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Sweeping Up Glass

by Carolyn Wall

3.84 · rating details · 699 ratings · 253 reviews

Destined to be a classic, Sweeping Up Glass is a tough and tender novel of love, race, and justice, and a ferocious, unflinching look at the power of family.

Olivia Harker Cross owns a strip of mountain in Pope County, Kentucky, a land where whites and blacks eke out a living in separate, tattered kingdoms and where silver-faced wolves howl in the night. But someone is kill...more

Paperback, 336 pages

Published August 4th 2009 by Delta (first published 2008)

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Apr 04, 2010

Annalisa rated it

Recommended to Annalisa by: Leslie

Shelves: book-club, historical-fiction

This book had a lot of potential, but it fizzled early on. I found the setting and characters all very vivid and was pulled into Olivia's admiration of her father and hatred of her mother from the get go. But then Wall decided to take a sharp left turn into tragedy for no apparent reason and without any explanation. At that point, she lost me. Everything after that was out of character and out of time. I had hoped that Wall would justify all those unexplained years, but not only did she not answ...moreThis book had a lot of potential, but it fizzled early on. I found the setting and characters all very vivid and was pulled into Olivia's admiration of her father and hatred of her mother from the get go. But then Wall decided to take a sharp left turn into tragedy for no apparent reason and without any explanation. At that point, she lost me. Everything after that was out of character and out of time. I had hoped that Wall would justify all those unexplained years, but not only did she not answer all my questions, but what little answer I did get was a huge let down.

I can't really explain that statement without giving spoilers:
It's not the car accident that bothered me. I was fine with Olivia losing all that time in the hospital. She seemed to be surviving for awhile, bucking up to life with her incredible strength. We're introduced to Wing and everything is looking up, but then it just dies. She asks him if he loves her and he looks away and asks her the same thing and that's it. She walks away. Olivia lost her father. She should know how much pain Wing is in, but she decides to give up on the one person who loves her despite her scars and sleep with every guy in town instead. Even when Wing asks her to marry him, she marries someone else out of spite. I know she's stubborn, but that all seemed like the wrong reactions for the character I had been reading. I get that she's broken and doesn't understand anything about relationships, but I felt more like Wall wanted to create a tragic story and then skim over thirty years just to make it even more tragic without giving any growth or development over that span.

Initially, Wall pulled me into poor Depression-era Kentucky, but she seemed to forget the setting by the end. The big mystery she can't figure out with the Phelps is that they belong to the Klan. Really? That was it? Would a native Kentuckian in the Depression era be that surprised to find racism in her rural town? And then Olivia moves in with Wing with no intention of marrying him in this conservative, religious town with no mention of the backlash that such an act would produce. The front cover has a picture of a woman in a shirt that although a plain plaid is too trendy and detailed for a Depression-era shirt, but I think it fits the novel, as if someone were plucked from our day and dropped into the setting. For all Wall's research about product and pricing and lifestyle in the Depression, she failed to create a character that fit the time period.

The pacing of the book was off too. The opening scene with the wolves' ears being shot off intrigued me. As the flashback starts, I grew to like Tate and despise Ida and thought I had a grasp on Olivia's character. But as soon as Tate is pulled from the story, Olivia rushes back to modern day, skimming over thirty years into a self I no longer recognized. We don't ever get to know her daughter, Pauline (you'd think she'd be an important character), or delve into Ida's madness, only her viciousness. I would have liked to know more about Love Alice and Junk too. There were a lot of minor characters that I couldn't keep straight, the span between their introduction and their mention in the end too great. The bulk of the novel sticks in this few weeks without much going on, and I started to get frustrated that my questions about the Phelps and the wolves and Ida's secrets weren't being answered.

When Wall decides to explain, she dumps it all within a short period, too quickly to answer my questions. Historically did the Klan ever wear red robes? Why red? And why oh why were the Phelps shooting off the left ears of the wolves? Was it as some metaphor to Junk? That was not explained, and it was the one thing I really wanted to know. And why did the Phelps think that would threaten Olivia? And why now? Why did they think she had her father's notes? And why did they suspect Tate in the first place? There's a difference between knowing about the meetings and recording them. If he buried the info, how did Ida know about it? How much did Ida know about anything? And what exactly was her relationship with the Klan boys? Was Elizabeth part of the Klan or just threatened by her husband? Did Ida actually set herself on fire? It's not like she ever answered any of Olivia's questions, so why kill herself in that painful way instead of ignore yet another question about Tate? I also didn't get the whole sequence of which Phelps killed which and why. The info was too rushed without me understanding who was who in the first place.

I was so disappointed that the big mystery was a Klan (how very unoriginal) that I didn't care as much that my questions weren't answered. But still, I had a lot that were glazed over or brushed aside. Too bad because the writing was at times beautiful and the set up powerful.(less)

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Jul 30, 2008

William rated it

· review of another edition

Wow! This book is filled with characters that I will never forget.

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Jun 25, 2009

MaryJohanna rated it

Shelves: fiction

I received this book as a Goodreads Advance Reading Copy - and am so glad I did, as it's not one I would have picked up on my own.
The story is a hard one: a woman's bitter history with her mother and daughter; a grandmother scraping to make ends meet while raising her grandson and looking after her mother; the ominous presence of hunters recruited to wipe out a population of wolves and a long history of discrimination and hatred in a small, poor Kentucky county.

As reluctant as...more

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Aug 15, 2009

Blue Willow Bookshop rated it

Shelves: fiction, julie

Wall's debut novel, voiced in first person narrative by Olivia Harker, opens with a bang, literally, and doesn't let up until reaching its hugely satisfying conclusion. Set in Depression-era Kentucky and peopled with memorable, fully-fleshed characters, this tale combines elements of intrigue, humor, a love story and a good dose of soul-searching as Olivia tries to unravel the mysteries in her family's troubled past and her town's heinous secrets. Best thing I've read all summer.--Julie

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Feb 15, 2011

Paul Pessolano rated it

"Sweeping Up Glass" takes place in Pope County, Kentucky and tells the story of the people living in the town of Aurora. The time spans the life of Olivia Harker Cross from when she was a little girl until the later part of her life.

Olivia's father owns the General Store and tends to sick animals. He is also the source for the town's moonshine. Ida, Olivia's mother, has had a mental breakdown and has been placed in a state home.

Olivia's father hs come acroos ...more

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Dec 29, 2010

Michele Abbott rated it

I just can’t get enough of the generational Appalachian stories, so this was the book I read immediately after “Bloodroot.” And wow, what a book. Taking place in the rural mountains of Kentucky, this richly detailed book will allow you to feel every sensation: gnawing hunger pains, the howling wind against your face, the frigid soil beneath your feet, the sharp crack of bone under a bullet, and the utter desolation of hope in the face of survival. The backdrop is definitely depressing, painted ...more

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Jun 09, 2010

Denise rated it

4.0 out of 5 stars True grit in the cold Kentucky mountains..., July 26, 2009

This review is from: Sweeping Up Glass (Paperback)

This novel was difficult to read. Not because it wasn't good - it was very good -- but because of the subject matter. I was hungry, I was cold, tired, lonely and filled with rage and frustration - I felt every feeling and thought every thought along with Olivia. I savored the prose and often stopped to reread passages - something I don't often ...more 4.0 out of 5 stars True grit in the cold Kentucky mountains..., July 26, 2009

This review is from: Sweeping Up Glass (Paperback)

This novel was difficult to read. Not because it wasn't good - it was very good -- but because of the subject matter. I was hungry, I was cold, tired, lonely and filled with rage and frustration - I felt every feeling and thought every thought along with Olivia. I savored the prose and often stopped to reread passages - something I don't often do with the typical books I tend to pick up these days. I was looking for reading pleasure and I got that in this book in one way, but in another I was so drawn into Olivia's world that I experienced it with her and that meant I didn't find it comfortable to read too much at one sitting. It is an unflinching look at poverty, racism, buried secrets, and family bonds at a time in history when everything was HARD.

You will like this book and you should buy it if you like gritty stories of hardscrabble existence eked out in primitive conditions by a determined, plucky woman who has nothing going for her but a strong back and a sense of purpose. The setting is the Kentucky mountains, depression era, dirt poor. Olivia Harker Cross lives with her crazy mother Ida and her grandson Will'm in a shack attached to a small grocery. She stocks her shelves and feeds her family by making quilts and by working very hard. Her life revolves around staying alive, taking care of her grandson, and protecting the silver wolves that were reintroduced to the area by her grandfather. She is a friend to the blacks in a time where lynchings aren't uncommon and segregation is fierce. Even though there is a story line that involves hunters going after the wolves, the book is really a character study. Although some might not find them sympathetic and might even dislike them, they are all very real, uniquely flawed, and doing the best they can given the time, place, and circumstance.

I recommend it -- much to think about and good for a book group or class discussion. Would work perfectly as ancillary reading in an American History course re: 1930s lectures about the Great Depression and race relations.

Personal opinion: I do not agree with others who have likened the book to the classic To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) as the adult point of view and bitter voice of Olivia, although clear and honest, is not like the innocent child narrator Scout in that story. (less)

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Nov 25, 2009

Mike rated it

I'd really put this one at 3.5 probably (would it kill them to figure out a half star system..). First, any mention of Harper Lee when discussing this book, and I've seen way too many of them, better be preceded by "she ain't no" - this was a pretty good debut novel, but to just throw out comparisons to possibly the all-time debut novel because there was a bit of similarity is the equivalent of saying Bon Jovi's debut album could be compared to GnR's Appetite for Destruction - yea, t...moreI'd really put this one at 3.5 probably (would it kill them to figure out a half star system..). First, any mention of Harper Lee when discussing this book, and I've seen way too many of them, better be preceded by "she ain't no" - this was a pretty good debut novel, but to just throw out comparisons to possibly the all-time debut novel because there was a bit of similarity is the equivalent of saying Bon Jovi's debut album could be compared to GnR's Appetite for Destruction - yea, they were both hard rock debut albums with a few similarities, but only one is considered rock royalty. However, as usual, I digress...

This was actually two stories tied together around one woman. Most of the first half of the novel followed the life of Olivia Cross from difficult birth through countless hard-luck tragedies in turn of the century Kentucky. A story this evoked to me was actually A Thousand Splendid Suns (if you haven't read it, stop reading the crap I'm typing, go get a copy, and enjoy possibly the best novel of the last 25 years) - a woman's journey in a culture I truly don't have any understanding of. This to me was the stronger part of the novel and Wall may have done better continuing along the biograhical narrative she had started.

The second half (actually about 60%) of the book focused on a prodigal daughter, the age-old difficulty of dealing with elderly family, long-time love that still flickered, and a town's deep-dark secret. The problem I had was all of the stories really were a bit too pat and for the most part came to too simple conclusions. In addition, whereas the main character was supposed to have come off as the "finally opened her eyes" heroine...all I could think was "no one is that dumb" for her to have missed out on the dark secret, especially considering how close she was to the victims.

In the end, this was an entertaining read and I'd certainly plan to take a look at Wall's followup work as this is a great start to a career. Just not sure I agree with the massive praise it seems to be getting.(less)

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Oct 21, 2009

Debbie rated it

I didn't expect to like this book so much. I had never heard of it, and the only reason I bought it was because a blurb on the cover compared it to To Kill a Mockingbird. Set in rural Kentucky during the depression, it turned out to be amazing. The narrator, Olivia, is mostly raised by her father, but spends much of her time with local black families, wishing she were "colored." Her father, Pap, is a self-taught veterinarian, treating wounded rabbits and possums (as well as horses, dog...more

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Aug 19, 2009

Faith rated it

Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall is a richly told tale. We meet the narrator/main character, Olivia, when she's a woman in her forties. She's a woman who has lived and is living a hard life. She backtracks and tells the reader how she got where she is and then the story continues in present tense.

For the most part, all of Walls characters are three dimensional. Olivia is a very likable character. It's easy to sympathize with her even though, at times, I felt that she was doing the ...more

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Aug 04, 2009

Sara rated it

The blurbs used to describe Carolyn Wall’s debut, Sweeping Up Glass, compare Wall to Harper Lee, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor. I mean WOW, how does a novel live up to those kinds of expectations? And yet, even from the beginning, it just does. The striking similarities to To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most beloved books ever written, are unavoidable. The innocent narrator, and explored themes particularly evoke Mockingbird, and that is a statement I’d never make ...moreThe blurbs used to describe Carolyn Wall’s debut, Sweeping Up Glass, compare Wall to Harper Lee, William Faulkner, Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor. I mean WOW, how does a novel live up to those kinds of expectations? And yet, even from the beginning, it just does. The striking similarities to To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most beloved books ever written, are unavoidable. The innocent narrator, and explored themes particularly evoke Mockingbird, and that is a statement I’d never make lightly. Wall’s narrative voice with its colloquial speech is so entrenched in classic southern tradition that it becomes hard to believe that I wasn’t reading a much older novel.

This tale offers more than nostalgia. It is basically the life story of hard working and very poor general store owner, Olivia Harker. Olivia lives life in no uncertain terms. She idolizes her father, adores her grandson, loves her lifetime friends, is wary of her daughter, protective of the wolves that roam her property, and hates her mom. Her story is set in a very small town in Kentucky. And her town has some dark secrets yet to be unveiled. Unknown truths waiting in Olivia’s past threaten her life and everything she knows. It is hard to go into much more detail as the book is masterfully structured--even Olivia doesn’t know the tale she is telling. Just know that the plot offers mysterious surprises.

I have almost no criticisms of this book, but if I really reach, I could say that this book doesn’t feel modern. It tells of a bygone time period and past issues. Which some readers might find to be to the books credit especially after reading it. I will say this book is an old fashioned good read, and its historical feel was most likely calculated move on Wall’s part.

The strengths of the novel abound. Foremost, Olivia’s voice is forcibly engaging, and stayed with me long after the book conclusion. Every character is fully drawn and compelling. The plot is constructed with doses of mystery, literary tension, and layers of characterization. It is easily the best book I’ve read all month, and sure to be one of my favorites this year. Wall’s tale is sure to be cherished by anyone who reads it. It is deserving of all the gushing praise it has and will receive.
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Aug 02, 2009

Literary Feline rated it

I was not in the mood for Sweeping Up Glass when I began reading it. I had made a commitment though to read and review it. I am sure it sounded good to me when I checked the box at the BookBrowse website to be entered for a chance to review it, but once it arrived in the mail, I wondered what in the world I had been thinking. My extra-fabulous reading streak would surely be ruined now. Maybe that would be a good thing though, I told myself. People are beginning to think I not only like, but actu...more

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Jun 15, 2009

Kimberley rated it

Recommends it for: friends

Recommended to Kimberley by: won it through a goodreads giveaway

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 10, 2011

Trudy rated it

SPOILERS! Well, the first half of this book was so good. The writing was beautiful and character development was great. However, after that the story lost some of its'appeal for me. I found myself struggling to get past certain tragic events which did not seem to make sense to me. For example what happened to the relationship between Octavia and Wing. I understand his grief and her feelings of rejection, but this was just not a good flow for me. Also, the jump from Ida being young to old was jus...more

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Aug 28, 2009

Emily rated it

In Sweeping Up Glass, Carolyn Wall manages to depict rural life in the South while transcending classification as merely local color. Seamlessly written and replete with believable, complex characters, the novel traces the development of a strong-willed female protagonist and, in theme as well as in tone, calls to mind the iconic Their Eyes Were Watching God. Wall's talent with language is evident, and her evocative descriptions range from touching to funny. The voice of young Olivia Harker ring...more

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Dec 29, 2010

Nancy rated it

Shelves: southern-us, family, fiction, hard-times, racism

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it’s an engrossing story that kept me interested. I liked the voice of the narrator’s colloquial speech, which sets the mood of the book. It has the feel of sitting around a camp fire and hearing a dark story being told, complete with sound effects—shots ringing out, wolves howling—very entertaining and a real attention-getter.

On the other hand, however, I found myself often feeling that the story just didn’t ring true. As it prog...moreI have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it’s an engrossing story that kept me interested. I liked the voice of the narrator’s colloquial speech, which sets the mood of the book. It has the feel of sitting around a camp fire and hearing a dark story being told, complete with sound effects—shots ringing out, wolves howling—very entertaining and a real attention-getter.

On the other hand, however, I found myself often feeling that the story just didn’t ring true. As it progressed, I had lots of questions. What attracted Pap to Ida in the first place and why did he put up with her mistreatment of Olivia? I understand that Ida was crazy and a religious zealot, but at the same time she appears to have led a promiscuous and adulterous lifestyle—it really isn’t clear if the Phelps were customers or forced themselves on her. The reason Wall gives for Olivia’s and Wing’s estrangement as teenagers is because his parents die and he has to spend his time running the hotel. But is that reason enough for Olivia to start hanging out in honky tonks and becoming a prostitute? Olivia seems to neglect her own daughter Pauline in much the same way that she was neglected, and yet when she meets her little grandson Will’m, her maternal instincts kick in. Why is she suddenly in touch with her emotions, showing maturity, and yet develops no understanding of, or empathy for Ida’s illness? Why was the secret of Olivia’s father kept hidden from her? I can’t see why not knowing protected her, if anything it endangered her. I also don’t see the logic of the Phelps gang taking their vengeance out on the wolves. It just didn’t tie in with the real evil taking place, which, by the way, didn’t add up to the climatic ending I was expecting. With no young colored men left in Aurora, you’d think Olivia and the love of her life, Wing Harris, would have caught on to what was happening. Especially when considering Olivia’s close attachment to her colored neighbors and the fact that Wing was putting the ‘villains’ up in his hotel four times a year.

I’m probably being too hard on the debut novel of an author who obviously has the skill to keep me turning the pages. I just wanted to be able to look into the ‘eyes’ of the book (like Love Alice) and see the truth in it.
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Nov 13, 2011

Casey rated it

Like many others have said, this novel was just a little too derivitive of To Kill a Mockingbird (and other such novels) for it to really work for me. I think a novel like this worked much better 50 or 60 years ago when readers (I don't think) were quite as jaded as they are now. I just had a hard time with some of the plot elements, as well as some of the characters. The novel deals heavily with racial issues, and while that is admirable, I don't think it brings anything new to the table, no...more

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Apr 12, 2011

Jody Wall rated it

For those of you who don't know, I picked up this book because my Mother's name is also Carolyn Wall! :)

I've had the book for months but only just finally got into enough to finish it. The opening was a little hard to follow so every other time I started it, I didn't have the patience to push through and figure out the scenes & characters. However, once I did the read was good. I found the characters interesting (even more so after reading the author's prologue, when she explai...more

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Aug 14, 2009

Cheri rated it

Carolyn Wall’s debut novel begins:
“The long howl of a wolf rolls over me like a toothache. Higher up, shots ring out, the echoes stretching away till they’re not quite heard but more remembered.
There’s nobody on this strip of mountain now but me and Ida, and my grandson, Will’m. While I love the boy more than life, Ida’s a hole in another sock. She lives in the tar paper shack in back of our place, and in spite of this being the coldest winter recorded in Kentucky, she’s standing out...more

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Sep 13, 2009

Staci rated it

This is a book that I would have loved to read to my Grandpa Bill. He was born and raised in Kentucky and I grew up listening to his stories all my life. One of my favorite tales that he shared with us was about running shine for his grandfather while driving a Model A truck. He was all of thirteen! He would've loved the cadence of the speech which set the tone of this book. Olivia is one of the best written characters ever!! When author Lansdale compared Walls writing to Harper Lee's, he hit th...more

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Jul 29, 2010

Linda rated it

I heard about Sweeping Up Glass from a coworker (she loaned me her copy). She described it as a mystery. While there is a mystery element to it, it's the story of Olivia, as she grows up in Kentucky and lives her life in the same small town she was born in. The mystery is normal life-who you are, where you come from-not who dun it?
This is Wall's debut book and I cannot wait for her second book. The writing is beautiful. Toward the end it was so fast paced that I had trouble keeping things ...more

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Mar 29, 2009

M rated it

Recommends it for: those who liked To Kill a Mockingbird and God of Animals

Recommended to M by: Lisa McCormack and other sales reps

Shelves: 2009, literary-fiction, top-10-of-2009

This book came out of nowhere. Previously published by a small press, it has been virtually unknown (though Oprah's O Magazine did bestow its accolades). It is the little book that could; a gem of a novel in the same vein as a favorite of mine, God of Animals by Aryn Kyle and fairly reminiscent of one of the grandmothers of modern Southern fiction whose classic child heroine I compare every child narrator to... Harper Lee's Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird.

Olivia Harker Cross, Wing Ha...more

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Apr 30, 2010

Mary Lou rated it

Shelves: 2010

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Sweeping Up Glass gives full measure. The story is provocative, the prose is precise, and Olivia Harker is a character who doesn't stand by when wrongs are done. It's a complicated tale and yet simple, about age-old issues.

The story is set in Aurora, a small town in Kentucky, where racial prejudice supports a hate group know as the Cottoners that includes the sheriff and which hangs young black men for sport. The setting is drawn in clear detail. "The long howl of a wolf rolls ...moreSweeping Up Glass gives full measure. The story is provocative, the prose is precise, and Olivia Harker is a character who doesn't stand by when wrongs are done. It's a complicated tale and yet simple, about age-old issues.

The story is set in Aurora, a small town in Kentucky, where racial prejudice supports a hate group know as the Cottoners that includes the sheriff and which hangs young black men for sport. The setting is drawn in clear detail. "The long howl of a wolf rolls over me like a toothache." (7) "The silver-faces have lived peaceably on Big Foley for sixty-five years." (10)"In preparation for Ma'am's arrival, Pap began to whitewash the house--five gallons that he' gotten for pulling a foal." (60) "At first I thought Ida was crazy as a loon." (135) "Oh, you don't know anything, being stuck back her in these hills.. . .what could there possibly be for me anywhere else?" (248) "The nurses cluck like hens on a cold morning." 310

One particularly poignant passage is Olvia's realization "even though we grow to be women, we're still little girls. We never stop wanting our mamas. I've always hoped Ida'd come to her senses, act like she loved us. But she couldn't. She probably wanted her own ma'am--or someone--to tell her she was gonna be all right." She understands this when she tours Stipling State Hospital, the asylum where her mother went after her birth and where she sends her mother again when her mother sets herself on fire to keep Olivia from finding her father's records on the Cottoners. Olivia makes this decision reluctantly and only after being faulting herself for not understanding and treating her mother better and being told, "You were only a child. You weren't responsible for her.. . .Life is given to us, and we do what we can. Ida cannot." (p309-10)

Ida and her environment hone Olivia to be self-reliant and tough; her father Tate and black friends Junk, Love Alice and Junk's mother Miz Hanley give her moral support and love; grandson Will'm evokes her nuturing; Wing Harris, her passion.

Tate is a small store owner, moonshiner and veterinarian who finds out what's going on with the Cottoners, documents 34 hangings, and has an automobile accident that puts Olivia in the hospital for a year. Ida abandons Olivia at birth and may be certifiably crazy, but she's released from the asylum when Olivia is ten and begins making Olivia's life hell. She tells Olivia that Tate died in the accident but he actually goes to jail two months later for shooting James Arnold Phelps, one of the Cottoner leaders. Ida keeps the store and supplements her income by servicing the men in town, including the Cottoners and their leader Alton Phelps.

Wing Harris moves to town when Olivia is 15 and for almost two years they are passionate young lovers just beginning to develop their talents, his for playing the trumpet and hers for making quilts. The death of Wing's parents (dad from influenza, mom from brokenheart) is a tragedy that estranges the two, though, setting Olivia on a path of whoring, not unlike Ida's. She gets pregnant, rejects Wing's seemingly half-hearted offer to marry her, but does marry road paver Soloman Cross (Saul) who supports Ida, Olivia, and baby Pauline by moonshining and selling hardware. Miz Hanley teaches Olivia to nurse Pauline, and Saul adopts her when she's three, about the same time Wing marries Miz Grace Harris who becomes an invalid due to a lung problem. Saul dies after thirteen years of marriage of a heart attack, breaking Pauline's heart and starting a wildness in her that causes her to run away when she's fourteen.

Ida and Olivia coexist poorly. One day Pauline returns with an unnamed infant, agrees he can be William Tate (for Olivia's dad) Cross (for Saul), and leaves him for Olivia to raise. "God love me--a small, wounded thing had come to my store. But I loved this one even before I unwrapped his blanket," and deep sadness at Pauline's departure are Olivias reactions.

The sudden killing of silver wolves on Olivia's property and her decision to move her father's body from its unmarked grave, Pauline's return for Will'm who she thinks can make money in Hollywood to support them both, Wing's wife's death, and his interest in getting back together with Olivia are incidents that occur as the story unravels and the existence and role of the Cottoners and Tate's imprisonment build to a powerful climax. In the resolution, Olivia fights with Anton Phelps, figures out the whole story, and calls federal marshalls; the Cottoners are indicted, Ida dies and Wing and Olivia reunite. (less)

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Sep 10, 2010

Carrie Kahle rated it

As a child, Olivia idolizes her country storekeeper/part-time veterinarian father, and despises her mother for not loving her daughter the way other mothers love their daughters. When her mother comes back from years in a mental asylum, she makes Olivia's life a misery. Olivia's only escape is the time she spends with her father.

Then, when she is 14, Olivia and her father are in a terrible crash. After many months of her own painful recovery in the hospital, Olivia is told her father...more

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Aug 24, 2009

Nomi rated it

Shelves: adultfiction

A true great American novel destined to be a classic. Wall illuminates the beauty and horrors of the South in the early part of the twentieth century. Olivia's voice carries us through her Kentucky childhood where she was doted on by a loving father through her teens and adulthood when the mother who abandoned her returns to denigrate her over and over. Olivia finds comfort and solace with the region's African-American population and in the arms of her first love. She does not find happiness aga...more

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Aug 17, 2009

Barner rated it

I purchased this novel as I was walking through Terget the other day. What a wonderful find!!!!

This is Carolyn Wall's first novel and it is extraordinary. I actually found myself sobbing aloud as I reached the conclusion. Due to the novel's suspense, reaching the conclusion does not take long.

The characters are wonderful, the intrigue is handled so well, the author's complete control is amazing.

This is the complicated story of intersecting lives in a poor...more

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Nov 17, 2010

Cassie rated it

I don't really know how to rate this book. My feelings are very wishy-washy. It took me forever to read this book. It was slow, and there was a huge gap in Olivia's life that isn't really explained. Her daughter is hardly even a character, and I am sorry, but it seems a bit impossible to me that a woman living in Depression Era Kentucky has no idea there are Klan members and men so bad that even the Klan wouldn't take them so they had to form their own group. How ignorant and oblivious does a pe...more

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May 19, 2009

Rhlibrary added it

Shelves: great-for-book-groups, marie-s-picks

Hi. My name is Marie, and I’m a “buzz book” addict.

It started with Cutting for Stone and now I hereby declare my love for Carolyn Wall’s Sweeping Up Glass. If you are at all a To Kill a Mockingbird fan, read this. If you found Fannie Flagg’s Fried Green Tomatoes charming, read this. If Bastard Out of Carolina is one of your favorites, read this. If you were as enamored as I was with God of Animals by newcomer Aryn Kyle, read this. If you’ve never read any of those books but have a ha...more

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Sep 05, 2010

Tracy rated it

Someone gave me this book, and I did not know anything about the story line. At first I thought it was about hunting wolves, but as I read on I realized it was about so much more. I loved and feared the characters, and their voices were so real. I could feel them. I also had such a clear sense of place when I read it (rural Kentucky). This book had history and heart. My only complaint is that I did not have a sense of the years in which it took place -- I found myself trying to go back and fig...more

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Oct 11, 2009

Carol rated it

I'm so glad I accidently found this wonderful book, and can't wait to hand sell it. 40 something year old Olivia Harker Cross is eking out a living on her mountain in rural Kentucky sometime, I think, after W.W.II. Olivia has had a tough life, but she is strong and stubborn and hard-working. I like her a lot. When hunters begin killing her wolves and cutting off their right ears, she becomes involved in secrets and conspiracies in her town that have been suppressed for years. Her love for he...more

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Historical Fiction

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Mystery

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Animals > Wolves

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About Carolyn Wall

Carolyn Wall is the author of the novel Sweeping Up Glass (Poisoned Pen Press; available in bookstores August, 2008). Her short stories, articles and photographs have appeared in over 100 publications. For many years she worked as Senior Staff Writer for Persimmon Hill, the award-winning publication of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and was chief writer for the museum’s children...more

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Appalachian Leaves

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last activity Feb 05, 2012 07:26am

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East Texas Library Friends

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last activity Jan 21, 2012 07:39am

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