Dovey Coe

The appealing strength of "Dovey Coe" rests entirely on the shoulders of the feisty but charming eponymous narrator. Dovey Coe is a 12 year old girl in the mountains of North Carolina in 1928. After a miserable summer of barely tolerating her big sister's vile suitor, the young man is found murdered, with young Dovey Coe standing beside him, bloody knife in her hand. She is brought to trial for murder. The story line is interesting, but by the time we get to the true meat of the plot, the astute reader will have already solved the mystery, and the courtroom drama feels rushed; with a solution so obvious it stretches credibility that the sheriff, judge, attorneys, etc. hadn't solved the issue before it reached the courtroom. However, the show more first person narration is so well written, and Dovey is so likable (at least to me) that the weaknesses of the book are easily forgiven. And it is after all written for a much younger reader than myself - a 50 year old father of two, who is on a kick of reading YA novels lately. show less

I hadn't picked this book up off my bookshelf in five years or something, and tonight I was curious to read it again. Dovey Coe is quite the bossy cow, as we say in my family. Her sister Caroline, her mom, and her dad rightfully point this out and try to correct her behavior somewhat. She doesn't like her sister's suitor, Parnell. Me neither. Neither do her parents or her brother, Amos, but they're subtle about it and have reasons for that. Dovey dislikes this subtlety and they have to spell out their reasons for why, and still she pouts. She flat-out states that she thinks her dad will let her sister's suitor, Parnell, send her Deaf brother off to a school that will do him no favors at best, or harm him at worst. Or so I thought every show more single time I read this book, until I looked up some American Deaf history as this book related. American Deaf culture wasn't portrayed accurately here. ASL has been around since the late 1800s, and Gaulladet was founded in 1864. He co-founded another school in 1817. The National Association for the Deaf was founded in 1890, a full forty years before this story takes place. This took two seconds of Google. Yet, the book presents ASL as...like it was invented in the 1930s or something, and like Deaf students across the nation had no choice but to stay home and not receive an education. Poor, small-town mountain-living North Carolina folk, maaaaybe. But really. There appeared to be no real research done by O'Rourke. A simple, "Caroline brought the book home, we'd heard of ASL and now we got to all learn it" paragraph would have done -wonders.-

It's unlikely Parnell would have wanted to help Amos in any way, hence me thinking it would have been a terrible school Amos could have possibly been sent to. It's highly possible Parnell wanted to break up the family, but there's nothing to state it wasn't a Deaf school he'd try to send Amos off to, if Dovey's dad had let him. This doesn't happen, but Dovey thinks it will. Parnell is used to getting his way due to his father using money to influence people. This line of thinking and Dovey's statement to her father about it never bothered me before. I'd always read it as further examples that Parnell was a mean, spoiled teenager. Now, tonight, my eyes widened. A twelve-year-old told her middle-aged father she thought he'd let a seventeen-year-old boy send off his own son. Dovey's dad understands her remark as such and she cries. He doesn't speak to her for a few days and...yeah. She takes it super personally. Dovey's going to be a terrible teenager, I realized for the first time.

Dovey's sister, Caroline, was arrogant as well. She's stated to be sensitive about folks thinking she's a just pretty face, only to use her beauty and flirting to--okay, "swindle" might not be the accurate word. Caroline convinces a boy to sell a pocketknife to Dovey and a handheld mirror to herself for much lower than asking price by flirting. The boy gladly accepts the lesser money, even though he acknowledges the consequences waiting for him at home, and asks Caroline out. This was all by chapter six.

I liked the descriptions of the setting and the world-building for the most part! The dialogue, too, painted such a grand picture. I'm glad I decided to read this again, so I could feel perfectly content donating it to the library. show less

Dovey Coe and her family are poor by the standards set by others. By Dovey's standard, they are rich in the love of the land, in the love of family and in the love of simple things like climbing a mountain to find fox glove and the wild life of the woods.

Dovey is plain looking by the standards set by others. By her standards, it is what's inside that counts.

Dovey's sister Caroline is beautiful by all standards. When the son of the richest man in town sets his hooks on Caroline, he is unpleasantly surprised that she is not enamored with his bravado, good looks and money.

Dovey's brother was born deaf. By the standards of the town, he is stupid and an object of ridicule. By Dovey's family's standards, he is a rich jewel of love.

When show more Parnell Caraway learns he cannot obtain what he wants, he attempts to harm Dovey's family. Through the crystal clear eyes of a child, the story unfolds like dominoes wherein one is touched and the rest fall in motion.

I liked spunky, spirited Dovey Coe. She very much reminded me of Scout Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird.

Highly recommended! Winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award. show less

Twelve-year-old Dovey Coe has an enemy who happens to be the son of the richest man in town and a bully. He also happens to be infatuated with her older sister. Dovey does not trust his ingratiating attention to her father nor his smooth manners. She does not want him near her home and family but, Dovey did not dislike him enough to murder him, but who did?

This book sparkles with delightful first-person narrative that puts the reader into the mind and heart of the heroine. The first lines hook the reader, "My name is Dovey Coe, and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not. I'm here to set the record straight." Anyone who picks up this book will eagerly read through to find out what happens to this spunky heroine.

As you read this book you can almost hear the southern twang of the USA. the main character Dovey Coe is a 12 year old tomboy that is accused of murder. The sentence " My name is Dovey Coe and I reckon it don't matter if you like me or not. I'm here to lay the record straight, to let you know them folks saying I done a terrible thing are liars. I aim to prove it, too. I hated Parnell Caraway as much as the next person, but I didn't kill him." sums up the theme of this book perfectly.
Dovey Coe makes no secret that she can't stand Parnell Caraway. Parnell may be the son of the richest man in town, but he's mean and snobby, and Dovey can't stand the fact that he's courting her sister, Caroline, or the way he treats her brother, Amos, as show more if he were stupid just because he can't hear.
So when Parnell turns up dead, and Dovey's in the room where his body is discovered, she soon finds herself on trial for murder. Can the outspoken Dovey sit still and trust a city slicker lawyer who's still wet behind the ears to get her out of the biggest mess of her life? Who did murder Parnell Caraway? show less

My question: how come every historical fiction book in a rural setting features a girl who is being coaxed out of her tomboy ways? I get the pressure to be a Lady, and that the tomboys have bigger adventures--but I'm certain there were girls who acted like Ladies and still had interesting conversations and adventures, and I'd like to see something about them. (Books set in cities tend to be about shallower young women. These are generalities.)


Dovey didn't kill Parnell Caraway. She didn't like him, sure, but she didn't kill him, and she wants everyone to know that. The problem is that nobody believes her--not after her sister cruelly rejected his marriage proposal, not after Dovey ran her big mouth about how much she hated him, not show more after she was the one found standing over his dead body. But if Dovey didn't kill Parnell, then... who did?

Historial fiction, and a mystery of what actually happened to the jerk. show less

I read this probably 20 years ago, and remembered parts, but I couldn't quite recall the ending, so I read it again. Just a good the second time around. I love Dowell's storytelling as well. Great voice.