Bound South

Customer Reviews

• compelling  Jan 29, 2009 (12 of 12 found this helpful)

  From the surprising twist that made me laugh out loud at the end of the first chapter, I knew that "Bound South" was about subverting the South's stereotypes. Here's a book that reveals the realities obscured by the carefully polished surfaces--the family secrets and scandals, the suppressed yearnings and emotions, the confidences trusted only to best friends. And yet this novel's characters feel "bound" by their Southern upbringings, which create a fascinating tension as they strive for greater possibilities in their lives.
  
  The story switches back and forth between the first-person voices of three women: Louise Parker's creativity and individuality are hindered by the expectations of her as an affluent Southern matron. Louise quietly envies the greater freedom and opportunities open to her teenage daughter, Caroline, who seems overwhelmed by it all. And Louise's unexpected involvement in the life of Missy, her housekeeper's evangelical daughter, adds an "Upstairs, Downstairs" element to the tale.
  
  "Bound South" is funny and charming, a compelling page-turner that's surprisingly moving towards the end. While it subverts the south's old pretenses, it also celebrates what's best in its changing culture.
  
  
  
  

• I am Bound South  Feb 2, 2009 (8 of 8 found this helpful)

  I loved this book!I really didn't want it to end. It was so fun and playful at times and at other's very real and meaningful. I laughed with Louise and Tiny and felt deep in my heart the struggles of Caroline to find herself. I felt like I had met some of the characters before and longed to know some of the others in real life. I loved the different looks at the women in this novel, each attempting to find herself in different stages of her life. You learn something about yourself, your mother and even your grandmother through watching these women evolve. I will share this book with the people that I care about; to share the beautiful complex picture of the South and the families in it that Susan White has so accurately reflected and enhanced for our enjoyment.

• Worth Reading!  Feb 10, 2009 (5 of 5 found this helpful)

  There are two things I love. Reading new authors and southern fiction. I stumbled across this book online a couple months ago and was intrigued by its premise.
  
  Louise is the mother of two children, living a cushy life in Atlanta with her lawyer husband and two children. Caroline is Louise's teenage daughter with a mind of her own. Missy is the young daughter of Louise's housekeeper who has her own ideas of how one should live their life. It's interesting to follow the lives of these three southern women through what becomes eight very important years in each of their lives.
  
  As Louise's children are growing up, she realizes that her life is also changing. She begins to look back on the choices she has made, sometimes feeling regret. At the same time we learn a lot about her childhood and how she became the woman she is today. We meet Caroline when she is seventeen years old, very headstrong, thinking she has the world figured out. As the story unfolds we see her grow into a responsible adult and in her relationships even seemingly moving backward towards some of the patterns she used to criticize her mother for. Missy was very young when her father walked out on her and her mother without ever looking back. She always had the idea that one day he would come back and the bond between them would never again be broken. Missy's quest to find her dad is enlightening for her.
  
  This is a book I enjoyed very much. Each cleverly titled chapter is written in the first person alternating between each of our three protagonists. This gives you a sense of who will be telling that part of the story. The year is also given to indicate how much time has passed since we last heard from them. This enables the story to move through time smoothly and without slow parts. This technique works wonderfully for this book. The story begins in 1999 and ends in 2008.
  
  One of the things I liked about this book was the beautiful cover. It's vibrant colors and the femininity of the barefoot woman in a sundress carrying her high heel is appealing. They used the technique of the 'headless' girl, which is very popular with publishers these days. It gives an anonymity to the character, allowing the reader to form their own images in their minds eye.
  
  I also liked the characters, but my favorite is Louise. I liked the way she dealt with the changes in her life as her children grew up and she realizes that there's more to her than being a mother and a wife. She's not afraid of new challenges. My favorite thing about this story is the bond that forms between Caroline and her mother. Louise wants Caroline to be true to herself and not sacrifice her dreams for someone else. She and Caroline also discover qualities in each other that were always there, but were skewed by normal parent/child conflicts.
  
  This is a great book for anyone who loves southern fiction with equal parts of drama and humor. It's a quick read that I really enjoyed, mainly because I liked the characters. I wanted to keep reading to see what happened to them. I also liked the ending. I could picture it in my mind and I felt happily content upon finishing the book. This is Susan Rebecca White's first novel and I think it is very good. I will not hesitate to pick up her next book. She will always have a spot on my bookshelf.

• Good read but ended suddenly  Apr 28, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)

  Like the other reviewers, I did enjoy the book. The characters evolve over time and the author has a great grasp of what it is like to live in the South - the good and the improving. My only complaint (and it is a big one for me) is that the book ended abruptly. I was reading, waiting for some sort of denouement, and it just ended. I will read this author's next book, but I may read the end first. :)

• Wonderful read!!  Feb 27, 2009 (3 of 3 found this helpful)

  Susan Rebecca White has instantly leapt to the top of the list of my favorite contemporary authors, and I eagerly await what gifts she may bring us in the future. What a wonderfully well written story of family, growth and life in the South by a strong new Southern voice that could easily belong to the lovechild of Clyde Edgerton and Anne Rivers Siddons! By bringing us Bound South, Susan Rebecca White joins the ranks of a wonderful company of witty, honest Southern writers.
  
  From the opening pages of the book, I found myself at times deep in thought and at others in stitches. The characters are ALL so superbly developed and the story zips along so much that I found myself yearning for more at the close of the final chapter. The Parker family puts the "fun" back in dysfunctional, and Susan Rebecca White delivers a riotously funny, tenderly sincere first novel.