As The Table Turns Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Cynn Chadwick has a knack for writing about family issues, emotions and fascinating characters. Her writing is sharp, humorous and emotional. Her gift for words is amazing and I get lost in the sometimes quirky and always interesting tales she weaves. Bravo! Another terrific book from Cynn Chadwick. And I'm not even the publisher!
Napping Porch Press has a winner here.
Fay Jacobs
author of For Frying Out Loud - Rehoboth Beach Diaries

Click Here to see more reviews about: As The Table Turns

Dixie Stuart, Queen of the Southern Romance novel is forty-two, divorced, living in Manhattan, overweight, and custodial parent to an increasingly rebellious teenaged daughter. Against Dixie's will, her muse, Mary Nell Dupree, and heroine of each of Dixie's many books, has risen to knock out Dixie's seeming writer's block. When Dixie's sister calls from Virginia to beg Dixie to help with their aging father who is experiencing the onset of dementia, Dixie decides to pack up her daughter and return home. She arrives to find the once majestic farm of her childhood in as rapid decline as her dear daddy's mind. Dixie is determined to save both her father and his estate. As the Table Turns is a rollicky roll through the Shenandoah Valley which introduces us to a bevy of quirky Southern characters from Dixie's bosom-heaving bodice-ripping protagonist, her angst-ridden daughter, pesky ex-husband, dramatic sister, flamboyant brother, and demented daddy, but it is the reconnection with her once secret beau that has Dixie's own bosom heaving instead of her character's.

Click here for more information about As The Table Turns

Read More...

A Miracle of Catfish Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)'A Miracle Of Catfish' was unfinished when author Larry Brown died unexpectedly. Because the book was almost finished, publication of Brown's last offering to his fans was possible. The book uses ellipsis to show where editing was done, and though unfinished, includes the notes that Brown left behind as to how he planned to wrap up the novel.
In Brown's languid southern prose, he explores the lives of several people living in the quiet, countrified outskirts of a small town. Cortez Sharp, a 72 year old man who's wife is disabled, decides to dig out a large pond on his property and stock it with catfish. He lives a solitary life, preferring to be left alone with his vegetable patches and herds of cows. His daughter Lucinda lives in Atlanta with her boyfriend Albert, who suffers from Tourettes Syndrome. Cortez calls Albert 'The Retard', driving a wedge between him and his only surviving child. Cortez carries a dark secret with him, one of horrible proportions.
There's Jimmy, a ten year old boy with bad teeth, who lives near Cortez's farm in an old trailer. Jimmy struggles with his father's temper, his two half-sisters Evelyn and Velma, and his desire to fix the go-kart his daddy built for him. Jimmy's Daddy (known only in the book as 'Jimmy's Daddy') is a typical redneck loser. He drives around in his old '55 drinking beer and smoking cigarettes, fights with himself over trying to treat Jimmy better, and has an affair with a woman at the stove factory where he works that turns out bad (in pregnancy) which threatens his life and marriage to Jonette.
And then there's Cleve, an old black man who used to work for Cortez, mean as a polecat, and murderous to boot. He's been in prison twice and though he swore he'd never go back, he's not quite done committing crimes.
Typical of Brown's unhurried and languorous prose, there's lots of smoking, beer drinking, and driving around. There's surprises like DUI's, tractor accidents, unwanted pregnancies, affairs, fishing, hunting, and a young boy worried about having puppies.
These aren't exactly people you would want for neighbors, but Brown brings them out fully fleshed and alive, and you know there are people out there just like Brown's characters. Everyday folk struggling with everyday problems, inner monologues that both repulse and enchant, and scenes that will suck you into the story despite their slowly building climaxes.
While I highly recommend Brown's work, I would recommend 'Joe', 'Fay', and 'Father And Son' as a warm up to 'A Miracle Of Catfish', simply because this is an unfinished work and may leave the novice Brown reader feeling flat at the abrupt end. It's sad that this is the last time we will hear Brown's voice in the literature world. Enjoy!


Click Here to see more reviews about: A Miracle of Catfish

Get 34% OFF

Click here for more information about A Miracle of Catfish

Read More...