What do You think about Homeplace (2003)?
One of Siddon's earlier books. Could have been much better if not for the ROMANCE NOVEL screaming out at us - ohmygoodness, it is so gross - and her distaste for the slightest amount of extra fat on anyone. I'm wondering if the author is or was anorexic? Her descriptions of the fat lady are horrid and mean, and even worse, most old people are "turkey necks," have "carved blue hair," and the like. Church is musty, old, and mostly irrelevant, unless one needs it for a funeral, of course. Then the old people and church people are suddenly acceptable.(Spoiler here . . . )While our heroine is criticizing her family, wallowing in self-absorption, having an affair with her married ex-boyfriend, and generally acting like a spoiled child, her pre-teen daughter is with her permissive father, seeking to snag a bit part in a porn movie. But first things first - daughter's issues must wait. Siddons ties it all up in the end, but this is not something she should be proud of. It could have been good.
—Kw
The author mentions Yma Sumac on p. 45 (large print edition). I read this book after reading Peachtree Road. The prose is equally enjoyable, and the characters are described beautifully. The only thing that pushed Peachtree Road from a “5” to an “8” was my personal interest in the Buckhead locale. This book did not have that, and so I give it only a 5. The central theme of this book is the recovery of the love that Mike had for her father. After the despicable things that he had said to her, I thought she was wrong to ever have feelings for him again. The other “plot twist” (such as it was) was the fact that Bay (with whom she had been having an affair) turns out to be not such a sterling character. Her affections seem to be turning toward Sam, but who cares? That sort of sums up my opinion of the book: who cares? I stretch it a bit to give it a 5, based only on her skill in writing prose.
—Dick Edwards
It seems that my admiration for Anne Rivers Siddons novels is waning. I adore Colony and Outer Banks, but something about her other novels is seriously irritating me. Homeplace started out as another such novel.Mike is a reporter who fled her father's home in Georgia after he cursed her out for attending a civil right rally. He had never loved her, or so she believed, because her mother died soon after giving birth and her father never forgave her the sin. He sister, Daisy, was the golden child, but it was her father's childhood home which meant more to him than anything else.Now, her father is dying and Daisy summons her home, after twenty year, one husband and one daughter, to care for the failing man as he fights a department of transportation edict that his homeplace is becoming a highway exit. Mike has lost her husband and then her daughter to California. She has lost her job to a young upstart and has no where to turn but home. Mike is rude, heartless, and self centered. She speaks with her daughter only once after she ran to daddy in California and fails to fight for her when the girl announces she is going to Mexico to make a movies. She is twelve. Mike takes up with her childhood sweetheart who is married with children.What bothers me most, though, is that Ms. Siddons seems to have a problem with people who are overweight. Her descriptions make each sound disgusting and deplorable. Obviously, she has never had a weight problem. Well, rather, it seems she does have a weight problem since she has a problem with people who are overweight. At every turn, she describes them as very nearly gross. Even Mike's own sister is repulsive to her. Yet another disappointing novel from Ms. Siddons. Best I stick with Colony, my favorite novel ever written.
—Virginia
