effective. And it was easy to believe she scared him out of doing something incredibly stupid. 

 

This takes place in Plainview, Indiana. I have a lot of random notes that I'm not going to write here. There was a place where the vocal work for Chick is wrong - his voice sounds exactly like Barbara Jean's. I don't think I could do it justice, but it was jarring to listen to.

 

Sometimes the cattiness and gossip bothered me.

 

Odette's mama and the afterlife . . . again, entertaining, but not very believable. The WORST DAY EVER is the day Adam is killed. Adam (Barbara Jean's son with Chick) was eight years old, walking down Wall Road to get to his grandma's house when he was hit and killed by a car. The car was almost certainly driven by racist Desmond Carlson, Chick's older brother. 

 

The ghost of Eleanor Roosevelt was pretty funny - drunken, irreverent, fascinated by sex and death.

 

Minnie Mac, the fortune teller, was also funny with Yvonne and her seven babies . . . "not this one. Try again." 

 

Overall, an interesting book. A bit weird. I don't plan to see the movie.