Gradle Bird

by J.C. Sasser

WINNER OF THE 2018 SOUTHERN BOOK PRIZE

WINNER OF THE BENJAMIN FRANKLIN SIVER AWARD FOR BEST NEW VOICE IN FICTION

WILLIE MORRIS AWARD FOR SOUTHERN FICTION FINALIST

2018 SIBA TRIO SELECTION

2017 SIBA SPRING OKRA PICK


Sixteen-year-old Gradle Bird has lived her entire life with her Grandpa, Leonard, at a seedy motel and truck stop off Georgia's I-16. But when Leonard moves her to a crumbling old house rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Ms. Annalee Spivey, Gradle is plunged into a lush, magical world much stranger and more dangerous than from the one she came.

Here she meets Sonny Joe Stitch, a Siamese Fighting Fish connoisseur overdosed on testosterone, a crippled, Bible-thumping hobo named Ceif -Tadpole- Walker, and the only true friend she will ever know, a schizophrenic genius, music-man, and professional dumpster-diver, D-5 Delvis Miles.

As Gradle falls deeper into Delvis's imaginary and fantastical world, unsettling dangers lurk, and when surfaced Gradle discovers unforeseen depths in herself and the people she loves the most.

Gradle Bird is an unusual tale of self-discovery and redemption that explores the infirmities of fatherly love, the complexities of human cruelty, and the consequences of guilt, proving they are possible to overcome no matter how dark and horrible the cause.

Genres: Fiction, Southern, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Gothic, Southern Gothic

256 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2017

About the author

J.C. Sasser was born in Savannah, Georgia and raised in rural southeast Metter, GA. She started her professional career at age twelve, working as a dishwasher, waitress, and cook at a truck stop off Georgia’s I-16. Over her life, she has worked as an envelope licker, tortoise tagger, lifeguard, Senate page, model, editor, water-polo coach, marine biologist, plant grower, and software consultant. She currently lives in a WWII barracks in the south Georgia woods with her husband, Thomas, along with their two sons, T.C. and Robert Esten, and two dogs, Boo Reedy and Batman.

Reviews

[Claire Fullerton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when I thought I had a handle on the meaning of southern fiction, on its deep-rooted history, its significance of family and sense of community, J.C. Sasser comes blazing in with both barrels to turn all notions of southern fiction on its ear. The characters in Gradle Bird conduct themselves with similar surprise—they don’t walk through a door, they bust through it; they don’t take a drag on a cigarette, they rip it.
Sixteen-year-old Gradle Bird doesn’t know her backstory. She lives in a truck-stop motel with her grandfather, Leonard, until they move to a dilapidated, haunted house in small town Georgia. All she wants is for Leonard to look her in the eye and tell her about her mother. Leonard won’t, and Gradle doesn’t know why. But Leonard is haunted by his own backstory, which unfurls in the attic in the arms of a half-dead dancing ghost. Caught in his own history, Leonard doesn’t pay attention, when two local ruffians named Sonny Joe and Creif ride up in a truck and whisk Gradle to a junkyard, where the wheels of the story are set in motion at the house of a sixty-year-old King-Fu kicking, guitar playing, country music singing, dumpster-diving orphan named Delvis, who is one of the more endearing eccentrics to ever grace a novel. Sonny Joe and Creif intend to impress Gradle by making mischief at Delvis’s expense, but things go wrong and result in Gradle and Delvis’s enduring friendship, which, the reader discovers, has its own uncanny ties that bind. This is a southern story that hallucinates; a rollicking, free-association, stream of consciousness joy ride defying description for all its air-tight perfect sense.
I absolutely loved this story. I won’t cheapen Sasser’s one of a kind voice by saying it’s quirky, rather, it is refreshingly and unapologetically right on. This is an author who won’t insult the reader by bowing to the temptation of explaining anything that could be interpreted as the oddities of the South. A main character sits at a table in a wife beater. There’s nothing campy happening here, it is simply the story’s state of affairs, best described by Delvis, who ain’t bragging, he’s just giving the reader the facts.
Read Gradle Bird and expand your horizons. Start at page one and strap yourself in. Do what I did and savor each uniquely spun line. Finish the book, and if you get your head back, run tell all your friends.

[Eldonna Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a certain kind of magic woven into this crazy-good book beyond the story, beyond its idiosyncratic characters, even beyond the marvelous artwork uniquely stamped into the pages--all of which I loved. I normally devour a book that I'm smitten with but GRADLE BIRD was like one of those wonderfully weird dreams that you're not ready to wake from. I read it in small bits so I could fully immerse myself in the mesmerizing world of a quirky teen who tromps around in her dead mother's shiny green dress, her ornery grandfather Leonard--who secretly dances with the ghost of his long-gone beloved, a wanna-be crippled preacher Ceif and his usually-drunk buddy Sonny Jo and, finally, brilliant but misunderstood schizophrenic singer-songwriter D-5 Delvis Miles The Lone Singer.

I've never specifically sought out "Southern Gothic" and frankly couldn't begin to describe the of rules the genre. What I do know is that GRADLE BIRD seduces the reader into overlapping worlds of lush, southern countryside and the dried dead petals of a forgotten garden. Sasser manages to accomplish what few debut authors do, weave a fresh story with a cast of extraordinary yet believable characters that make you care what happens to them, even the ones you don't like all that much. Beyond that, the writing is pure gold, and I'm already fan-girling this author and her next book. GRADLE BIRD took my breath away, then blew it back to me smelling like carrots and moonvine.

[Susan Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is extraordinary. I’m not even sure I can find all the words to adequately express how I felt about it. It is spellbinding and mesmerizing, a feast for all of your senses, poignant and bittersweet and funny and dark and sorrowful and magnificent (my favorite scene might be the art of dumpster diving.). There is magic in this book, magic that worked its way into my heart page after page. And the characters....possibly the most memorable characters I’ve ever read; Gradle Bird, trying to figure out life and love...she is loyal and hopeful and loving..always a real true friend; Grandpa mourning a lost love, harboring family secrets; Cief and Sonny Joe, the Bible-thumping former hobo and his friend who breeds and fights Siamese-fighting fish; Annalee, a ghost; and D-5 Delvis Miles The Lone Singer, Gradle’s true friend. J. C. Sasser’s imagination and voice are beyond anything I’ve read lately!

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so much love for this book. I wanted the story to last forever but couldn't help devouring it.
Gradle lives with her grandpa who has barely looked at her her whole life. Lonely and lost, after moving into a house left to her grandpa, Gradle befriends two boys. On that same she meets Delvis and is soon drawn into his magical world. I fell in love with Gradle and Delvis, two wonderfully written characters. This fantastical story tells of friendship, loss, love, and self discovery.

[Leah Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fascinating concoction of imagination! Thank you, Ms. Sasser for creating such a clever and original voice. About 3/4's of the way through, I did get a little tired of the "cute" but it was consistent and within character. And the ending was a delightful surprise. Gradle Bird is a strong, independent and powerful girl, easy to love and admire. I want my own green chiffon dress!

[Dawnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book as a gift from a friend. I loved it. This is a Southern Gothic tale that wraps you up in it. I loved characters, the setting and the writing is compelling. Amazing debut. If you love southern fiction don't miss this gem.

Dawnny-Book Gypsy
Novels N Latte Book Club
Hudson Valley NY

[Jan Carpenter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just plain bizarre

Ridiculous story line with shallow characters. Totally idiotic. A young girl and her grandfather live together, each possessing bizarre sightings of long ago deceased people and hold " secrets" they believe shaped their lives. The so called secrets are ridiculous. Silly story, silly characters, silly ending. Save your money! Dull and incredibly boring.

[Gina Heron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous. Ethereal. Magical. Glorious. Southern. Epic. <3

[Story Circle Book Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Does family history matter? Maybe not, but it certainly can solve mysteries and diminish obsessive thoughts, at least in J. C. Sasser's beautifully written YA, Gradle Bird. Of course a bit of magic doesn't hurt.

Sixteen-year-old Gradle Bird has lived with her Grandpa, Leonard, all of her life. They are at a seedy motel off Georgia's I-16 when Leonard receives a notice that the county is about to tear down a crumbling old house that is part of his past. He moves there, taking Gradle with him. Though they are not affectionate, they are each other's only family.

The house is haunted by the ghost of a woman named Annalee Spivey, the first woman Leonard ever loved. As soon as he climbs the ladder to the attic, he can see her and dances with her in a long-awaited reunion. When Gradle looks in the attic, though, she sees her grandpa dancing with air.

In her new home town Gradle meets two teen boys, Ceif Walker, a crippled, Bible-thumping hobo and Sonny Joe Stitch, who saved Ceif once despite his usual self-interest. She also meets the "only true friend" she will ever know, a schizophrenic genius, D-5 Delvis Miles. As Gradle falls deeper into Delvis's imaginary and fantastical world, unsettling dangers rise up, waiting to pull her in.

I loved being pulled into this mysterious world of love, loss, hope, magic, and ghosts. Gradle Bird is a tale of self-discovery and redemption set in a bizarre world. It explores jealousy, fatherly love, the complexities of human cruelty, and the consequences of guilt. Joy and tears mix in this coming of age tale, which is beautifully rendered in Sasser's evocative prose.

by B. Lynn Goodwin
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

[Sonia · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was a weird one. I thought it did a good job making me believe in the ghost of Annalee and the magic around it. The first 2 pages of Chapter 3 really were the worst for me. I found the writing bizarre - it was as if she found as many different quirky phrases as possible and threw them all in at the same time. I think a lot of readers might find this appealing. I got over it and kept reading.

The book did keep my interest and I wanted to know how it ended. I had to suspend opinions and beliefs and just read it for what it is. If you're willing to buy into the world Sasser creates, I think it makes for a good story in the end.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I was finishing this book yesterday, the old song from Hee Haw came to me..."Gloom Despair and Agony on Me" The book was an emotionally wringing journey from beginning to end, so I guess its purpose was accomplished. I believe I have discovered that southern gothic novels are not for me. Also, I have always had problems with books where dogs are harmed. The green chiffon dress became a pitiful symbol and everyone in this story probably needed to take a good bath.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was bothered how the book seemed to tread so lightly over complex topics of abuse, mental illness, addiction, and exploitation. There is a lot of pain to the story, but it’s not explored in search of insights to the characters. As a result, I finished the novel without feeling like I understood any of the motives behind the actions the characters took despite having been down a long journey of trauma starting from the first chapter.

[Donna Everhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very different, and VERY good! Highly recommend.

If you like Stephen King and Dorothy Allison, you'll love Gradle Bird. This is a story uniquely its own. In my view, J.C. Sasser's writing is southern gothic horror at its best.

[Kathleen Rodgers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can a savior come in the form of a sixteen-year-old girl in a green prom dress and cat-eyed glasses? A phenomenal debut novel by gifted storyteller J. C. Sasser, Gradle Bird flips southern gothic fiction on its head and turns ghosts stories inside out. Forget everything you thought you knew about this genre and all preconceived notions about coming-of-age stories set in the contemporary south.

From the moment we meet Gradle and her grandpa, Leonard, we are reeled into a gritty story about survival, regrets, loss, forgiveness, and eventually redemption. If you’ve lost faith in humanity, pick up this book and get absorbed in this fictional world where love and devotion sometimes push boundaries.

Gradle is empathetic. We should all be so lucky to have her as a friend. She is scrappy and wise and loyal to the point of heartbreak. Her tender heart leads her where others want the best for her—or want something from her.

When Grandpa is summoned by a letter to leave the Fireside Motel off I-16 in Georgia, the only home Gradle has ever known, they load up his vintage Chrysler New Yorker Deluxe and head to the falling-down two-story house on Spivey Street, once a showplace in the small southern town of Janesboro, Georgia. Rumor has it the house is haunted by Miss Annalee Spivey. Even the locals cross to the other side of the street to avoid this old place with its porch swing and attic window.

Once Grandpa and Gradle pull into the driveway on a rainy day and stare up at the house entangled in moon vine, nothing will ever be the same. From now on, each character’s actions and motivations—not just those of Grandpa and Gradle—will impact other characters in this communion of saints and sinners where past and present mingle.
Gradle is fearless, an observer of life and the human condition. She has a heart for the outcast and downtrodden: the unsavory Sonny Joe revving his engine and flexing his wiry muscles, for instance, or the Bible-thumping crippled preacher-boy, Ceif. Then there’s the one and only D-5 Delvis Miles The Lone Singer, strumming his guitar and fighting off outlaws at the edge of town.

From its cover to its chapter headings, Gradle Bird is a work of art. Pay attention to the little bird on the chapter headings: It hops around from chapter to chapter.

If you’ve ever had to scrape together money to buy food, pay rent, put a roof over your head, this book is for you. If you’ve ever lived with pain and regret and guilt, regardless of whether you live on the outskirts of society or in the finest house in town, or if you’ve ever loved someone so much that your heart leaps and dances and waits just to be in his or her presence, this book is for you.

This book, then, is for everybody. We’ve all been one these people at some point. Even the richest among us have loved.
The book’s striking imagery will stay with me for some time: the green prom dress, the baptismal font in the abandoned church, Delvis’s shack near the town dump, and the attic in the Spivey house that seemed designed for music and dancing.

You might want to grab a hanky as you near the end of this novel, which made me simultaneously weep and smile. Gradle Bird was shortlisted in the 2015 William Faulkner-William Wisdom novel competition and was selected as a 2017 Pulpwood Queens book club pick, Deep South Magazine’s Summer Reading Pick, Trio 18, and SIBA Spring Okra pick by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association

~ Kathleen M. Rodgers, novelist

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Calling Gradle Bird a Southern Gothic novel is a bit of a stretch for me. Gradle Bird does take place in the South. It is a work of Southern Fiction by a Southern writer. It is strange Southern Fiction with some really bizarre characters, including a dancing ghost. Magical Realism, maybe. However, that doesn’t really define Gradle Bird’s genre either.

Honestly, I found this novel weird for weirds sake more than anything else. It just didn’t work. The story didn’t work. The ghost didn’t work. The characters didn’t work for me either. Just a bunch of whacky people thrown together to form a whacky story. Every character, including the ghost, needed a good scrub with a bar of soap. I kind of imagined dust hovering around these characters like Pig-Pen from Charlie Brown making them a bit comical more than deep and dark.

Ugh! Despite Gradle Bird’s many awards, it was a big disappointment for me. I’m not really sure what all the kudos are about because it was so weird and boring that I barely got through it. Kind of hate to say that as it was a gift from a friend and I had Gradle Bird on my list to read from Okra Picks. Maybe I expected too much. Maybe I’ve read too many amazing Southern Gothic books to be able to appreciate this authors first attempt at it. Was it supposed to be Southern Gothic Mystical Realism? It didn’t work.

[Susan Cushman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met J. C. Sasser at the 2018 Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend last month in Nacadoches, Texas. She was on a panel with one of my favorite authors and friend, Nicole Seitz, and a new author-friend Brenda McLain. Their work was described as “southern gothic,” a genre that J.C. said she wasn’t familiar with until her work was described using the term. She was talking about her debut novel Gradle Bird.

After I got home from the weekend I looked up “southern gothic” to learn more about this genre, and how it might differ from “southern noir.” Here are a few definitions for southern gothic:

The stories often focus on grotesque themes. While it may include supernatural elements, it mainly focuses on damaged, even delusional, characters.

Benjamin Fisher's definition of the literary Gothic as something that evokes “anxieties, fears, terrors, often in tandem with violence, brutality, rampant sexual impulses, and death,” and it becomes clear how the tradition of the Southern Gothic plays into already established ideas about the South as an “ill” region.


When I was visiting with J.C. after the panel, I told her that I thought the protagonist of my novel Cherry Bomb, “Mare,” and her protagonist “Gradle” would be good friends if they knew each other. After finishing reading Gradle Bird this morning, I still believe they are kindred spirits, but they move in very different spiritual realms. Where Cherry Bomb’s pages are filled with weeping icons and art and graffiti and nuns, Gradle Bird’s are lush with ghosts and mental illness and the rural South’s unique brand of Christianity. Both books have plenty of darkness—abandonment, trauma, and what the author Anne Lamott would call “love in the intergenerational ruins.” And both have varying degrees of redemption for some of the characters.

As I read I couldn’t help but think of another author whose work captivated me a few years back—Haven Kimmel. Especially her books, Something Rising, and The Used World, and Iodine. Sasser, like Kimmel, captures southern noir with great depth and artistic skill. And of course there are obvious comparisons to be drawn to O’Connor, Lee, McCullers, and Faulkner.

Sasser worked as a dishwasher, waitress, and cook at truck stop off Georgia’s I-16 when she was twelve, so she comes by Gradle’s character and the book’s setting honestly. But I’d love to know how her amazing imagination came up with the Japanese fighting fish, the brilliant schizophrenic, and the ghost living in the attic. I won’t share more of the plot (no spoilers here) so you’ll have to read the book to experience Gradle’s wild and heart-rending adventures. It’s definitely worth the read!

[Monica Hills · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some amazing ratings and has won several awards but this was one of the weirdest books I have ever read and I have read a ton of books. Gradle is a young girl who is very poor and has only her Grandfather to rely on. However her grandfather does not talk much or have much to do with her. They move to a decrepit house that is haunted. Gradle meets two boys and this leads to even more problems as one of the boys causes her to do things that she wouldn’t normally do. Gradle also becomes friends with an older, mentally challenged man after she inadvertently causes his dog to die. The story only gets stranger after that as the reader learns who the ghost is and more connections are made. Even though this book is strange it did keep me reading but I don’t know that I would recommend it to others.

[Jonni Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What a story. Sasser brings to life the most interesting and flawed characters in this debut novel. Her writing... oh my... words strung together that sing... words that make you care... this writing is amazing... Gradle Bird will surely go down as one of the top Southern Gothic novels of this time... Please read this book. Today!

[Jeremy Brundage · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hard to describe. The characters are far out there, and so are some of the story lines, but as a southerner I also didn’t question any of it, just sat there like, yeah that tracks. Heartwarming and well written, definitely worth reading.

[Monica George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book of my 2020

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightfully weird story with delightfully weird characters. When I realized the story included a ghost, I might have groaned a little but Annalee became one of my favorite characters. She’s the only one who didn’t desperately need a bath😂.

I enjoyed uncovering why things were as they were and seeing how things would continue to unfold. I wouldn't describe it as a Southern gothic tale though - it has its own little spiritual and magical realm within Southern fiction.

[Emma Helmken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent character development.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

DIANE ....thank you for being my " real true friend " !
and thank you for sending me this excellent book ;-)

This is one of those " fall in love with the characters , can't put it down , hold your breath till the end , but don't want it to end " books .

[C. Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the beginning, I had doubts about this story. It was Southern Gothic, no doubt, but it felt so depressing and hopeless that I pondered how a plot could evolve from such a mixture of misfit characters. Then when the taste of the spiritual was thrown in, I wondered, what the heck is this? Turns out this book is as unique a Southern tale as I've ever read. Intensely realistic. The characters run deep, even the ones that first ring shallow. Each takes a turn, carries an arc of their own, and about a quarter of the way through the book I found myself looking forward to the night's reading. As has been said by others, Gradle Bird hints of Scout Finch, but then takes off on a journey of her own, in her own way. Her independence and honest intensity make you love the character, and if the ending doesn't touch you, you have no soul. Highly recommended.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unique touching story

So often, we let the past haunt us. The "what ifs" strangle us like the moonvine frequently mentioned in this story. This is a story of several strange folks trying to make sense of their crazy worlds. There's love, forgiveness and understanding. All beautiful things.

[Kathryn Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gradle Bird is a lyrically written, timeless story filled with memorable characters that float off the pages and into our hearts. I was literally unable to put this book down! Sasser is a gifted author and I would highly recommend that readers everywhere bump this book to the top of their Want to Read list and savor the experience!

[Karen Conner · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like Southern Gothic, you will like this one. The writing is magical at times, as are the characters.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unlike anything I've read before, that's for sure. I'm still not sure what to make of the story & characters but, without a doubt, it's compelling to read due to it's oddities .. and boy were there some very odd things. I tried to look beyond the oddities and see more meaning ... loneliness, sorrow, guilt, and, in the end, forgiveness.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a rollercoaster ride this story is! Do not get off in the middle of the ride. Stay on to the end.

I laughed; I felt anger; I felt sadness; I felt awe; I felt magic; I felt hope; I felt humiliation; I felt spiritually alive; and I felt forgiveness. This story brings out human emotion in a most magical and simple way. Do yourself a favor and read it.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5
This was dark and grimy and hopeful and sad. Beautifully written, a real one of a kind.