Book Reviews
L.L. Lee departs from norm with new book
Jude's Bench
By NAN PATTON EHRBRIGHT
SUN HERALD
Fans of Bay St. Louis resident L.L. Lee’s earlier books (“Taxing Tallula,”
“The Sisters: Lost in Brooklyn,” “The Sisters: Found in San Antonio” and
“The Sisters: Murder by the Bayou”) will find a significant departure in
her new book, “Jude’s Bench.”
This
book is part fiction, part fact, interspersed with many of the author’s
written works, some published, some not.
Jude, the husband of the protagonist, Chris, left her four years ago,
leaving her feeling not only bereft but helpless to cope with everyday
life.
The
couple had been married for nearly 40 years. It was he who mowed the
grass, filled the gas tank and ironed his clothes. Yes, ironed his
clothes. “Who needs to iron these days?“ Chris asks.
Chris was a whiz at using the computer, but has to rely on her husband
to connect all those cables and wires to set one up. She handles the
telemarketers, hangs the toilet tissue (Men simply do not know how to do
that, you know.), cooks — sometimes — and, most important, helps her
husband with his driving. Now, that’s a chore all wives understand.
“He
tells me we’d never get where we’re going if I didn’t step on the
pretend brake on the passenger side,” Chris explains.
After their marriage and Jude’s graduation from Tulane University with a
master’s in social work, the couple spends eight years running a
residential treatment center for emotionally disturbed boys. Then they
move on, to new jobs and new lives in Arkansas and Texas. They rear two
children and they buy a house in Bay St. Louis where they plan to
retire.
Then
Jude leaves Chris — suddenly, unexpectedly.
“I
still don’t understand why,” Chris writes. They had enjoyed a wonderful
marriage and loved each other dearly. “He was my whole life. I was
devastated.”
The
book begins four years later, when Jude, just as unexpectedly, returns.
Chris has begun to heal. There’s even a new man in her life.
A
man that Jude says is not right for her and should not be trusted.
Whereupon Chris brings Jude up to date on what her life has been like
without him — learning to reconnect with life, mourning over good
friends who die, dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, all
without him to support and sustain her.
Coast residents will recognize many landmarks in Lee’s book — a noted
bread-and-breakfast, restaurants — and some astute readers many
recognize people whose names Lee has changed.
There’s a lot of humor in “Jude’s Bench,” as there is in all of Lee’s
earlier books. There’s also considerable pain.
But
the primary message of this book will resonate with everyone.
The
human condition is such that everyone suffers loss, everyone mourns that
loss and everyone learns to deal with it somehow. This is a story about
survival and learning that life goes on despite those losses.
In a
word, this is a story of hope and new beginnings.
Bittersweet passages
By NAN PATTON EHRBRIGHT
SUN HERALD
There's no scarcity
of suspects when Sheriff Andy Washington investigates the murder of
James Boudreaux after his body is found lying among the vegetables in
the garden at his Tallula, La., home.
Who hated the S.O.B.
enough to kill him? Everyone in town.
Including his widow
and her sisters. Including his mother-in-law. Including Nadine, who was
cast out of the family at age 15 when Mama Guliano discovered Boudreaux
kissing her youngest daughter on the very day that he and Lucie Galiano
announced their engagement.
Nadine, disguised as
a nun, returns home after a 19-year absence to "make sure he's actually
put in the ground," she says at the beginning of "The Sisters: Murder by
the Bayou," a mystery/comedy/romance by L.L. Lee.
Lee, a Bay St. Louis
resident and a former registered nurse turned author, has done it again.
Faithful readers
will relish the return of the crazy Guliano women whose adventures were
previously described in "Taxing Tallula," "The Sisters: Lost in
Brooklyn" and "The Sisters: Found in San Antonio." New readers will make
haste to catch up with the earlier books.
Annie has a new
husband, but her crucifix remains her most constant companion. Fran, the
man-crazy, wild sister, is sporting flaming red hair. The sisters - and
Mama, when one of them remembers to pick her up - still gather for
morning coffee klatches at Diana's, where Cora, the long-time
housekeeper, serves up delicious meals and regales them with complaints
about their behavior.
Mama has aged. She
uses a walker now, but her staccato tongue's still strong enough to
knock down bricks.
Her first words to
Nadine: "Madeline told me you were a doctor. When did you become a nun?
Never mind. I've had so many heart attacks, I don't think you'd do me
much good as a doctor. Much better if you prayed for me, since it won't
be long now, you know."
Aside from worrying
that someone she loves has slain her hated brother-in-law, Nadine is
confused about her sudden passionate feelings for Dr. Steve Rose, former
fiance of her niece, T.J. Marino. Is he really, as rumor has long had
it, a hit man for the mob?
Despite her
misgivings, Nadine follows Steve on two occasions to Bay St. Louis,
where he practices medicine.
The first time, they
eat boiled crabs and drink Barq's root beer at a picnic table at Lil
Ray's.
The second time,
Nadine walks to Old Town, examines a plaque on a bench outside Bay Town
Inn, then goes across the street to enjoy a bowl of Melva's gumbo on the
deck at Dock of the Bay. There are several families on the beach, and
Nadine thinks that they are locals since most tourists visit the bigger
beach at Da Beach House in Waveland.
After her meal,
Nadine walks by Trapani's, stops to admire the old Hancock Bank at Beach
Boulevard and Main Street, then stops in at Serenity Gallery.
Lee wrote this book
before Hurricane Katrina battered the Coast and destroyed or severely
damaged these landmarks. So these are bittersweet passages for many
South Mississippians.
But not, I assure
readers, bittersweet enough to deter them from a thoroughly fun read.
The Sisters:
Taxing
The Sisters:
How To
Survive Menopause
The
Sisters: