Cassandra King

I’ve read just about everything Pat Conroy has written, so I was attracted to this book mainly to find out more about him. In doing so, I came to know Cassandra, author of the book and Pat’s third wife, the wife he should have met and married first. If he had, there wouldn’t have been any wife two or wife three. Cassandra is not only a gifted writer, she is an angel. I say this because anyone who could live with Pat as many years as she did must surely be not of this world. I love Pat show more Conroy’s books, and in reading them over the years, I came to love him. My first exposure to Pat was his book “The Water is Wide” about his first teaching job on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina, in 1969. I spent 40 years teaching high school English, and after having read this book, I thought every education department at every college in the U.S. should have it in their curriculum as required reading. Much of what Pat wrote in his books, especially about his family growing up, is painful. Some of this book is painful as well. But it’s essential reading if you want to truly know Pat Conroy. Thank you, Cassandra, for writing it. show less

Ghastly. I own up to actually completing this terrible, cliched mess, and I blame it on temporary insanity with a good dose of masochism.

I like a good story set in the South, but this one was such a Hee Haw parody. The best passage that I love to hate: "I love to eat out. Usually we go to Tuscaloosa or Columbus, though, where they have nice restaurants like Shoney's." Yeah. Because us Southern folks just love to go to the Kmarts and then to the fine dinin' buffet at the Shoney's. show more Insulting.

I hate this book. show less

A shy, insecure Helen Honeycutt meets rich, handsome Emmet Justice when he arrives as the new anchorman and news director at the television station where she hosts a noon-time 15-minute cooking demonstration. He’s a brooding widower, and is won over by her unassuming nature and great cooking. After they marry she discovers an old photo album that includes pictures of his late wife at their mountain estate, Moonrise, and Helen begs and pleads until Emmet agrees to take her there for the show more summer. But the late Rosalyn Harmon Justice seems to still haunt the place, and none of their long-term friends can forgive Emmet for replacing their beloved friend with this new “Bride.”

Within a few pages I recognized the plotlines and characters of Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca. But this modern retelling of that classic falls far short of the mark. King may have intended it as an homage to DuMaurier’s novel, but the result is a travesty, a mediocre soap opera with hardly one likeable or sympathetic character – including the “heroine.” The characters are thinly drawn and behave like they are in junior high rather than late middle age. We’re told how this character loves that character but never shown any evidence of this love; instead we get scowls, angry looks, sullen silences, awkward missteps, and so much jumping to conclusions that I got an aerobic workout just reading about them.

The one character that captured my attention was Willa, the Mountain-woman housekeeper/estate manager. I would have loved to have more information about her backstory and to follow her future. Maybe some other author will read this and take up the challenge. From what I’ve read of King’s writing, I wouldn’t trust her with Willa’s story.

So why give it even 1 star? Well, as irritated as I was with the trite, maudlin writing I have to admit that I was somewhat captivated by the story. Maybe it was the similarities to Rebecca … I kept thinking to myself “Oh, this must be Mrs Danvers!” or “I bet she’ll wear the same dress Rosalyn wore.” Playing that little game kept me moderately entertained, so I grant it 1 star. show less

John Denver sang of the wonder and beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and a few summers ago I got to experience them for myself. I fell in love in an instant, and the area remains one of my favorite places ever. This scenery is reflected in Moonrise, pristine and unsullied, with gorgeous and lush descriptions of the Highlands area. Unfortunately, some of the characters in the story area a direct contrast to this purity and beauty. Not outwardly, but inwardly.

Helen is the new wife of Emmet show more Justice, which is the coolest last name ever. They met in the year after his wife died, in Florida where he had fled, trying to get his late wife Roslyn out of his mind in a new place. The change of scenery seemed to work, as Emmet met and fell in love with Helen Honeycutt, a dietician with a cooking show. Helen convinced Emmet to take her to his vacation home, Moonrise, in North Carolina. This is where the story begins.

Helen is introduced to Emmet's (and Roslyn's) close circle of friends - Tansy, Noel, Kit, and Linc and his wife Myna, who is absent from the book most of the time. These people loved Roslyn, and are still grieving her death, and do not react kindly to the new bride of Emmet. Tansy and Kit are scandalized by the quick marriage, and do their best (or worst) to shut Helen out, and make her look foolish in front of the others, sabotage her marriage, and set her up to take falls, literally and figuratively. Linc and Noel are much more likeable, as they are friendlier to Helen, which becomes another strike against her as the story unfolds. Willa, the housekeeper, is the only woman that is willing to befriend Helen.

This book is narrated by multiple characters - Helen, Tansy, and Willa. All three women have a different idea of what is going on around them, and it is interesting to read what each knows that the other doesn't.

Roslyn herself is a major player in the book, although she is dead. She is everywhere, a ghostly presence, in the memories of the people of Highlands, in the essence of Moonrise, and in the decaying and dessicated night garden behind the house. To Helen, Roslyn is an ideal that Helen feels she can't live up to. She is perfect in Helen's mind, to the manor born, full of grace and poise, the ultimate hostess and wife, beloved by those who have met her.

But what Helen didn't know is that the Roslyn's perfect life had some cracks, and the more that she tries to emulate her, the wider they get. The suspense keeps building, and it gets to the point that the reader wants to shake Helen, or Emmet, or Tansy, or Kit, or whoever. As Helen gets slowly driven crazy, so does the reader. Just when you think you can't take it anymore, the secrets break and the walls come crumbling down.

I loved the Gothic elements to this book, the suggestion of ghosts, a big old house, the creepy night garden in back that once was beautiful - if the garden were a human character, I would picture it as Miss Havisham.

I found parts of the story a little slow, but they were worth reading through to get to the good stuff. Moonrise however was also complex, suspenseful, and full of doubts. I really did enjoy it, and think it would be even better if read somewhere you could overlook mountains, and read by moonlight. show less