Mary Jacob grew up as an anomaly. A child of Louisiana in the early sixties, she found little in common with most of the people in her community and in her household, and her best friend was Lavina, the black woman who cooked and cleaned for her family. Now, in the early nineties, Mary Jacob has escaped her history and established a fresh, if imperfect, life for herself in New York. But when she learns of her father’s critical illness, she needs to go back home. To a disapproving father and a spiteful sister. To a town decades out of alignment with Mary Jacob’s new world. To the memories of Billy Ray, Lavina’s son who grew up to be a musical legend whose star burned much too bright.
And to the echoes of a fateful day three decades earlier when three lives changed forever.
A decades-spanning story both intimate and enormous in scope, LAVINA is a novel rich in humanity, sharp in its indictments, and stunning in its resolution.
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My Review:
This was a very good story about Louisiana during such a difficult time in History. Not only does Mary live through the civil rights movement, but she also got to live during a musical revolution. However this book is about so much more. There are people not willing to embrace the ways of the future, and they get stuck in the past. The characters deal with different races and income levels. Mary is used to her life in New York, but when she travels back to her home town she realizes that she left more behind than her family members. Speaking of her family members there are issues there as well. I really liked that the author chose three main characters to focus on through a span of thirty years. The ending surprised me and I had to read the last few chapters twice. I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy to review via The Story Plant, however all opinions are my own.
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