Richi Reynolds

I was so excited for Greg Iles’, Southern Man to make its debut. I have loved every single book of his that I’ve read. Until this one. It was 970 pages of preaching, piety, and politics. Way too long. He could have told the story in half the number of pages, if he hadn’t felt the need to deliver a political sermon. The characters were like paper dolls, no depth. They were, for the most part, all good or all bad. And the writing was redundant! Did I really need to hear about someone’s loose bowels in every conflict, (of which there were many)? The ending was really hard to believe, as well. Maybe you’ll like this book better than I did. For me, it was much too dark, too long, too political and lacked the excitement of Iles previous books.

Beth Duke says her books are love letters to Alabama and Tapestry certainly lives up to that promise. It is a journey of self discovery, not only for the characters, but for every one of us who love our beautiful state in spite of all the scars our past has inflicted. Tapestry takes us from Eufaula, Auburn, Plateau, and Florence in Alabama to Oklahoma and beyond as Skye Willis searches for information about a father she never met. Her mother, Lisa, refuses to discuss her father, so Kara persuades her lovably kooky grandmother, Verna, who insists on being called by her self-chosen Muscogee Creek name of Sparrow (even though she has no hard evidence of Muscogee Creek heritage in her lineage) into joining her in taking a DNA test. The results are more than any of the women bargained for and sets them off of their own personal trail of tears, surprising revelations and a family tapestry far richer than any of them could have imagined. I loved every second of this book. If you like audio books, Amy McFadden does an excellent job of narrating Tapestry. Read it, listen to it, but whatever you do, don’t miss it.