What do You think about Clover (1991)?
I wanted to like this one more than I did. There are passages that stood out for me--moments where Sanders creates interesting, distinct characters, like the old woman who has no foil in her house because she uses it to wrap endless five-dollar bills to send to television evangelists. And there are some moments of personality and humor, like when ten year-old Clover observes her white stepmother struggling to adapt her palate to a rural southern African-American diet (read: pigs' feet, sweet tea, and everything cooked in grease.) But Clover herself, her stepmother Sara Kate, and her father Gaten never really came alive for me. Many of Clover's observations felt clichéd and rote, and she never seemed to suffer shock or grief over the sudden loss of her father. Instead the story wanders through disconnected episodes of peach selling, confrontations with friends and relatives, gossiping over the new white woman in the household, and scenes of Sara Kate trying to mother Clover as well as she can. While some of the scenes are interesting, most never seem to lead to anything bigger and by the end of the book I felt like I'd just started getting to know these people.A side note--there are several slips between past and present tense, sometimes in the same paragraph. I wasn't sure if it was a stylistic decision or just a copy editing problem. If it was intentional, I'm not sure why Sanders did it. Clover says at one point that she's able to tell past from present, but the idea overall never seems to lead anywhere. Sanders includes a brief afterword about her own life growing up on an African-American owned peach farm, which was more interesting to me than the novel. I might be more inclined to read a memoir if she writes one, but so far her fiction isn't for me.
—Karen
Clover is very great story about a little girl whose life changes. One minute later she has a father and a white stepmother but 4 days after the wedding Gaten (Clover father) and Sara Kate ( Clover stepmother). They get in a horrible car crash only Sara Kate survives. Clover has to deal with a new stepmother that she only knows for 4 days. She doesn’t get along with Sara Kate and her Aunt Everleen doesn’t help Clover keeps hearing her aunt saying bad stuff about Sara Kate. Clover knows it’s not true but she doesn’t want her aunt to be thinking that she on Sara Kate side. A few months go by and she and Sara Kate are getting along. But her Aunt still sees a fancy white women. At the end a twist brings thing back to normal. I think this a very good book and everybody should read.
—Viviana
Hours after his wedding to Sara Kate, Gaten dies in a car accident, leaving behind his widow and his ten year old daughter, Clover.Clover, gifted but strong-willed, is not quite ready to embrace the new stepmother she hardly knows. They have differences in race -- Sara Kate is white, while Clover is black -- and in background -- Sara Kate is a highly educated, cultured city girl, while Clover has lived all her life in rural Round Hill, South Carolina. Clover's beloved Aunt Everleen is also none too fond of the newcomer she views as an intruder in their close knit family. Over time, though, the characters learn to adapt to each other. The transition from strangers to family is subtly told, and remarkably moving.Sanders, who grew up in a rural South Carolina town much like Round Hill, and still manages her family's fruit stand there, tells Clover's story in a series of non-linear vignettes. This technique results in some confusion: a character that was dead two pages ago will suddenly resurface, alive. I can foresee that this jumping around would especially confuse younger readers, the target audience of this book.I also have my doubts about the voice of Clover. She is perhaps the most mature, self aware ten year old I have ever encountered in literature or in life. Despite these flaws, though, this book is a strong story, beautifully written.
—J.T.
