Reviewed by hoopsielv for TeensReadToo.com

This is a story of women spanning three different generations.

Olivia Jean is the apple of her daddy's eye and is praised by her mama for her good grades. Now, she's pregnant at fifteen.

Her parents, Daisy and Turk, decide it's best for her to go down south and live with her grandma, Birdie, to hide their shame. Birdie isn't going to make it that easy, though. She gives them the ultimatum that Olivia Jean is welcome to stay, but only if Daisy stays, as well.

Daisy hasn't been in contact with her mama for years and can't imagine how this will work. She figured this would be her chance to work on her relationship with Turk. After all, he doesn't come home for days at a time. What's he up to?

These three women must learn to live together and be a family. All of them are harboring secrets that need to be revealed if they are ever going to learn to forgive, love, and move on with their lives. They must pull at their inner strengths in order to stand up for what's right and what they believe in.

This endearing story is set in the 1960's and is full of moments that make the reader want to keep on reading. I found myself anxious to reach the ending just to see what happens. I highly recommend GOING DOWN SOUTH! ( )

Bonnie Glover's Going Down South is a moving story about three generations of mothers and daughters brought together during a crisis. Daisy Stone moved from Cold Water Springs, Alabama, to New York as a young mother-to-be, escaping her imprisoned mother, Birdie, and not expecting to ever go back. However, Birdie is the first person Daisy turns to when her 15-year-old daughter, Olivia Jean, becomes pregnant. Cold Water Springs will provide refuge to Olivia Jean during her pregnancy, removing her from the critical stares and gossip. This is the 1960s, a different world than the one we know now--a world where the stigma of teenage pregnancy might haunt a girl for the rest of her life.

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A story about three generations of women finding their strength and learning to love each other. The author did a wonderful job bringing her characters to life. ( )

For those who enjoy Southern Literature, add Going Down South to your list of must reads. That said, people who tend to avoid this genre might end up enchantment by this story. I was. Bonnie J. Glover, the book’s author, brought together three African American characters: fifteen year old Olivia Jean, her mother, Daisy, and her grandmother, Birdie. Each had their very own story to tell.

It’s the early 1960s when Olivia Jean discovers she is pregnant out of wedlock. Her father and mother pack her up and head down south to Birdie’s. Old wounds are reopened and secrets revealed as these three come to terms with their own obstacles.

My copy to be given away at http://j-kaye-book-blog.blogspot.com.... Look in the right sidebar under Giveaways. ( )

Going Down South is one of my favorite books this year. I really enjoyed it. This story is about three generations of women in a family-Birdie, Daisy and Olivia Jean-all head strong and stubborn in their own way. It's such a strong story about the connections between mothers and daughters-the good, the bad, and the stuff that ultimately keeps you together. It's set in the South in the 60's and touches on so many issues: color, teen pregnancy, and relationships. The story is told from the point of view of all of the women and it goes back and forth from the past to the present but doesn't leave you feeling confused, just more understanding of the story itself.

I loved Olivia Jean from the start-she's a sweet girl who works hard in school. Her relationship with her parents leaves her wanting so much more. For her parents it seems, all that is in their world is each other. Ultimately, Olivia Jean ends up pregnant. I think she was just craving the attention and it ended up being the wrong kind. A quote from Olivia Jean that I really liked and shows really how she was feeling was...and this comes from a time when she's asked if she knows how to be a mother...
'No, but I do know how not to be one. I've seen that firsthand. And I do know what I have to give this baby: patience. I have more than mama does, lots more love, lots more time.'---pg 58
Birdie I loved from when I first met her. She's a strong woman and she has plans of putting her family back together. I think she was very well aware that the problems of the family stemmed down through the generations and they needed to be fixed before it was too late again. One of my favorite parts is when Birdie invites Daisy to mud wrestle with her to get out their frustrations of being mad at each other. It was amusing but really it was a huge part as it was a turning point for the women to begin mending their relationship.

Finally Daisy, she is Birdie's daughter and Olivia Jean's mother. In the beginning of this book I really didn't like her. I also really didn't know her yet. As the story progresses we learn so much more about Daisy and then the reasons for some of her actions become more clear-still not right but at least they make more sense. I loved all the women but I think Daisy came the furthest in terms of healing and going forward-she went from someone I didn't like to someone I genuinely cared for by the end of the novel. For Daisy's, her intense love for Turk was crazy to the point of making her daughter suffer for it. This passage from Daisy really sums up for me her growth...

'She looked out the window past the small dirt yard and to the horizon, watching the moon. And she thought of the journey the Earth made each day, twenty-four endless hours around the sun. And there were the things that happened on Earth, the love, the hatred, the petty jealousies, and then the peace that came after all the drama finished. The peace that God promised, the one that surpassed all the understanding and she knew that she had it. All her secrets were out in the open. That was her peace. She no longer had to hold on to anyone, man or woman.' ---pg 239-240
All of the women in this novel learned something about themselves and about how their lives had been affected by the men that they had been with. These women change throughout the story to finally come together in the end as the family they are meant to be. The author has written this book in a way that draws us into the characters lives so completely. She has made them so real. I missed them so much when I closed the cover on the last page. I wanted more, I wanted to know what would happen to each and every one of them in the future.

This novel would make a great book club pick. There is just so much going on to discuss. You can check out the noontime chats that J.Kaye, me, Shana, Dawn and Yasmin had on each of these stops...

J.Kaye's is here, mine here and here, Shana's here, Dawn's here and Yasmin's here
There is also reading group questions and topics for discussion in the back of the book along with a conversation with Bonnie. You can check out Bonnie's website here. For me, this was a great book and I loved it!

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