Sweet Mercy

by Ann Tatlock
Carver County Library paperback 311 pages
genre: Christian historical fiction

Set during the Great Depression, this is a story of a teenager who strives to be the "good girl" she thinks her parents want. Her older sister Cassandra was a wild child, drinking, partying, and hanging out with the boys.

Ugh. Can't write a synopsis. Loved the book! Tatlock is a wonderful writer. Even seemed almost too innocent and pure, but it was realistic for the era . . . and in response to trying to be unlike an older sibling who went astray. Eve's black and white view of everything was part of what made the lesson of mercy come home in this book.

Link, Marcus, Jones, Annie and Moses, bootlegging, bands, raids . . . It was very fun to go see The Belmont Hotel show right after reading this.


Added 4 Dec 2013:
I had made some notes on a card after our book club discussion. Not much came of it . . .
- Al Capone - end of life conversion to Christianity? I didn't find anything that indicated he had repented and turned to Jesus before he died. I am not willing to invest a lot of time and energy looking, but I spent some time searching online and didn't come up with anything. There was an interesting story about what happened with his body and publicity hounds, though.
- Five and Twenty Law? Doesn't seem as though this was a real phenomenon. In the book, it sounded completely legit, but I can't find evidence of a law like this anywhere. Again, I didn't search exhaustively, but it certainly doesn't show up in the many keyword searches I tried.
- MN History Center? They have a new exhibit on Prohibition and I really want to go! I wonder if I should try to get Louie to go with me, or get the book club ladies to go.
- Killer who repented to Chuck Colson? Again, couldn't find it. In his many years of prison ministry, he probably heard lots of criminals repent and turn their lives over to Jesus. But in my looking online, I couldn't find a story that stood out. I think someone at book club had mentioned this.

Traveler's Rest

by Ann Tatlock
Hennepin County Library paperback 342 pages
genre: Christian fiction

Nice story. I like this author. Jane is engaged to Seth, but when he returns from Iraq a paraplegic, everything changes for the young couple. He tells her to go away and find someone else. She still loves him and is committed to marrying him and caring for him. Truman is a wonderful older man who lives at the VA home and befriends both Jane and Seth. Wonderful characters, engaging story, somewhat predictable ending. My favorite scene is when Eugene shows Truman the video interview he did with Maggie before she died.

Promises to Keep

by Ann Tatlock
Carver County Library, paperback, 343 pages
genre: Christian fiction, historical (1960s)

Roz (short for Rosalind) is at the center of this story about a woman and her three children who flee Minnesota and an abusive husband. Their lives are changed forever when Tillie comes to "her" house and inserts herself into their home. I liked the friendship between Roz and Mara a lot. I went from being irritated by Tillie to loving her. The dad creeped me out! And anyone who tries to manipulate a child by preying on her / his faithfulness as a child is just horribly wrong. Mara's maturity and character were amazing, especially as she struggled to understand her family. The end was much, much, much too quick, compressing decades into a few pages. Anti-climatic.

Things We Once Held Dear

Ann Tatlock
Carver County Library, paperback, 391 pages

My least favorite Tatlock book so far, this chronicles the emotional journey of Neil Sadler's return to his small-town home from NYC after his wife's meningitis death. The back flap made the events of the past sound so compelling, but the book seemed to be more of a genealogy of the entire town than a cohesive narrative.

I did enjoy characters like good old Uncle Bernie and his way of communicating. I also liked some of the descriptive passages - especially of the kids getting lost playing hide and seek in the corn fields. But I was frustrated by the numerous characters (almost literally - every person in the town was listed, referred to, or described), the repetition of certain explanations or phrases (like the smell of "unwashed flesh"), and the number of people who died unusually young (for literary convenience? Caroline at 40, Cal at 44, and Madlyn in her 60s).

Basically, all three Tatlock books that I've read have dealt with the same theme of estrangement and dealing with the past. This one was the least satisfying that I've read. When true resolution of the problem comes decades late . . . it just seems to miss the point.

Every Secret Thing

by Ann Tatlock
paperback, Carver County, 364 pages

Beth Gunnar returns to her old high school to teach English, but is haunted by something that happened her senior year. All of her old friends seem to have moved on, but she can't let go of what happened to Mr. Dutton. A seemingly rebellious student, Satchel Queen, ends up being one of her best students. Beth develops a maternal concern for Satchel, then re-connects with others from her past in surprising ways.

I liked this one a lot, and cried at the end. Wonderful story! I like how things come full circle at the end.

All the Way Home by Ann Tatlock

447 pages, Carver County

I actually had four copies checked out from the Carver County library simultaneously! Apparently, it was out of print so I got a bunch for book club readers. I actually read this a week ago (finishing it 15 minutes before the book club met!) and really enjoyed it.

The story centers around Augusta (Augie) Schuler and her friend Hatsune (Sunny) Yamagata. Augie's mom neglects her and her Uncle Finn is an angry man. When ChiChi and HaHa open their home to her, she thinks that being Japanese must be the best thing in the world. When Pearl Harbor is bombed, the Yamagata family is sent to Manzanar. Augie grows up isolating herself from others.

Twenty years later, she goes to Mississippi to interview Helen Fulton about the civil rights movement, only to discover her childhood friend. Surgically transformed to a white woman, Sunny welcomes Augie into her loving family once again.

The thing I liked best about this story was the overriding power of love. The hatred toward the Japanese during WWII and the hatred in the South during the 1960s were real and powerful, but this novel shows how love can overpower the hatred. The only part that was a bit too much of a "reach" for me was how quickly and easily they re-enter their friendship after twenty years of no contact. My favorite part was at the end when ChiChi and HaHa came to see Augie, their long-lost daughter (Musume).