![]() Sugarcoated it ain't, but instead of delivering profundity, Flock's tough love turns poor forsaken Carrie into a caricature. After nearly 300 pages of rambling drama, the twist at the end is revealed so haphazardly that it will probably bewilder readers more than surprise them. The action moves "slow as a crippled turtle," as Carrie's Momma would say, and down-home charm fails to camouflage the creaky, roundabout chronology. But journalist Flock soon loses control of her meandering story and this Southern slice-of-life disintegrates into narrative chaos. ![]() ![]() Carrie dreamily darts back and forth between her rough-and-tumble present (abusive stepfather, unloving mother) and the happy memories of her dead father, creating a bittersweet picture of her life in Toast, N.C., spiked with colorful Southern language and some feisty supporting characters. The novel starts off sweetly, with the smalltown antics of Carrie, a scrappy Scout-like eight-year-old who's always accompanied by her younger sister Emma. Grade poignancy by heaping tribulations on its child narrator. ) second novel, a punishing Southern family drama that tries to achieve To Kill a Mockingbird– It ain't sweet." That's the jumbled and unforgiving logic that drives Flock's ( But Inside I'm Screaming No one ever told me I had to add sugar but that's life for you. I could walk down to the end of the driveway and step in. "I got handed lemons, too, y'know-but I learned how to make lemonade with them. that means I'll never get out of this place, but shit, yeah I'm thinking about it. ![]()
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