Jewel

by Bret Lott

(Oprah's Book Club)

Jewel and her husband, Leston, have been blessed by a fifth child, a girl they name Brenda Kay. But Brenda Kay, who was born with Down's syndrome, is also a challenge. In this inspirational and deeply moving audiobook, Jewel realizes that Brenda Kay is her special gift from God.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Contemporary, Family, Novels, Chick Lit

535 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Bret Lott is the bestselling author of fourteen books, most recently the nonfiction collection Letters and Life: On Being a Writer, On Being a Christian (Crossway 2013) and the novel Dead Low Tide (Random House 2012). Other books include the story collection The Difference Between Women and Men, the nonfiction book Before We Get Started: A Practical Memoir of the Writer’s Life, and the novels Jewel, an Oprah Book Club pick, and A Song I Knew by Heart. His work has appeared in, among other places, The Yale Review, The New York Times, The Georgia Review and in dozens of anthologies.

Born in Los Angeles, he received his BA in English from Cal State Long Beach in 1981, and his MFA in fiction from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1984, where he studied under James Baldwin. From 1986 to 2004 he was writer-in-residence and professor of English at The College of Charleston, leaving to take the position of editor and director of the journal The Southern Review at Louisiana State University. Three years later, in the fall of 2007, he returned to The College of Charleston and the job he most loves: teaching.

His honors include being named Fulbright Senior American Scholar and writer-in-residence to Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, speaking on Flannery O’Connor at The White House, and having served as a member of the National Council on the Arts from 2006 to 2012. Currently he is nonfiction editor of the journal Crazyhorse. He and his wife, Melanie, live in South Carolina.

Reviews

[Deanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

I started this book years ago during my "Read every single book from Oprah's book club" stage. Looking back now I realize that I really enjoyed some of them but I didn't finish quite a few of them. I picked this one up a few weeks ago, skimming through it to refresh my memory as best I could and then finished reading it.

This book takes placed in Mississippi in 1943. Jewel who already has five children finds herself pregnant with her sixth child. The baby, Brenda Kay is born with Down's Syndrome. The family is devastated but Jewel is determined to do whatever she can to make Brenda Kay's life easier.

I've gone back and forth rating this one. I just had a really hard time connecting with Jewel. I admired her in some ways but really had an issue with some of her decisions. That being said I respected the fact that she wanted the best for her child and would do anything to make that happen.

I'm glad I went back and finally finished this one but in the end I just felt like something was missing and I couldn't get past many of Jewel's actions and her ego.

Thank goodness that I now have Goodreads to find new books to read.

[Shai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book over a decade ago and I had no time to read it then. Recently I found this while I was decluttering and I was thinking of just donating this. But my mind says that I should at least give this a chance to be read.

I was not disappointed on this wonderful novel. This novel is rich about a lot of Jewel's stories from her experiences with her mom, dad, grandmother, school, colored people such as Cathedral, up to her husband Leston and children.

I can see a that there are a lot of not-so-good past reviews and thank goodness that I didn't succumb on believing them right away. I trust my judgment on why not I should give this a try and it didn't failed to amuse me. The author is really good on narrating in a woman's point of view and every phase on Jewel's life makes you anticipate what will happen next.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 gives birth to a girl with Down's Syndrome. We follow Jewel through every quiet and inconsequential moment of her life, each of which is laden with Important Symbolism that inspires to make the reader feel moved to tears, but instead inspires boredom with its mawkish, sentimental tone.

The book ostensibly follows the titular character as she struggles with the highs and lows that accompany raising her developmentally disabled daughter, Brenda Kay, a character who never quite transcends the nascent, cloying vignettes given to her. Her interactions with siblings are saccharine sweet and not even remotely believable: everyone has the patience of a saint around Brenda Kay and, in a sweeping, Lifetime Made For TV Movie manner, all learn the true meaning of family and compassion through their little sister. Gag.

Lott's writing is so predictably bland, so sentimental, that it often comes very close to being a parody of good writing. Every detail of Jewel's life is rendered in painful detail, her every thought captured in a hazy but overly-analyzed snapshot. At the "climax" (a term I will use very, very loosely here) of the book, she is among the sheets of wash hanging in her backyard, a location she chooses to have a pithy recollection of her deceased father and to scrutinize the actions of her stalwart husband. As she ruminates, she touches the sheets and gazes into a middle distance, both of which are supposed to be Significant but come off as Irrelevant and Obvious.

These pretentious strokes would be made more tolerable if Lott's favorite artistic flourish wasn't stringing multiple verbs together after a single subject and/or creating a list of actions that devolves the story into minutia:

"Her eyes were still closed, her lips still quivering, and I snuggled her close, my nipple hard and ready, a drop of clear wet poised at the tip, and then my baby took me in, started life, taking from me what I was glad to give." (p. 55-56)

WHAT?! That sentence is worthless.

Even worse is the snail's pace at which the book meanders. Nearly 100 pages pass before Brenda Kay's disability is revealed, purely because Lott feels the need to complicate the story with background information about Jewel, none of which provides much more insight into her character. It is simply a device used to pad out a story so basic it could have been a charming and potentially powerful novella.

So why am I giving Jewel two stars instead of one? The sequence of vignettes that makes up the family's time in California is actually incredibly interesting. Here the essence of the story is captured and some of the characters become slightly more sympathetic.

Then it tumbles back into hogwash.

[Shannon Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've worked with special needs adults for 21 years and have interviewed many, many families. And I live in Mississippi. And I am a mom. This book is spot on. Like others who have commented, I was frequently struck with amazement that it was written by a man.

From a literary point of view, I'm not sure all of the developmental information about Jewel was needed, but much of it was. It probably could have been condensed. But to the reviewers who say it was slow and tedious and lacked a satisfactory climax, I would say that is the point. Mothers of exceptional children, especially of that generation, have frequently talked of their lives revolving around a bus schedule, as well as constant pushing of the child and the systems that are supposed to serve her. Siblings frequently describe feeling pushed aside. Besides, Jewel is a complicated person. I like her and I don't. I agree with her and I don't. To me, that just makes it believable.

I think the tediousness of the prose follows the same thought process as Steinbeck's long drawn out, boring description of the Joad family's drive through the dust bowl. We want to feel characters' joys and sadness and anger, but not the less dramatic emotions like boredom and never-ending busy-ness. Does that mean they should be ignored in literature?

As for the setting, it is describing days gone by so i didn't get too wrapped up in analyzing the truth of its portrayal. But even today, I know people like Leston and the grandmother, and even Cathedral. So the thickness of the southern stereotypes didn't bother me that much.

In all, it is a must-read for people who work with special needs families. The methods today are much different, but the driving emotions are still very relevant in today's disability climate.

[Erin Mcnamara · Rating 1 out of 5]

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 dialogue in "Jewel" was excruciating. I am not a literary genius so I am not going to "read into" anything, I am going to read what is in front of me. Don't waste your time on this book, unless you need a cure for insomnia.

[Rosemaryknits · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 don't know why this should matter, but it really got on my nerves. The story would have been interesting from the first person perspective of the father, too. Why didn't he write it this way?

I didn't get this book at all. What I *did* get is how very much this author hates Mississippi! That came through, loud and clear.

[R.W. Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Jewel, by Bret Lott, to be a stunning read. As a mother to a special needs son--my forever son--I admire the perspective, detail, and heart Lott brought to this novel. Beautifully written, Jewel is a clearly defined character I find relatable to as a reader, a writer, and as a mother. Loved this book so much. Highly recommend.

[Beth F · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 anybody cringe and I couldn’t afford to buy books. Plus I’ve always been conscious of the fact that beggars can’t be choosers so I accepted them. In the spring of 2004, I randomly picked this book up and started to read it. I never finished it, which is highly unusual for me because I always finish books. Always.

So when I came across the book sitting on a shelf in my book case recently, I was struck with the realization that I had read half the book but clearly never finished because the bookmark was still inside. I skimmed a few pages and realized the first half of the book was familiar but the second half was not. So then I wracked my brain trying to figure out what had made me put the book down. I realized that I’d been reading this book right smack dab in the middle of a major life changing event for me and must have forgotten the book in the shuffle of an out of state move, a major job change and a raging mid-20’s crisis.

It never even occurred to me that I may actually have put the book down because it was boring and that at the time I was reading it, I was a fabulous young person with a fantastic social life and a hot ass and I had so many more interesting things to do than read a boring book. Obviously that isn’t the case now because I’ve finally finished the book and can’t wait to rid it’s presence from my bookshelf.

As a major bonus, I read this book for a book challenge set forth by The Next Best Book Club (an extremely active group here on Good Reads). For 25 points, the challenge was to read a book you started but never finished. Jewel, here I come again!

In short, the book is about how a rural Mississippi family coped with the birth of a Downs Syndrome child in the 1940’s. The book talks about the difficulties they faced in Mississippi. In the 1950’s, the family moves to California hoping to find more advanced learning opportunities for their mentally handicapped daughter. The author’s writing style is conversational in what I can only imagine is a rural Mississippi dialect. And being truthful to the era that the novel took place in, the author doesn’t shy away from freely and frequently using words like “retarded”, “nigger”, “cracker” and “colored” for both descriptions and titles for people. Now, the intent of using words like this was probably to pull the reader into the story and make it feel like you were really there and experiencing life next to these people (there are some books that do this successfully). Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect on me and every time I came across one of these words, it would miraculously fly off the page and slap me viciously upside the head, which jarred me from the story and made me cringe. So yes, I clearly grew up PC in the 90’s.

Overall, I’d say that the premise of the book sounded much more interesting than it actually was. That’s not to say it was horribly bad, but since nothing really seemed to happen, the biggest strength of the book was in dealing with the emotions felt by members of the family. I have the feeling that if someone in my family had Downs Syndrome, I may have liked this book more because I may have identified with the characters. But since I don’t, I approached the book hoping to learn something or be entertained or perhaps find something new to think about, but that wasn’t the case. And so it bored me.

[Dyana · Rating 5 out of 5]

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. Her husband, Leston, strongly opposes the move. This is about one mother's love, devotion, and dedication to her special needs daughter (who never progresses beyond the mental age of six) and the roller coaster involvement for each member of the family. Jewel's dedication to Brenda Kay is honest and genuine even sometimes to the detriment of the rest of the family. But there are also tender scenes of family love as well as Jewel's personal duel with God. Hard to believe it was written by a man!

[Carla Nicolosi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was so happy to FINALLY get through this book. I always feel obligated to finish books I start but had a tough time with this one. The story is a good one but written in a way that jumps back and forth between the protagonist's childhood and adulthood which I didn't care for. It did get much better late in the book but I've come to the conclusion that Oprah and I have a difference of opinion regarding praiseworthy books.

[Carolyn Payne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a sad sack of a woman. and way too much use of the N-word.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 to California despite all obstacles, but to me she sacrificed a lot more than their things to get there, starting with Leston.

It's a great book for discussion, especially when everyone in the group didn't love it :)

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 touching moments between Brenda Kay and her other siblings. They treated her so well with such maturity I was amazed.

Now the not so good points: It was extremely slow moving. For such an emotionally charged topic, I felt little emotion reading the book. No kinds of tugs on my heart strings, no tears, no contemplation, etc. I did not feel much emotion towards any of the characters, even Jewel. She kept getting on my nerves how pushy she was about everything. I did not understand Leston or their marriage. I was touched with a few scenes with Brenda Kay and her siblings (one of my good points), yet the siblings seemed so fake. Having a mother give all of her energy to one sibling, no matter the circumstances, should have involved some instance of jealously and then guilt for feeling jealous. Especially considering the family became so poor caring for Brenda Kay. Never once did any of the siblings display any of those feelings that I would consider understandable. And lastly, what was up with all the typos?

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 added to the family. Which she obviously did based on the love everyone has for her. I found much of the book to leave me feeling sad but can also appreciate the love the family has for each other even as they go through the many struggles and trials they experience.

[Tabitha Vohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a heart-rending book; one that touches so effortlessly on the depths of pain and happiness that the human spirit can endure. It is a beautiful, thoughtful story; one with the message of the hope that is found through perseverance, forgiveness, and finding the joy in even the most trying of situations, even those that become a life-long commitment.

This story is not only about Jewel, although a large portion of it follows her journey as a cast-off orphan to a mother of five and lifelong caregiver to her mentally-challenged daughter. But it is also about a husband who sacrifices home, children who sacrifice a normal childhood and a mother's attention. It's about the effects of racism in the deep South and about the individual's struggle with faith; in God, in themselves. In short, this novels delves into so many facets of our existence that we surely question, struggle with, seek to find peace with, in our own lives.

The description is heavy at times, unnecessary in some places (especially in my impatience during the final chapters); however, it is exquisite writing nonetheless and literary fans will surely appreciate it.

This was a novel that broke my heart and mended it at the same time and left me feeling wholly satisfied at its conclusion, sad to part with these beloved characters. Well worth the time and effort!

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

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. Towards the end of the book Lott captures this beautifully by writing,

"My life would never end, I saw, . . .the only true victory any mother could ever hope for: the looking of a child, whether retarded or not, to you for what wisdom you could give away before you left for whatever recokoning you had with the God who'd given you that wisdom in the first place."

My favorite part was chapter 15 when the story of Jewel and her husband is told while the present day husband and wife are heading for a rare romantic tryst.

And lastly, it's always fun to have the city you live in named in a book! (page 194)!!!

[LemonLinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely a thoughtful read - not fast paced or exciting - but issue and character driven. You meet Jewel as she discovers she is pregnant with her 6th child in rural Mississippi in 1943. Immediately you realize that the baby is not normal in some aspect and once the baby, Brenda Kay, is diagnosed with Down's Syndrome, it is evident that the lives of Jewel, her other five children and her husband are forever changed. This is a mother's journey of reflection of her past life, her present dilemma of how to improve Brenda Kay's fate and her endless future of daily tasks which consume her life even into old age. But over the years she becomes her daughter's strongest advocate. She is willing, able and determined to journey anywhere and at anytime to find the best possible education/training/life for her daughter.

Read this one when you wish to be challenged and want to learn more about families who openly accept, indeed embrace, a mentally challenged child. I thought the characters were strong and the story felt real to me.

[The Dusty Jacket · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I say unto you that the baby you be carrying be yo’ hardship, be yo’ test in this world. This be my prophesying unto you, Miss Jewel…The Lord smiling down on you this way.” This is what Jewel Chandler Hilburn was told about her unborn child—her sixth and last. It was 1943 and she had already been blessed abundantly with a good marriage to a loving man, five beautiful children, and a comfortable life in the woods of Mississippi. With this child, Jewel just wanted a living, breathing baby with ten fingers and ten toes. Certainly, that couldn’t be too much to ask? But life can change in an instant and Jewel soon finds herself with a baby who is both a blessing and a burden and who will forever change the way she views life and love.

Bret Lott delivers a poignant and touching story about a mother’s relationship with her special needs daughter. Jewel is a woman who has lived a thousand lives and has seen hardship and tenderness, cruelty and kindness, but the heart of this story is the bond she shares with her daughter, Brenda Kay. Lott brings to the surface the gut-wrenching and life-altering moment when a mother looks upon her precious child—when heart and head finally reach mutual agreement—and says the words, “Something’s wrong”. We feel the heartbreak as Jewel mourns the future that she has imagined for her daughter that will never be and we see her burdened with the regret of not being there for her other children or her husband. Life is no longer measured in minutes or months, but in milestones and Jewel is there to celebrate each and every one of Brenda Kay’s. She even organizes a family picnic when Brenda Kay takes her first step at age five.

"Jewel" is a celebration of the love between a mother and child. Bret Lott reminds us of the tremendous gift that our children give us. As each day brings with it some amount of pain, joy, frustration, heartache, sadness, and love, we are also reminded that it is one day less that we have with them all to ourselves for the job of a parent is to love our children, protect them, guide them, and then let them go so that they can make lives of their own. It is a bittersweet role that we take on willingly and relinquish reluctantly. Our legacy is often measured through our children. They carry on our hopes, our dreams, our stories, and a bit of ourselves. As Jewel said, “My life would never end, I saw, not even in my own Brenda Kay, because of those eyes turned to me and asking what to do, the only true victory any mother could ever hope for: the looking of a child…to you for what wisdom you could give away before you left for whatever reckoning you had with the God who’d given you that wisdom in the first place.” Our children are indeed a blessing and a burden, but through their words, actions, and deeds, we too are able to see the Lord smiling down at us.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 taught her: that she can fix situations, fix her own life. Now she arms herself with the belief that she can fix her daughter and sets out on a life-long, no-holds-barred journey to do exactly that. Interesting thoughts on devotion to family, husband/wife roles, what it means to have "quality of life," and how a person is shaped by past experiences.

[Tej · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the pace was a bit slow, I thought it was well-crafted. I especially liked the depiction of a marriage when the partners have opposing wants and there is no room for compromise. It is a universal subject that, I think, all partnerships experience at least once. I also liked following the growth of the character of Jewel, not only for her personally but also seeing it through the perspective of American society when it, too, was experiencing a tremendous change during the post-WWII years and into the Civil Rights era. Certainly worth reading and has room for much discussion in a book club setting.

[Chloe (Always Booked)]

I wanted to like this book or at least read it all the way through but I was so disgusted and distracted by the overuse of the N word I couldn’t get on board with our main character or the story. Yes it was culturally relevant for the time but that doesn’t make it pleasant or even palatable to read. DNF.

[Karoline · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my all-time favorite book. It's powerful.

[Saleh MoonWalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Onvan : Jewel - Nevisande : Bret Lott - ISBN : 671042572 - ISBN13 : 9780671042578 - Dar 535 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 1991

[Jacinda S · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give this 2 1/2 if they allowed 1/2 stars. It took me forever to finish it and was skimming towards the end.

There were parts that grabbed me … and then parts that just dragged. There were parts I found beautiful and thought provoking and thoughts I could barely trudge through.

It was hard to see a very offensive racial word written so often - which I had seen pointed out in reviews prior to me reading it - but I did appreciate the way Jewel, the main character, evolved in the way she viewed her use of the word. She grew and learned how grossly inappropriate and demeaning and offensive it was. She realized how she had grown up in an area where it had been used so flippantly that she truly hadn’t known any better but when she did know better she tried to teach her husband to think & act differently and she herself thought & acted differently. It was interesting to compare the racial mindsets of people living in one part of the country with those living in a completely different part of the country. I can attest that there is a lot of truth to that and the two parts of the country I’ve lived in aren’t even so extreme as Mississippi and California.

Overall, this is a story I feel could have been told in a lot shorter book. Definitely not a favorite.

[Suzanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

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. It was appropriately used for the time period and characters' morality.

Contrary to what some others have said, I don't think the author hates Mississippi, nor did I find it in any way awkward that a male wrote in female first person. To the former criticism - I don't want to give away too much of the story, but the state relates more to other issues than to Mississippi itself (restriction and confinement vs. power and freedom, that sort of thing) and most any other place could have been chosen, just change the descriptions of what is oppressive about it. To the latter - this has been done and done and done, the book is outstanding, and author gender is irrelevant. From having worked with developmentally disabled people and their families myself, I can confirm that the mother is usually the one doing the bulk of the caregiving (like in most families), and therefore to suggest that the story should have been written from the father's point of view is to suggest an entirely different book.

Much is made about the siblings' relationships in other commentaries. I will say this didn't bother me much. The main character, the mother to them all, is so wrapped up in the disabled child that, after the disability is revealed, she is rather obsessed about that child. The author does not say that this is okay or good, it simply is. And in that relationship is a certain level of uninvolvement as far as the other children, which I think the author makes the reader aware of mostly by omission. I think it's an exaggeration to say the other children are perfect with their sister, but they do reflect the loving and accepting attitude their parents have. Also, it is made clear they didn't get away with much, and I doubt a bad attitude would have been tolerated.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys novels about human character and condition, and the struggles each of us face as we journey through life.

[Nancy Freund · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will surely read this one again. Some novels are so beautiful in their settings and their characterization that many pages expressions that beg to be underlined. Reading Jewel was a game of hurry, underline, see-what's-next, and SLOW DOWN to make this book last. Much the same pacing as the Hilburn family lives by, with their Mississippi roots and their vibrant Los Angeles years. Lott is certainly one of the rare male writers who inhabits his characters fully -- male and female, children, elderly, black and white -- and brings them to the page with remarkable realism. He handles the teenage girl's perspective as she nears her new home in LA, the adult woman's perspective as she raises her children and makes a life for her family despite the odds, and her boys' viewpoints as they begin families of their own, and her cigarette-smoking husband Leston. With simple gestures, Lott uses Leston's cigarette to stand for the dialogue he is unable to speak. He twirls the brim of his hat by a hospital bed, and no dialogue is needed. Like many wives, Jewel knows how to read her husband's silent gestures and the reader understands their simple and undeniable love.
Fact is I met this author at a conference in Geneva -- was fortunate to take a workshop with him, but for some reason I had not read this stunning novel until now. His inscription says he hopes I'll enjoy this tale of a mother's love. Indeed I did. And if I am lucky enough to meet him again, I'll suggest he add to that inscription -- a mother's, a daughter's, a wife's love, and in fact a city's love for its people and reluctant but certain progress a place like LA is known for. This novel made me proud of California and its public education, despite its many challenges, even now. I'd put Lott in the same camp with Stegner, in his importance among California writers. And that's just a bonus.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 author describes the main characters baptism. His descriptions of how it is for country or small town people to have to make a run into "New Orleans" for those occasional medical reasons or such brought back memories too. At times it is painful to read of "the hard road" that so many poor people walk thru this life on - you want it to stop but yet can't wait to find out how these lives work out. Especially meaningful to me was the span of a lifetime covered in the book and how you actually felt yourself growing old as if your own life was winding down.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 through life mostly on their own. Some very tender scenes are included and make one wonder what else would a mother would do?
I only gave it 2 1/2 stars because most paragraphs were overly discriptive - I found myself skipping whole parts of a chapter knowing it was only describing what was already decribed before in the story - very frustrating. I am glad I finished it - there was a lot of good in it.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 a special needs child, even today, presents the difficulties of making hard choices. The emotional aspect and worry that most parents go through is high. I loved working with my students and with the majority of their parents. I would not like to walk in their shoes.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 is that there's a key segment of Jewel's life that the author skipped over, and because I felt like he did not develop the concept of the major theme (how God smiles on us as individuals) clearly enough.