Very entertaining and human. The Persian Pickle Club is a quilting/sewing club in Kansas during the great drought. The members are almost all farm wives, struggling through with not very much. There is a party line, but not everyone is on it and just a few have cars. Queenie Bean is one of those fortunate enough to have a car. Her husband Grover, fixes most of the machinery on the farm and she has a pump in her kitchen, so she has water in the house and doesn't have to go to the well to draw it. The "persian pickle" is a material, also called paisley. One of the members asked her husband to get her some once and instead of getting her a length, he bought the whole bolt. All of the members have quilts with a piece of the persian pickle material. Queenie's best friend, Ruby, and her husband have lost their farm and gone to California and Queenie misses her terribly. So, when Mrs. Ritter and Agnes walk in with Mrs Ritter's new daughter-in-law, Queenie has determined they will be best friends. But Rita is very unlike the other women, she's not particularly interested in sewing or quilting and confides in Queenie that she worked in a bar when she met Tom and she wants to be a writer (she was going to school and working at night). When she and Tom married, Rita quit school because they couldn't afford for both of them to go to college. Tom graduated with a degree in engineering, but could not find a job so they came home until he could. The Persian Pickle Club all support each other, help each other out and keep the club's secrets. Then Ella's husband, who had disappeared, is found buried in a far corner of her land. The group rallies around Ella with Mrs. Judd and her husband taking her in. Rita has decided that she will find the killer for the Topeka newspaper and so get a job there. Her determination has them all worried. Ella's husband was so mean and evil nobody minds very much that he is dead, except Rita insists that justice needs to be done. One night, on their way back from helping Nettie out when her husband is ill (the doctor suspects he has polio), Queenie and Rita are waylaid on the road, but are saved when Queenie's 'hired hand' Blue Massie ventures by and flattens the man. Blue starts to leave, but Queenie is shaking so hard she can't drive and asks that he drive them to the Ritter's and she will telephone Grover from there. This makes Queenie exceedingly nervous at being left alone and doubly grateful for the people they invited to stay in their shack and help out Grover. Blue's wife, Zepha, is an interesting character - a believer in signs and omens. It was she who sent Blue out to the road to check on Queenie because she felt something was wrong. Rita is digging deeper and deeper into the business of the murder of Ella's husband and getting perilously close to a completely wrong conclusionI believe I shall have to read some more titles by this author....SPOILERS BELOWWhen she makes an accusation at a club meeting, Queenie breaks down. Rita learns, sort of, what happened and the secret the club members keep.
More like 3.5 stars. And I was hesitant to call this historical fiction. But I did learn a lot about every day life in the 1930's depression era.This book immediately drew me in by its poignant, well articulated voice of a small town farmer’s wife with spunk. The storytelling was casual and upbeat. And the often humorous metaphors were farm appropriate and well drawn out.Luckily, this is such a short book that the slow pace didn’t bother me. (I’m more of an action seeker, generally.) Although this book was introduced to me as a murder mystery, it is really more about the endearing portrayal of small town camaraderie between women. The trust and loyalty of true friends shines in this story. The voice is so convincing that I actually began to side with the town folk who thought finding the murderer would just stir up trouble! I will say that I thought the abundance of club members were hard to keep track of (i.e. who’s married to whom and who’s related to whom and who has affairs). I considered sketching out a character diagram but figured that was too much work for a pleasure read. Fortunately, my confusion over secondary characters didn’t affect my enjoyment of the plot.Overall, this was a fun, quick read. I would have given it a higher rating if the author would have left out the splatter of profanity.
What do You think about The Persian Pickle Club (1996)?
This book was picked for book club, and I actually had no idea what it was about when I started it. I didn't really know what to expect with a name like Persian Pickle.Overall, it was a fun read and a pretty quick read. It tells of a group of women in the Depression-Era who get together to quilt but also support each other through life's ups and downs. It eventually becomes a "mystery" which I didn't expect. I loved that the group was so diverse and showed that women of all ages/situations need women as friends. The ending shows just how strong that bond between them was.I felt a little confused at times because there were so many characters. I had to flip back and figure out who was a who a few times until I finally got them all figured out.The only other reason I'm rating this book slightly lower than I might otherwise have was the use of profanity which I felt the book completely didn't need. It was basically a good clean read until those words were thrown in there.
—Erica Thompson
If you liked the movie, Steel Magnolias, you will like this book. It shows how women are friends in so many ways and take care of each other in hard times.
—Mindy
This was such a sweet and great book that took a turn I didn't see coming. First of all, Sandra Dallas did an impeccable job of setting the mood. This takes place in the USA in the 1930s, it is hot, the crops are destroyed because of the heat and people try to survive on small jobs and kindness to each other. The Persian Pickle Job is our focal point of interest and we are rather quickly introduced to all of the women in this quilting club. However, our main focus is Queenie and Rita who are the youngest members of the club. I very much enjoyed following these two women, and I was surprised when halfway through the book, the story took a turn and I started forming a lot of questions in my head. I felt like I was losing grip of both the story and the characters' development and I didn't like it. BUT the ending wrapped up so beautifully that everything made sense, and the ending surprised me as well as put a big smile to my face. All of my questions were answered, and I understood why Sandra Dallas had taken the story in the direction she did. This book is so cozy and nice to read, but that's not all there is to it. You must read it for yourself to see what I mean, and stick to the end because that's when all of your questions - plotwise and characterwise - will be answered....and yes, I read this in a day :)
—helen the bookowl
