Sister Mine

Tawni O'dell books sparkle and provide humour about the blue collar worker in America (not just coal miners). This particular novel is from a female perspective and provides insight into the many trials of womanhood. O'dell's style and originality shines in every one of her books. What a great storyteller!

Ms. O'Dell seems to have a talent for writing about Emotionally Crippled Professional Victims. In this book we are introduced to over the hill 40 plus Shae Lynn. Shae Lynn drives a cab for a living in a God forsaken backwoods coal mining town and beats up guys who are too drunk to fight back. She also wears loud White Trash outfits. Before confronting the man who raped her she picks up a stranger and has sex with him to make her "feel good". I have no doubt that there is some apparent reason for this somewhat abberant behaviour and I am sure that the National Association Of Bimbos will write to me and tell me what it is.Ms O'Dell glorifies the good ole boys who work in the coal mines whereas in reality they are too scared to think for themselves and get a job with real propects. This novel reaches it's climax and then "burns out" in the last 10 pages where everything turns out fine by golly gee.All I got from this novel was to be wary of woman in pink cowboy boots when I am drinking at a bar. 5 stars for Choker who is not an abusive father and no stars for Shae Lynn.

Okay, I admit it. I'm getting lazy. Authors have to work harder and harder every year to get me to get past page five. *Sister Mine* had me from the first sentence with a gripping voice and before the first buzz could wear off I was in the thrall of a intelligent yet tilt-a-whirl story with edgy, funny characters. For the first time in a long time I was walking around with a hardcover novel tucked under my arm, as attached as a yuppie to her bluetooth. It's plot, character and voice that keep me (and,if I may presume, most readers) engaged, but the real test comes two weeks later when (if) those characters, etc. are still with me. Shae-Lynn Penrose, her sad, dysfunctional family of origin, and the son she somehow launched as a success are not only still hangin' in the backroads of my mind, I'd love to know what they'll be up to next. What keeps them around, though, is the too-often neglected element of any good novel: the setting. Enough with the hip New York scene already. (Just kidding -- I love New York.) Shae-Lynn and her friends are rooted to their eyebrows in the coal-rich soil of Pennsylvania, and it's O'Dell's portrayal -- new to these urban eyes -- of a coal-mining town that rounds out the novel and makes it more than a rattling good yarn, but a piece of American life.

As a native of western Pennsylvania, I have a particular appreciation for Tawni O'Dell's novels. I'd know her characters anywhere: The godlike high school/college football jock whose subsequent life reeks of anticlimax; the stolid denizens of the myriad of mining towns, the young people who left as part of the state's unfortunate "brain drain," as well as those who stayed home to contend with limited, depressing job markets. Like Tawni O'Dell herself, the novel's protagonist Shae-Lynn Penrose is one of those who left the her small town (the fictitious and ironically named Jolly Mount)for the big city. Shae-Lynn escaped a dreadful childhood, an abusive father, and the apparent death of her younger sister to pursue an education and a career -- all as a single mother. Now she's back in Jolly Mount, over age 40, and driving a taxi. Her life is relatively good; she sees her son daily, although not always in the circumstances one would imagine. Her job allows her to know everything about everyone, and to administer her unique sense of justice as needed. One of those cab rides, an airport pickup of a shadowy New York lawyer, turns Shae-Lynn's life inside out. In just a few days, Shae-Lynn's tidy existence will be in chaos with the arrival of a very pregnant young woman, a housewife willing to pay any price for an under-the-table adoption, and a Russian gangster. Shae-Lynn will also confront, for the first time in years, the repulsive father of her son. A key element of this wonderful novel is a portrayal of those in the coal mining industry. O'Dell creates a fictional version of the group of Pennsylvania miners who several years ago survived a harrowing mining accident. O'Dell tells what happens to these men, "The Jolly Mount Five," as well as their families, in the not-so happily ever after. Sister Mine is gritty, tragic and deadly funny. It's written with love, and will stay with the reader for a long time.

I stumbled upon "Sister Mine" at my campus bookstore, and like another reviewer, the first sentence sucked me in. Before I knew it, I was back in my dorm room unable to stop turning the pages. Shae-Lynne's gripping narrative provided a welcome respite from my Chaucer reading and the research paper I should have been writing. This novel contains so much--pathos, laugh-out-loud humor, well-drawn compelling characters. My Chaucer professor has remarked that the difference between literature and popular fiction is that literature has cracks in it that are open for the reader to interpret. "Sister Mine" qualifies as literature according to his definition. For example, I have spent some time pondering what took place in the conversation between Clay and Shannon at the end of the book. Clay tells his mother "I realize after talking to Aunt Shannon that there are things about you I don't understand completely...." I have tried to tease out just what Shannon told him. How much of her and Shae-Lynne's childhood did she disclose? Did she confide her suspicions about Clay's own birth? But this ambiguous line, so open to interpretation, is only one of the many gems within Sister Mine.

Having read BACK ROADS and COAL RUN, I was anxiously awaiting the release of SISTER MINE. Tawni O'Dell's books are treasures and ones that you MUST READ. They do not disappoint! What was a VERY PLEASANT SURPRISE for me was Ms. O'Dell's sparkling sense of humor and how funny this book is. If you read her first two books, they were WONDERFULLY dark. This book is FUNNY; however, it does have it dark spots, which is good! The plot moves and grooves, and I could not turn the pages quickly enough. Meet Shae-Lynn Penrose who lives in Jolly Mount, Pennsylvania, a very small mining town. A few years earlier there was a near mining disaster there and five of her friends were trapped four days before being rescued. The book deals with all of these characters who have had to come to grips with their being trapped, their survival, and the long and rough road this experience takes them on. Shae-Lynn is involved with each of them in different ways, as this is a small town where everyone knows everyone. Shae-Lynn has many demons of her own -- her totally mean, nasty, physically abusive dad, her missing and presumed dead sister, her son, and the town folk who, in one way or another, Shae-Lynn is involved with. Shae-Lynn is an ex-cop who has come home to Jolly Mount and now owns her own cab company -- which consists of Shae-Lynn and her car. The neighbors, friends, and town people you will be introduced to are all so different and all such good characters and the author makes them feel so very, very real. This is a great book!!!! Not wanting to give away too much of the story, Shae-Lynn's life gets turned upside down as her past and present collide at full speed. People come back into her life, secrets, both good and horrible are revealed, and the book is off and running. I cannot emphasize enough what a great read this is. You need to get this book, get cozy, and go for it. Shae-Lynn is FUN and her life is totally NOT boring. The plot runs smooth, all the cast and characters are totally believable. The dialogue will make you laugh and the author's knowledge of the mining industry makes this one great book. Also, make certain that you read BACK ROADS and COAL RUN. You will not be disappointed in any of these three books. Now, we just have to be patient and wait for yet another literary gift from Tawni O'Dell. Thank you! Pam