Somewhere around page 478 of 583 (mass paperpack edition), I slammed the book shut. Done. I read it. If it were my own book and not the library copy it would have hit the wall flying at 40 miles an hour. This book is snarky and syrupy so I am giving it right back.Dear Dorethea, I recently read your new book, The Hurricane Sisters. It was okay. I gave it 3 stars. But I am so done with women's Southern Fiction and anything else you write. Done I tell you. P.S. I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, which is much like South Georgia. I hail from hardy Southern folks. My Mom is from Mississippi and her father hailed from Charleston. I think I know about being Southern. I lived under moss-covered trees. But please save me from reading anymore about a southern woman becoming mega-wise through returning to her southern roots stories.All through this book I felt like Benton Frank (Rivers-Siddon), et al (Betty Sue Jean Collard Greens), was writing mostly from the voice of Caroline so she could lecture. If I could write, maybe I would do the same, but clearly our lectures would be quite different.Oh Lawdy, the old Plantations! Yanh! Yanh! How many times did someone say Yanh?Every stereotype that you could put in a book or movie found its home here. When she decided to go back to church near the end I just couldn't take it anymore. Dear Dorothea, Yes, please instill in your readers through Caroline why getting sun on the back without sunblock is bad for you, but eating Crisco and steaks, and butter, and cream cheese and eggs has no long term consequences for your body. On page 457 of the paperback, here is a quote from Caroline: "The very things that had made her feel alive would in fact, cost her this life." Just remember that only goes for sundresses in the garden. A book that wants everyone to know how beautiful the land around Charleston is, that it needs people who give a damn about the environment should take note. Benton-Frank, please, is it only the South that needs protection from pollution? From corruption? Caroline is lecturing us on the environment? Maybe in her next book Benton-Frank could resurrect Caroline and she can meet someone who can explain to her how much water she just wasted on her steak. How much fertilizer she just used, how many trees just fell in the rain forests so those cows can eat before becoming steak. But I bet I would be missing the point of what Caroline is trying to tell us. Oh tell me more about gardenias and biscuits made with lard!Did I tell you Caroline was into yoga and meditation? She was a vegetarian until she got smart. After returning home she became a Crisco gal all the way. Many times I thought Paula Deen wrote this book! But that guy? The one with the dredlocks - the one where Caroline twitters 'oh deary me, dredlocks or no, what a hotty I'm going to bed with him! what would mother think of dredlocks- oh deary me' - that one - see, clearly the author is leading us to his shallowness. Mr. Dredlocks (or dreadlocks) He doesn't work (of course not). He shows his old Charleston home that he inherited to people touring the city so he can be even more shallow. He has traveled all over the world and he mostly considers himself a Hindu-ish kinda guy. But oh, he shows his true colors don't you worry. Miss Caroline figures it all out. Bless her heart. Okay, rant is over.
I've read several excellent novels set in the Low Country of the U.S. Southeast (roughly, along the tidal coast between Charleston and Savannah) by three authors: Pat Conroy, Anne Rivers Siddons, and Dorothea Benton Frank. Though a long way from being a native, I'm familiar with the territory because my husband grew up in Savannah and one of my brothers has lived in the Charleston area for 45 years or so. As with the others, this book's characters are so richly drawn I felt as if I knew them as well as members of my own family by the time I finished. They all have their problems and their character flaws, their moments of joy and grief. Most of them learn and grow. The plot is definitely secondary here. The story is mostly a family history, described sometimes by a mother, sometimes by her daughter, and sometimes by a neutral narrator. The land, the family, and the 19th century gracious home bind the characters with ties that are sometimes elastic, but almost unbreakable. I enjoyed the story very much and will definitely read more of Ms. Frank's sagas of the South.
What do You think about Plantation (2001)?
I have read several books by Dorothea Benton Frank that I have enjoyed very much. However, I did not like Plantation as much as the others. The story is good, a grown daughter returning to South Carolina to care for her mother, however I never really connected with the daughter. She seemed to behave in ways that didn't seem in character. The descriptions of the Low Country of South Carolina are very well done. The loving and devoted housekeeper was funny and delightful, my favorite character in the book.
—Linda
Don’t you sometimes feel while reading a wonderful story, you are so pulled in it that it becomes your world for those precious moments? Plantation by Dorothea Benton Frank surely had that effect on me. I simply adored the story-telling and all the characters. The backdrop of the ACE Basin, South Carolina and the estate of Tall Pines were described with so much love by the author that I could not help but love it too. Five years ago I visited that part of SC and I could vividly bring all that back, the atmosphere, the heat, the smells and the scenery.And what about those amazing characters!? At first glance they might have come across as quirky and yes, very southern, but there was just so much more to them. The character development was just the way I enjoy it best.In short, we get to meet the Wimbley family who have lived on Tall Pines plantation for centuries. We explore this family’s complicated dynamics and when Caroline Wimbley Levine learns that her mother, Miss Lavinia, has supposedly gone mad, she leaves the big city bustle of Manhattan and returns to Tall Pines Plantation. Caroline originally left her home to escape her feisty, eccentric mother and her drunken brother, Trip, but when Miss Lavinia dies, Caroline is forced to come to terms with her family's troubled history as well her failing relationship with her husband. As Caroline reminisces about her past rebelliousness and her childhood, she realizes that her father's sudden and tragic death many years before served as a catalyst for the family's disintegration. Caroline and Trip also learn that their seemingly selfish and self-assured mother was not so uncaring after all. All through the story, I loved the choices that the characters made. This was NOT a simple saccharine story about someone "going home", back to her roots; rather a bone-deep re-connection with one's own true soul.This book clinches it; Dorothea Benton Frank is definitely an author that speaks to me.
—Marleen
I really enjoyed reading this book, until the end; not that the ending was bad...I just don't care for sad endings. The whole book tended to be on the humorous side but the ending took a turn for the serious that didn't really mesh with the tone of the rest of the book. The main character, Caroline, deals with major life changes with a quick wit and sassy southern charm. She grows up idolizing her father who was taken away from the family far too early. Caroline is left with her brother while her mother falls apart with the loss of her beloved partner in life. These details might have been more helpful towards the beginning of the book, rather than in the middle, as to explain Caroline's reluctance at returning to Tall Pine to lick her wounds. You will cheer for Caroline and the Wimbley's all the way through till the end. This book doesn't disappoint, but falls a bit short at the end for me.
—Amanda
