July 7th

After reading about 50 pages of July 7th I had some doubts about whether I would finish it. A variety of characters were introduced fairly rapidly, and I thought gee this should be one of those books where they list all of the personae on a page before the book begins. I did finish July 7th and really enjoyed it. The author uses a McGuffin of a convenience store murder to establish the story, but the book is really about a group of related people in a small town in North Carolina. While JM has at least one serious message to present, the novel is essentially an intelligent, witty development of her characters during a 24 hour period of their lives. A central event is the birthday party of "Granner" the gift loving matriarch of the clan (She thought it a shame that her birthday and Independence Day didn't coincide so she has her clan celebrate July 4th on her birthday July 7th).