Southern Challenge 2008 Wrap-Up

Well, a mighty big thanks to Maggie for hosting this fun challenge again!! I seem to read more and more and more Southern lit each year, so this one's both easy and perfect for me.

My books (with links to reviews):
1. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan
2. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
3. Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch

My thoughts:
One of the things Maggie suggested we write about was how the books moved us.

I'd say Mudbound moved me the most - as I said in my review, it made me feel things physically. I was felt sorrow, anger, disgust, horror, and and a bit of satisfaction for Laura when her vile father-in-law got what he deserved. While Laura wasn't perfect, I was moved by her situation - being forced to live in a basically uninhabitable farm with horrid Pappy while her husband pays attention to nothing but his precious farm. And of course I was moved by the tragedy Ronsel faces, but also by the plight of his family as black people in 1946 in the Mississippi Delta - even though I know it was widespread, it still shocked me that they were treated that way, especially when Ronsel was a war hero and had been treated so well in Europe.

I was moved by The Sugar Queen because I felt so sorry for Josey being punished for her entire life for things now beyond her control - who her father was and how she'd acted as a child. Josey also moved me because she was so kind - even though she'd never really had friends or a boyfriend, she cared so deeply, so quickly about Chloe and Adam and even Della Lee. And while I don't have a closet stuffed with candy, I could relate to wanting to hide away and eat them quickly, to the feeling that they're the only comfort you have. I was so happy that she was able to finally come into her own and live her own life, after two decades of punishment and loneliness.

Girls in Trucks moved me because Sarah's tendency to screw up her life was so...pitiable. She was running from the constraints of her life in the South but she (and her Camellia friends) didn't really know what they were running to, so they ended up in various sad situations - some entirely of their own making, but some not.

I recommend all three of these books to y'all!