A review by richardrbecker
Porch Music by Kathy Maresca
hopeful
slow-paced
4.5
4.5 stars, rounded up. Porch Music is an ambitious and enjoyable first novel by Kathy Maresca, who manages to juggle multiple first-person perspectives from characters who ultimately and unapologetically overwhelm the plotline. And there is nothing wrong with that.
While the story is primarily about Seminole matriarch, Ma-Ki, who protects her husband's murderer for fear her children might avenge the death, some smaller subplots and threads weave the fabric of this Seminole family together in the 1950s. Enough so, the family members and their unwavering faith stay with the reader more than the overarching story.
Maresca flawlessly captures the region's dialect, adding a layer of authenticity to the novel and bringing her characters to life. But, ironically, this also created one of my quibbles with the book. Sometimes the dialect levels the first-person narratives too much, limiting a distinction that should exist with multiple first-person storytellers. So while their perspectives differ, their voices are not always distinct enough to rise above their shared dialect.
But this is a minor thing when considering the whole of the book. The characters, Buster and Janie, Rose and Ma-Ki, Maggie, and others, have a story to tell. Sure, it's a story about secrets and sometimes intolerance. But it's also a story of family, faith, and hope stitched together in an enjoyable debut.
While the story is primarily about Seminole matriarch, Ma-Ki, who protects her husband's murderer for fear her children might avenge the death, some smaller subplots and threads weave the fabric of this Seminole family together in the 1950s. Enough so, the family members and their unwavering faith stay with the reader more than the overarching story.
Maresca flawlessly captures the region's dialect, adding a layer of authenticity to the novel and bringing her characters to life. But, ironically, this also created one of my quibbles with the book. Sometimes the dialect levels the first-person narratives too much, limiting a distinction that should exist with multiple first-person storytellers. So while their perspectives differ, their voices are not always distinct enough to rise above their shared dialect.
But this is a minor thing when considering the whole of the book. The characters, Buster and Janie, Rose and Ma-Ki, Maggie, and others, have a story to tell. Sure, it's a story about secrets and sometimes intolerance. But it's also a story of family, faith, and hope stitched together in an enjoyable debut.