Beaming Sonny Home

"Beaming Sonny Home" is the first novel I have read by Cathie Pelletier, and I intend to read her entire body of work.What a storyteller! She is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. This is some of the best writing I've read in my entire life. It is easy to follow, very descriptive about it's characters and everything that evolves around them. She knows how to make a story funny and touching at the same time. Also, this story kept me glued. It was hard to put down as I was having such a good time reading it.It's about a family, well, mostly it's about, Mattie Gifford, the mother of "Sonny", of the title. To grab the attention of his estranged wife, Sonny kidnaps two women and a dog and holds them hostage in a trailer park. Sonny isn't your usual criminal. He seems like a happy go lucky guy, that just can't get it together. Now he has gone and lost it, really lost it. Although, you can't help but love this character. Mattie also has three adult daughters that drive her crazy. Even though she doesn't seem to have the same close bond with her daughters as she does with her criminal son, Sonny, you see that there is love in this family unit. Extended family, and Mattie's dead husband, Lester are more characters that come bounding from the story. This is a writer who knows how to write great characters with strength and integrity. There are so many tender momments sprinkled throughout the story that bring laughter to the lips and tears to the eyes.The story starts when the crime happens, and follows the family throughout the next few days. It is a great story about relationships and how they evolve when tragedy strikes. Mattie is a character that I can sympathize with, and I admire for the changes she goes through in the story's outcome. The book reminded me a bit of "Divine Sisters of the Ya Ya", in the sense of the family relationships and the humour. Although, I think that Pelletier is the better writer. She is simply divine, and so is this story.I am highly recommending this one, it's a good one!

I taught this book and Pelletier's FUNERAL MAKERS in a university course on the Contemporary American Novel. Pelletier quickly became the favorite author of the group. She has an ability to reach out and grab the largest themes of life and death and bring them down to earth for everyone to understand. Unlike so many of the new novelists, she isn't just dealing with her own angst, but trying to figure out the BIG questions out there in simple terms. Wonderful and lasting work. Could be a wonderful, intelligent and funny movie.

And this was the case from the first page to the last. Enough said. Read it!

I have been an ardent fan of Cathie Pelletier's work since the first novel. She is a joy to read. Laugh out loud humor and heart-wrenching stories intertwined with marvelous characters and purely wondrous prose. Beaming Sonny Home grabbed me from the first paragraph, which is typical of Cathie's writing. Sadly, it appears that her earlier work is not in print. Try by whatever means to collect all her books--especially the Mattagash series-- and add this one to the stack. You won't regret it.