Carolyn Wall

The blurbs used to describe Carolyn Wall’s debut, Sweeping Up Glass, compare Wall to Harper Lee, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor. I mean WOW, how does a novel live up to those kinds of expectations? And yet, even from the beginning, it just does. The striking similarities to To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most beloved books ever written, are unavoidable. The innocent narrator, and explored themes particularly evoke Mockingbird, and that is a statement I’d never show more make lightly. Wall’s narrative voice with its colloquial speech is so entrenched in classic southern tradition that it becomes hard to believe that I wasn’t reading a much older novel.

This tale offers more than nostalgia. It is basically the life story of hard working and very poor general store owner, Olivia Harker. Olivia lives life in no uncertain terms. She idolizes her father, adores her grandson, loves her lifetime friends, is wary of her daughter, protective of the wolves that roam her property, and hates her mom. Her story is set in a very small town in Kentucky. And her town has some dark secrets yet to be unveiled. Unknown truths waiting in Olivia’s past threaten her life and everything she knows. It is hard to go into much more detail as the book is masterfully structured--even Olivia doesn’t know the tale she is telling. Just know that the plot offers mysterious surprises.

I have almost no criticisms of this book, but if I really reach, I could say that this book doesn’t feel modern. It tells of a bygone time period and past issues. Which some readers might find to be to the books credit especially after reading it. I will say this book is an old fashioned good read, and its historical feel was most likely calculated move on Wall’s part.

The strengths of the novel abound. Foremost, Olivia’s voice is forcibly engaging, and stayed with me long after the book conclusion. Every character is fully drawn and compelling. The plot is constructed with doses of mystery, literary tension, and layers of characterization. It is easily the best book I’ve read all month, and sure to be one of my favorites this year. Wall’s tale is sure to be cherished by anyone who reads it. It is deserving of all the gushing praise it has and will receive. show less

I love the voice of narrator Olivia Cross in Carolyn Wall’s novel, Sweeping Up Glass! Speaking clearly and honestly, Olivia shows us the childhood she spent with her loving pap and hateful, crazy mother. We also see her as an adult as she moves along with the day to day struggle of caring for her aging mother and beloved grandson. Life is hard in rural Kentucky, and the family has barely enough to eat. On top of that, someone is killing the wolves on her land. As she delves deeper into show more discovering who is killing the beautiful silver-faced wolves, Olivia becomes embroiled in the history of racism and personal vendettas of her town. Wall’s lyrical prose is spellbinding, her descriptions vivid. Sweeping up Glass is an excellent debut novel and I look forward to reading more by Carolyn Wall. show less

In the backwoods of Kentucky, Olivia Harker Cross struggles to raise her grandson while living with her cantankerous mother and maintaining the family grocery business. Everything’s fine in this unconventional family until poachers start killing the Alaskan silver wolves brought to Kentucky by Olivia’s grandfather. As Olivia investigates the poachers, she uncovers decades-old secrets and must protect her family from the resulting dangers.

The story unfolds from the first-person point of show more view as Olivia narrates current events and mixes in memories from her childhood. Olivia’s unique voice is the center of gravity for this novel; it’s a constant and compelling force:

"All in all, I have a crazy ma'am who owns a hundred dusty Bibles, a leggy boy with a too-soft heart, and no man to bed down with. And an Alaskan silver dying on my kitchen floor."

As engaging as it is, Olivia’s voice cannot compensate for this novel’s awkward plotting. The action in the final third of the book feels contrived, loaded with convenient coincidences and overly dramatic scenes. This final section, which reads like a thriller, is out of character with the pacing and style of the first two-thirds of the book. As I mentioned in a prior post, Sweeping Up Glass has the best first chapter I’ve read recently. Although the rest of the book didn’t live up to the initial promise of the first chapter, Sweeping Up Glass is an enjoyable and worthwhile read, particularly for those who like reading mysteries.

This review also appears on my literary blog Literary License. show less

I learned long ago that when a book's blurb says that the book is like (insert name of a popular book here), they are setting you up for disappointment. Often, authors try to cash in on the success of a bestseller by pumping out a cheap knock-off of the original and they seldom succeed. Even so, when I saw 'Sweeping Up Glass' compared to 'To Kill A Mockingbird', one of my all-time favorite books, I couldn't resist and ordered it immediately. I'm glad that I did. Carolyn Wall is no 'wannabe'. show more She's a great author in her own right.

Is 'Sweeping Up Glass' a new 'Mockingbird'? No, but there are a lot of striking similarities. Both have young girls living with a kindhearted father in the South, assuming you consider the Kentucky hill country 'South'. Both address the subjects of racism and poverty. In both books, black people are helpful, kindly and hard-working and white people's behavior is often contingent on the color of a person's skin. Both books address essential deficiencies in the legal systems of the day and both books have dangerous, drunken bullies. Nevertheless, 'Sweeping Up Glass' is not a pale imitation of 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. It is an excellent novel in its own right, full of well developed characters, good and evil, and a thrilling plot full of dark secrets, senseless violence and great courage. The last 100 pages will likely keep you up well into the night to find out how it ends.

While Harper Lee wrote 'Mockingbird' from the perspective of an optimistic young girl who learns about life, Carolyn Wall's debut novel views life through the eyes of a middle aged grandmother who has spent decades being beaten down by poverty, neglect and tragedy. It has a brooding, melancholy air about it that is reminiscent of Norman Blake's poignant bluegrass ballad, 'Lonesome Jenny'. After a while the reader wonders if the sun ever shines in Aurora, Kentucky, and then realizes that the gloom is more a representation of Olivia's outlook than the weather. This is a powerful story and well worth your time. show less