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Dec 23, 2008

Beth F. rated it:

I'm wavering between 2 stars and 3. I'm rounding up because I'm in a good mood right now.

Several years ago, a friend of mine gave me a stack of books she’d been collecting based on Oprah’s book list recommendations and wanted to pass them on (not because they were great or anything, she assured me, but because she doesn’t like to keep books). I laughed at her but accepted the books because I was a recent college graduate with a crappy job and a debt to income ratio that would make More...

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Dec 21, 2008

Rosemaryknits rated it:

I liked this book. I *really* like the prose style of the author. I just didn't much like the story line, hence the 3 stars, rather than more. If I could, I'd give the author 5 stars for writing style, and 2 stars for story line. It just didn't much go anywhere. I kept reading because I felt like there was going to be a point made, somewhere along the line, but it never made it.

What really bugged me was a male author, writing from the first person perspective of a woman. I do More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 06, 2008

Joe rated it:

The first warning, of course, is the pre-printed "O" proudly gazing from the upper right hand corner of Bret Lott's novel Jewel: the significant stamp of Oprah, a woman whose taste in contemporary literature has roughly the same batting average as a pitcher in the National League.

Jewel, which suffers from the same florid prose employed by Janet Fitch (author of White Oleander, another Oprah Pick Of Death), is the "epic" story of a woman from rural Mississippi who More...

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Jan 02, 2008

Cynthia rated it:

I almost quit this book at least 3 different times but I kept on reading. I had to struggle just to read the last 10 pages as well.

First the good points: The topic interested me greatly when I read the back cover. I like to read about stories set in the South that involve family relationships. Additionally, what made this book unique was it revolved around the challenges in raising Brenda Key, a Down Syndrome girl, in the South during the 50's and 60's. Also, there are a few touchin More...

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Sep 03, 2007

Beth rated it:

Each chapter in this novel begins with a scene in the present, goes to a character-defining flashback brought on by something as simple as a word or a touch, and then comes back to round out the rest of the present situation. Jewel, the title character, narrates her story of life after--and before--giving birth to her sixth child, Brenda Kay, who has Down Syndrome. Jewel questions the character of a God who would allow this trial in her life, but falls back on what her past experiences have ta More...

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Jul 22, 2008

Maria rated it:

Having watched family members raise two special needs children I can relate to what Jewel experienced in this book with the birth of her daughter. However, as a mother it saddened me to watch her lose touch with the rest of her life in her constant need to try to improve her daughter when I felt she could have embraced and accepted her more for who she was instead of who she hoped for her to be. The book focuses too much on the burden that Brenda Kay is instead of showing ways in which she add More...

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Oct 12, 2007

Hannah rated it:

I think this book was so well written, the characters are so well developed and even now, after reading it over a year ago, I still am amazed that it was written by a man. Brett Lott wrote Jewel extremely well.

But, a book being well written doesn't make me love it. I just disagreed with so many of the actions of Jewel that it left such a bad taste in my mouth at the end. Mainly her disdain and disregard for her husband. Some might see it as inspiring that she was so determined to get More...

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Jan 16, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

By South Carolina author, Brett Lott. Lots of folks loved this book. I wasn't too crazy about it as I recall. The writing was good, but I lacked sympathy for Jewel. I guess having worked with tons of kids with Downs Syndrome, and having several friends with children with it, I took it all too personally.

FROM THE PUBLISHER
In the backwoods of Mississippi, a land of honeysuckle and grapevine, Jewel and her husband, Leston, are truly blessed; they have five fine children. When Bre More...

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Jun 25, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

Women who lives in the South in the mid to later 1900's and is very traditional. She has a load of kids and her last one is mentally disabled. It's mainly about her and her relationship with the child and how the family deals. They move out to Los Angeles, against the husbands wishes and everyone thrives out there. About 15 years later, the husband wants to move back to the South and for some reason, the wife doesn't put up much of a fight, which pissed me off so much. All her children were grow More...

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May 30, 2011

Becky rated it:

A very, very well written novel. I was surprised that a male could write with the extreme amount of sensitivity and depth to the many female issues such as child birth, breast feeding, demands of a newborn, that are covered in this book, and with such tenderness at that. Wow, can't wait to read more of his work. Also, it takes place in the deep south, places where I went to middle school(Picayune), high school(Bogalusa) and graduated from...having actually lived on the Pearl River where the a More...

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Apr 25, 2010

Suzanna rated it:

Lott does a terrific job with this book. The story essentially covers the entire life of the main character, Jewel, but the author does so in a way that is sensitive, believable, and never feels unfocused. I enjoyed Lott's perception and honest insight into human character.

At the very beginning, I struggled just a hair with some word choices at first (the "n" word, cracker, retard, etc.), but more because it offends my 21st C. sensibilities than because of the writing. More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 13, 2010

Anne rated it:

When you pick up a typical Oprah Book Club pick (and by "typical" I mean not when she's trying to get people to buy the classics), you know you're in for an emotionally heart-wrenching ride. You also know that just when you think things can't get any worse for the downtrodden main character, it definitely will. While Jewel is not filled with the physical and sexual abuse common in many of Oprah's picks, it is the story of an abandoned and unloved woman trying to find meaning in her lif More...

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Apr 14, 2011

Dyana rated it:

One should not read past reviews until you finish a book. Alot of 2 and 3 stars; but I liked this book immensely, so I gave it a five! It was well written, had good character development, an eye for detail, and was emotion packed. A poor rural Mississippi family's sixth child born in 1943 is a Downs Syndrome child. Instead of putting her daughter, Brenda Kay, in an institution Jewel believes she can "fix" her daughter by moving to California where there is help for such children. More...

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Sep 02, 2009

Shelly rated it:

This is one of those books that will stay with me the rest of my life. I can hardly believe it was written by a MAN! The intrinsic feelings of a woman, wife, mother were very wisely written. The theme of once a mother means forever a mother is emphasized in the fact that Jewel has a Down's Syndrome daughter that never ages mentally past six years old. Contrast this with the fact that Jewel still has 5 other "normal" children to nurture and care for and you have an interesting story. To More...

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Sep 20, 2009

Margaret rated it:

I gave Jewel 2 1/2 stars. It was a long saga of a family (from 1940 - 1984) who lived in Purvis, Louisana during WW2, and whose sixth child was born a Down's Syndrom child - (called "Mongoloid idiot" in those days). There life story covers Jewel, the mother, doing everything she could think, read, hear about to help her daughter, Brenda Kay. She created an amazing mother-daughter relationship that was her primary concern in life - her other children and husband struggling to get thr More...

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Apr 04, 2009

Louise rated it:

I was very impressed that this novel was written by a man! He describes so truthfully and eloquently the feelings of a married woman raising a family.

Jewel's courage and strength in raising her Down's Syndrome daughter Brenda Kay is admirable, although it is at the expense of her other five children.

This novel is about so many things; marriage, children, triumphs, struggles, mental disabilities, relationships, family life and love.

I often felt sadness while re More...

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Apr 09, 2009

Sherry rated it:

As a teacher of special needs youngsters, this book was a must read for me. The story begins in the 30's, if I remember with the birth of a Down Syndrome child to a family in the deep south.The story describes the many difficulties the family members had dealing with the problems the child brought. The mother had difficult choices to make and, subsequently, so did the other family members. Would I have reacted in the same way if this was my child? I don't really know. But, I do know that having More...

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Dec 04, 2009

Rob rated it:

This novel set in the south starts strong. The way the author handles a death scene of the protagonist's father is powerful. And I was thinking the book could be as galvanizing as other memorable novels of the American south: Bastard Out of Carolina, Heart is a Lonely Hunter, etc. But the novel for me failed to sustain that kind of intensity of plotting and characterization. Yes, the main plot of a mother giving birth to a mentally challenged child is heart rendering. And the mother's strug More...

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Feb 24, 2008

Mary rated it:

I have a soft spot for books about disadvantaged kids. Here was another one about a child with Down syndrome, and the sacrifices made by a mother who loved this child, to keep her and raise her. Beautifully written, deeply felt.

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Jan 26, 2012

Sharon rated it:

This was one of the selections for Oprah's Book Club. This is the story of a family growing up in the fifties in Mississippi. Jewel herself is orphaned and is raised by a grandmother in a mansion with servants, where she does not fit in. She marries and they are doing relatively well after the war living in a house built by Jewel's husband, Lott. They have five children and all is well until the 6th child is born with Down Syndrom. They travel to New Orleans for better treatment, having the More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Erin rated it:

Boooooooring! There was no climax. The book didn't build up to anything, it was just about Jewel's boring life. It took me 3 months to finish it because I kept buying new books to read instead, I finally had to force myself to finish it, hoping that it would get better. It didn't. I read for about 10 minutes at a time (while smoking or pooping), so I need a book that will keep me interested and maybe even make me want to sit down and read instead of watching TV or whatnot. All the internal dialo More...

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Feb 27, 2010

Kristi rated it:

This is one of my very favorite books of all time. I LOVED it after the first page because of the shear brilliance and flow of the writing. It's pure poetry. Some author's have a God-given talent and I think Mr. Lott is one of them. The main character is a strong, determined woman, not without flaws. She's made all the more amazing when you keep thinking that a man wrote this story from a woman's perspective. I'm always amazed when a man can truly capture the spirt, heart and feelings of a More...

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Jul 17, 2009

Patricia rated it:

In the past I've enjoyed Brett Lott's nonfiction, particularly essays that have appeared in Fourth Genre, but I was not particularly taken by this book. The biggest issue was that it lacked concision. It waxed way too long, especially in the second half where large segments of time were collapsed into a few pages or even sentences and then 15 minutes of experience with minimal action and lots of internal monologue took over 10-15 pages. I found myself skimming. I also would liked to have noted a More...

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Apr 05, 2010

Sharon rated it:

Rich writing and yet in a homey way. Jewel's story reaches from her childhood to old age with all the various things that happen in lives, told in compelling ways and with exquisite attention to detail. The author gives us a profound understanding of the characters, of all of us really.

The last-born child in this family has Down's Syndrome, at a time in the mid-twentieth century when not as much was known about it. The story takes place in both Mississippi and California. The t More...

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Dec 26, 2008

Alison rated it:

I read this at least eight years ago, and I didn't get into it at all then. I liked it better this time, maybe because I am a mother now and therefore understand Jewel's fiercely protective desire to give her Down's syndrome last child the opportunities that barely existed in the 1950s. Although I related to Jewel and her husband Leston better this time, the prose did seem weighed down, thumping along under the burden of its Heavy Subject. Also, every section and chapter seemed to end on an orga More...

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Feb 03, 2010

Sara rated it:

I loved every bit of this book. I thought the author did a good job of developing various characters' awareness and adjusting their behavior accordingly ... again staying true to reality in that some people cannot or do not break old habits while others learn and grow through travels and life experiences. I did not find the language offensive because it was used as would've been genuinely spoken by people based on the region/year of the given chapter. The reason I could not go with five stars More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 17, 2009

Kellie rated it:

a mother’s story – a woman has 6 children, her last later in life in the 1940s– the child is born with what we now know is Down Syndrome, but was then called Mongolian idiocy – her living a very simple “cracker” life in Mississippi with her family, then having this child that changes all their lives forever – I wonder if the father’s role and relationship with the family would have been different had it not been for Brenda Kay, or if he still would have been “distant” – I was surprised that a ma More...

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Jul 17, 2010

Mary rated it:

This book definately got very mundane in the details of this family's life and would have been easy to put down. My interest was that it involved the raising of a child with a disability and how that can completely become the focus of a mother to the neglect of the rest of the family. This is currently being done by thousands of families caught in the autism epidemic, following false claims of cure, just like the character in this book. Although set in the past it is still extremely relevant More...

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May 09, 2010

Bernadette rated it:

An amazing, touching novel about a mother's love and dedication to her retarded daughter spanning over 40 years. The mother, Jewel, is among the first mothers to decide to raise a retarded child within the family when most doctors were advising parents to place them in institutions.

Jewel's determination, sacrifice and hope for her daughter continually reminded me of how my mother-in-law focused her life for over 50 years caring for her Down Syndrome daughter. She had more support an More...

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Jul 14, 2009

Susan rated it:

3 1/2 stars. The story follows the life of Jewel, a Mississippi woman whose 6th child, born later in life, is a Down syndrome child. Jewel gives all to raise Brenda Kay, at great expense to herself and the rest of her family. I was bothered by overuse of the n word. Even though it was what was used at the time, there was much too much of it. Interesting read, Jewel was not always likable but was understandable. Seeing everything through her eyes, some of the other characters didn't have as More...

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