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Loading... The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder: A Novel (edition 2010)by Rebecca Wells
Work InformationThe Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder: A Novel by Rebecca Wells
Southern Fiction (82) Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I could have loved this book. I loved chunks of this book. I didn't love all of it though. Some if it seemed disjointed or pasted together. Some relationships and stories didn't fully develop or seem to have a point. I loved the exploration of mother/daugther relationship and I wish that had been the focus. The love stories never seemed as strong in comparison. ( ) I wanted to like this book. I love the title, and the story sounded really interesting. It started off well. I liked Calla, I liked her mom, her siblings and her life. I liked the stuff from when she was a kid. I liked Tucker and I liked them as teenagers. As she grew up though I found myself getting bored. It got, I don't know quite how to explain it exactly, but I began to lose interest. I wasn't a huge fan of Sweets, and I didn't so much begin to dislike Calla, but I got annoyed with her. It seemed too long. To dragged out and the characters changed. I wish they had just ended the novel after Calla moved to New Orleans, or graduated from high school, cause I felt that part was strong. I love Rebecca Wells' writing and most of her stories, but this one was definitely not one of my favorites. I felt it was a bit on the goofy dramatic side, and very predictable. I enjoyed the characters, and loved the setting and all the sweet, charming southern people who lived there, but it just didn't lure me in as her other books do. I could have done without the La Luna / Moon stuff entirely. The writing also seemed very juvenile, even as Calla grew up. It was a cute story, so I wouldn't NOT recommend it - but not that fun to read, and a bit out of Wells' character for writing style.
I think the audience for this good-hearted, wishful-thinking book is probably young mothers, staying home with their kids, beginning to feel the existential loneliness sink in and striving to make the best of the hands life has dealt. For them, being told to turn up the boombox and dance in the moonlight, trusting that life is basically good, may be sound advice indeed.
In the small river town of La Luna, Louisiana, Calla Lily Ponder enjoys a blissful childhood at her mother's side, learns the art of healing through the humble womanly art of "fixing hair," and encounters first love with a boy named Tuck. When Tuck leaves her, Calla transforms her sorrow into inspiration and heads for the wild and colorful city of New Orleans--where she realizes the full power of her "healing hands" and Tuck presents her with an offer that is colored by the memories of lost love. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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