Crazy Ladies

This could have stood a bit more detail in a few places, and a bit less in others, however unlike some other ' chick lit' about dysfunctional people that I have read, at least this one did not swamp you in prose. The writing was tidy and direct. I also enjoyed the fact that the author put forth her characters with the attitude that no one is really ' normal', 'sane' or completely 'good'. Therefore she didn't try to make up definite excuses as to why each character had their own quirks.

In 1932, in a small town in Tennessee, a young woman mortally wounds a stranger who is attempting to rape her in her own home. She buries the victim, still alive, in her front yard and she and her husband tell no one. Three generations of women live in the small house over the next four decades. West's portraits of ordinary people--their anger, disappointment, pride and just plain foolishness--make for a compelling work.

I was expecting a funnier book and not so much tragedy, dysfunction and drama. Once I got in to the first few chapters I got caught up in the drama, craziness, and the dysfunction of the characters and their individual stories and their relationship with each other. I found that I did enjoy this read.

the story of three generations of women spread over 40 years. Each woman tells her story - Miss Gussie, her two daughters Dorothy and Clancy Jane, and her two grand daughters Violet and Bitsy. We see the history of the US war participation in the periphery of the story - WWII, Korea and the Vietnam wars all play a huge part in the lives of the fathers and husbands of the women. But mostly it is about crazy women - the three older women does something crazy at least once - Miss Gussie does one crazy thing at the start of the book and hides the fact that she did it, of her two daughters one disappears into her own craziness, and the other descends into craziness and rises above it. The two granddaughters don't go crazy in the same way - show more but each does something a little crazy from the way society expects them to act.

There are secrets, jealousy, murder, rape - husbands, fathers and lovers - family relationships told by members of the family, not a stone is unturned, but the reader is in possession of all the facts where some facts are not known by the others. We see the mistakes and triumphs, the highs and lows, love lost and love found. The story will entertain you, horrify you, break your heart and leave you angry - but it will not leave you unmoved. show less

I truly enjoyed reading about the disastrous lives of these women. Dorothy - psychotic freak; Clancy Jane - a bit better off than Dorothy; Queenie - the sane housekeeper; Miss Gussie - leading the crew; Violet - possibly the sanest of them all and that isn't saying much; and Bitsy - with Dorothy being her mom, it is a miracle she isn't worse.

Good fun!

A very fully colored novel of some strong, nutty women ... beautifully developed characters in a novel that comes full circle in its scope.

This book follows three generations of Southern women. When I was half-way through I realized I'd read it before. It was okay for a summer book, but not great literature.