Knee-Deep in Wonder: A Novel

Like other reviewers I got a little lost in the beginning, but once I figured out the characters there wasn't a whole lot else there. It is definitely an interesting book and very well written. I just didn't see any kind of climax and very few questions were answered in the end. I did not feel satisfied at the end of the book which may be what the author was going for.

Ms. Reynolds shapes Knee-Deep in Wonder around three generations and one man. As the youngest generation--and one might even call her a Northerner, "You hear that? I did it again. I sound like Mama. I sound southern,"--Helene's curiosity about her familial roots blossoms like fire. She is desperate to know who her father is as well as to assuage the burden of why her mother gave her away as a young child. Helene's wonder and quest begins when she returns to the South for her Auntie's funeral. It is this homecoming that begins the opening of the Strickland family secrets. A bulk of the story is told between Liberty and Queen Ester, while other parts of the story we see through Queen Ester and Helene. At the center of these generations is a man: Chess. His movement through the novel touches literally everyone and we find he too has his own family skeletons to walk with. Ms. Reynolds does a magnificent job in capturing Southern vernacular and setting. I'm not sold that the mesh in the final chapters is so much as Morrisonian than it is Ms. Reynolds struggling to do what all new authors must do: end. And while some passages do tend to dawdle, perhaps striving for heft, I find the language, the dialogue and the characters highly faithful to the story line. At times, some expressions and scenes are humorous: the fight at Chess's funeral; the moment Liberty reaches over a table and slaps her daughter who then simply tips her chair, falls to floor, enjoys the cool of it, then continues to chew on an apple. Surely this must have phased Queen Ester---I don't know; it just made me laugh. Ms. Reynolds has done a fine job in this debut. I look forward to more titles!Also try, Eden by Olympia Vernon--another up and coming new artist.

Absolutely Riveting!In 1976 Helene returns home to Arkansas to bury her Aunt Annie B the woman who raised her. Longing for a mothers love and the answers to all those bits and pieces she overheard over the years about her family. Helene visits her mother Queen Ester (who always refused to see her) determined to find the truth she questions her mother. As Queen Ester opens up and the story unfolds it reveals the pain and hardship of three generations of women who are woven together and torn apart. Reynolds gift of story telling makes this debut absolutely riveting! The language- a melody of old Southern blues that leaves a chill.

Helene Strickland travels from her new home in Washington, DC to her childhood home in the Deep South after her Uncle Ed informs her that the aunt who raised her has passed away. Upon her arrival, she comes face to face with some old demons that have haunted her her entire life. What happened to her father? Why did her mother give her away? These are just a few of the questions that are left burning in her mind. Since Helene knows she wouldn't be able to get Ed to reveal the past to her, she decides to take a day trip to her mother's house in the small Arkansas town of Lafayette. What Helene finds there is the spirit of a six-year-old girl trapped in her middle-aged mother's body, the legend of her grandmother Liberty, and the remnants of the life of a man named Chess. Still, Helene is determined to find out why things transpired the way they did. She's determined to find her roots. KNEE DEEP IN WONDER is a tragic novel about a family and the skeletons that most families harbor in their closets. The writing is fluid and beautiful, yet poignant. The story of the Strickland family is staggering, and Reynolds demonstrates in her book that some things are better left buried. Reviewed by CandaceKof The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

I first read this book in manuscript form (I don't work in publishing; I simply borrowed it), which means I read hundreds of unbound, unwieldy pages. I started sitting on a bench in Central Park, killing time before an appointment; I finished hours later, sitting on that same bench, reading by streetlight (parklight?), my appointment rescheduled. I bought the hardcover, but I'm saving my copy of the manuscript -- Knee Deep in Wonder is one of the first great novels of the century. No kidding. It's that good.