Good book. Held your attention from the beginning. Set in the 1960s. Was an enjoyable read. I finished it in 1 day. Sad ending but it was a good book. ( )

“You repent. God forgives you. But the Lord don’t work in advance. He don’t pardon sins you fixing to commit.”
― Anna Jean Mayhew, The Dry Grass of August

3.5 stars.

This was a beautiful tale of a family in the south during the days of Segregation. The writing was quite lovely and the story itself quite sad. But that being said, I did not love it.

This is the type of book I should have adored. It was for a book group and it looked to be great. And it is in a way. The writing, the moodiness, the atmosphere. Dry Grass of August is not a bad book and I think most fans of Historical Fiction would like it. And yet..

I think I'd have enjoyed it more had I not read several similiar books around the same time. That may have interfered a bit. I know sometimes if I read to many mysteries that do not differ all that much my enjoyment goes down a bit.

But also.and this is not a spoiler because it is from the beginning of the book...the book TELLS you from the beginning who is going to meet a cruel fate and I prefer it (usually) when we do not know that from the beginning. As a result, I was kind of turning the pages in dread of an event I knew was around the corner.

Also for me, I felt it was a bit to long. I was becoming exhausted toward the end. Also at one point it did seem every time I turned the page there was another death. I had a tough time. I will say.

I have liked other books dealing with this subject much better including "The Invention of Wings" , "Flowers in the snow", and let's not forget "The Color Purple".

But I still enjoyed it. The writing is evocative and lovely and really succeeded in capturing that time period and making the reader think of what life was like during those days. I think a three is a perfect rating.

I may at some point read this again as I think there are some books I tend to enjoy more the second time around and this strikes me as possibly one of them. ( )

Well-written and hard to put down, although I thought the ending was a little abrupt. ( )

I picked this up because of the cover. I know the rule is don't judge a book by its cover, but I do. Not always, I mean if it sounds good but has a stupid cover whatever, but I love good looking books. Also titles. I love me a good title. This book, has both of those things, plus, it happens to be a very well written novel. It reminded me a little bit of The Secret Life of Bees mixed with The Help and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Those are all stories that I liked, and I enjoyed this one as well.

The narrator is a 13 year old girl named June Bentley Watts aka: Jubie and she is fantastic. She is smart, caring, thoughtful, observant, all good things. But she also takes a lot in from what she sees and learns from it. Jubie is the second oldest child in a family of five, her older sister Stell (Estelle) is polite, pretty, religious, does most things right, where Jubie does not. Her younger sister Puddin (Carolina) is adorable and sweet, and her toddler brother Davie can do no wrong because he is a baby, but more importantly, he is a boy. Jubie's father seems to single her out in punishments (spankings, beatings etc.) and her mother tends to ignore her children, letting their maid, Mary, take the reins. The novel starts at the beginning of the summer and Jubie and her family (minus her father) are going to stay with their uncle for vacation. Their maid, Mary is coming along. This being 1954 in the south, they run into race issues. But the novel is not about race, its about Jubie and the people in her life.


Jubie is an interesting and lovely character to get to know, her world feels very real and the author (first time) really knows her stuff. Its a great read, with a very pretty cover:) ( )

Set in the mid-1950's, this family is traveling through the south with their Black maid. Of course, their set on a course of disaster! Thirteen-year old Jubie turns out to be the only one in the family who has the courage to do the right thing! Great story.. ( )