Baby Sweet's

In this, the third and final book of his Muskhogean Trilogy, Raymond Andrews returns the fictional Muskhogean County seat of Appalachee. Andrews retains a great number of the characters he first introduced in the previous two novels as well as introduces the reader to a number of new characters. And as usual, the characters are almost bigger than life. For each of these characters, he develops a well-crafted narrative. And he then weaves these narratives into an intricate yet accessible narrative which he uses to explore the paradoxical, sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart-breaking, state of race relations in the South. This narrative is centered around the life of John Morgan, Jr., scion of the richest man in town. John Morgan, Sr. hopes that Junior will follow in his footsteps, but Junior decides to plot a course of his own. However, he doesn't fully know what this course is and his meandering journey to find himself leads him off to college, Atlanta, Europe, and finally back home to Appalachee. In the meantime, Baby Sweets and a number of other characters from the previous novels work to keep themselves upright against the many viccissitudes of life within a social system that is set against them. In this novel, Andrews keen ability to tell a story reaches an apex. It is as though one is in the presence of a master gossip who just happens to know everyone's business. The story keeps you guiltily hanging on for the next little tidbit until the very end which only whets your appetite for more.

This book was a great read! As always, Andrews is very descriptive when it comes to details which kept me very intrigued, I hated to take a break. He takes you from the beginning of Baby Sweets, working in the fields, to living in their old town with all the twists and turns of her life and why it came to be that way. He gives you all the emotions the sadness, happiness, hardships, fear, etc., whatever you can feel, you will feel it here. The best part of Andrews books is that they all intertwine some way, after reading other novels by him I see how he refers to characters in other story he's written. With these overlapping stories you get to know a little more about his characters. Another great book to add to my collection!