gillianewise's review against another edition
5.0
oh my word. read an advance copy of this for work book club and this is definitely a must read for fall.
sjsjohnson's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars. Great story. I didn’t know about the Great Flood!
braxwall's review against another edition
4.0
Skröna från södern om mord, kärlek och bootlegging under förbudstiden. Lite som en film av bröderna Coen.
lazygal's review against another edition
2.0
Historical fiction/romance set during Prohibition and the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
We have two stories that eventually intertwine: Dixie Clay (yes, that's really her name) married Jesse when she was really quite young, a marriage that isn't as satisfying as it could/should be as Jesse's a moonshiner and spends much time away from the house on "business" (which also includes time with women in whorehouses), and Ingersoll, a federal agent looking for moonshiners. We get their backstories as well as their present time, with Ingersoll looking for two agents who may have been killed and Dixie continuing to make some of the best moonshine around. Their first meeting comes about when Ingersoll and his partner Ham find a newly orphaned baby and (via a story twist) Ingersoll brings it to Dixie (who lost her son a year or so ago).
The description of what life must have been like at that time, fighting to keep your home with the threat of flood a constant (not to mention the endless, oppressive rain), was interesting. The methods used to battle the flood and the crest don't seem that removed from what we see today when there are major floods. Dixie's moonshining was also an interesting look at the process - her tweaks and flavors made what she was doing seem somehow less illegal and more experimental.
But ultimately it was the overwriting and the romance that didn't work for me. Sentences that could have been pared down were left filled with adjectives, and I didn't care enough about the characters for their relationships to matter to me.
ARC provided by publisher.
We have two stories that eventually intertwine: Dixie Clay (yes, that's really her name) married Jesse when she was really quite young, a marriage that isn't as satisfying as it could/should be as Jesse's a moonshiner and spends much time away from the house on "business" (which also includes time with women in whorehouses), and Ingersoll, a federal agent looking for moonshiners. We get their backstories as well as their present time, with Ingersoll looking for two agents who may have been killed and Dixie continuing to make some of the best moonshine around. Their first meeting comes about when Ingersoll and his partner Ham find a newly orphaned baby and (via a story twist) Ingersoll brings it to Dixie (who lost her son a year or so ago).
The description of what life must have been like at that time, fighting to keep your home with the threat of flood a constant (not to mention the endless, oppressive rain), was interesting. The methods used to battle the flood and the crest don't seem that removed from what we see today when there are major floods. Dixie's moonshining was also an interesting look at the process - her tweaks and flavors made what she was doing seem somehow less illegal and more experimental.
But ultimately it was the overwriting and the romance that didn't work for me. Sentences that could have been pared down were left filled with adjectives, and I didn't care enough about the characters for their relationships to matter to me.
ARC provided by publisher.
mazza57's review against another edition
4.0
well written telling of a fictional tale set upon real events. Good characterisation
thebooktrail88's review against another edition
4.0
lynnski's review against another edition
4.0
I definitely recommend this one. It's a love story but not a romance novel or "chick-lit". There's more to it than that. And it keeps a good pace throughout the whole book - it always kept me coming back.
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
3.0
I grabbed the ARC of this one because of the Dennis Lehane blurb. I should've just waited for the sequel to Live By Night instead -- my favorite prohibition novel to date.
This one was fine, just kind of slow moving and boring. I kept setting it down and picking it back up long enough to read ten or twenty pages.
This one was fine, just kind of slow moving and boring. I kept setting it down and picking it back up long enough to read ten or twenty pages.
dmahanty's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this book. The author did a great job developing the characters and setting. The ending was a little predictable but overall very good.
reading_on_the_road's review against another edition
5.0
A unique take on the familiar story of bootleggers and prohibition agents, with a natural disaster and a love story thrown in for good measure. Very enjoyable, I'd like to read more of Franklin's work.