Sorrow Floats

You sort of knew that the Maurey Pierce that Sam Callahan described in his first-person narrative in Skipped Parts wasn't as together and perfect as he made her out to be. In Sorrow Floats, Maurey takes up the narrative herself, and we see not only the sadness and insecurity that Sam missed, but the guilt she felt about how her life had gone and her inability and unwillingness to parent the daughter she had on her 14th birthday and eventually over her father's untimely death, while riding her own beloved show horse. This has led Maurey to pursue a marriage with Dothan Talbot, her high school boyfriend, that she knew would be disastrous, and to drink. The real love of her life, she thinks, is Yukon Jack, and she nearly kills her infant son Auburn (all Talbots are named for Alabama towns) and loses her marriage, self-respect and her standing in her hometown of Gro Vont, Wyoming. To begin her redemption, she begins a picaresque journey with two unlikely characters, Lloyd, pursuing a lost wife who is never found, and Shane, wheelchair-bound but hardly wheelchair-ridden, and given to apparent exaggeration of his personal exploits, which included bedding Katharine Hepburn in unusual circumstances and dating Priscilla Beaulieu before Elvis, to whom he introduced her. Both are recovering alcoholics who never miss a meeting, but the mission of their trip, besides finding Lloyd's wife and saving Shane's sister, is to sell Coors beer east of Arkansas for a large profit. Maurey can provide money and a horse trailer to drag behind the hearse named Moby Dick, and on they go, headed to Shane's grandmother in North Carolina, which is also where Sam now lives with Shannon. So much just seems to happen along the way, as they pick up, in turn, Shane's sister Marcella and her two children, with her estranged husband hanging behind like Inspector Fix, a young hippie girl named Critter who is returning to her lover named Freedom, perhaps the most oxymoronic nickname in all literature, and Freedom's son Owley, who has never trusted anyone in his life until he meets Maurey. But all the while Lloyd and Shane are leaving Maurey to her own devices, as she gives names like Jesus and Elvis to her bottles of liquor, while subtlely and persistently letting her know what they think she needs to do to fix her life. When disaster happens in the shape of a man who first saves them from corrupt police in Tennessee and then turns on Maurey savagely, Shane, wheelchair and all, is the one to save her hide, and then, in a beautifully written segment at his Grandma's farm, her soul. This is not a Christian book, a religious book or a tract in favor of Alcoholics Anonymous. Quite the contrary. But it is very much a book about how an individual might need a whole lot of friends to support her getting her act together. Sandlin does this in the context of his usual humor and sharply written characters.

I just bought this book today, i am about 60 pages or so in and i can't get enough of it. I had bought the movie skipped parts on dvd and i love it, i want to buy the book but can't find it anywhere, i picked this up to continue the story and i am happy i did. can't wait to get further into the book.

I was hesitant to read Sorrow Floats when I found out it begins with Maurey leaving her baby on the roof--how much more depressing can you get? In true Sandlin fashion it turns tragedy into comedy, and Maurey's character development is just fantastic. As a 22-year-old woman myself, I can attest that Sandlin manages to write from the perspective of a 22-year-old woman with astounding accuracy. Maurey is a good example of someone who screws up her life and then somehow manages to learn that she is worth saving. I went through that too, and so did you I bet. Read this book if you are curious about what happened in the spring of 1973 in a very memorable young woman's head.

I have to say that I was not seriously searching for a book when I was browsing down at the local book store. I ran into the "out of print" discount table, and happened apon this book *Sorry Tim* I read the first few pages and laughed out loud in the middle of the store -- From that moment on I was hooked to Tim Sandlin. I finished this book in 3 days (would have finished it sooner but school and work call) and it has become my all time favorite. It wasn't until I was half way through the book did I realize that it was the middle book in the GroVont Trilogy, and I was thrilled that there were other books out there by him with the same humor (at times dark, off-color, and hilariously inappropriate) realness, and charm as this one. I went on to read the other books in the Trilogy -- Social Blunders, and the finally tracked down Skipped Parts. I highly recommened this book if you want a book that is a witty, realistic, and exciting adventure through and about life. I laughed at this book, and laughed some more, and cried some, but more than anything it made me feel -- I could relate to the characters in a way that I never thought that I could in a book. Read it. If you would like to chat about his books, e-mail me.Katie

Sorrow Floats is an entertaining and thoughtful post-modern tale that combines hilarity with despair. After meeting Maurey in Skipped Parts it was a joyful surprise to follow her along her journey across America. Sandlin's characters are realistic and intensely profound. Tim Sandlin is the J.D. Salinger of the 90's and hopefully beyond.