Queen Sugar in Around the Year in 52 Books

Apr 08, 2015 Book Concierge rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: debut, family, southern-lit, concierge, library, african-american

From the amazon.com book description: When Charley unexpectedly inherits eight hundred acres of sugarcane land, she and her eleven-year-old daughter say goodbye to smoggy Los Angeles and head to Louisiana. She soon learns, however, that cane farming is always going to be a white man’s business. As the sweltering summer unfolds, Charley struggles to balance the overwhelming challenges of a farm in decline with the demands of family and the startling desires of her own heart

My reactions
I was intro From the amazon.com book description: When Charley unexpectedly inherits eight hundred acres of sugarcane land, she and her eleven-year-old daughter say goodbye to smoggy Los Angeles and head to Louisiana. She soon learns, however, that cane farming is always going to be a white man’s business. As the sweltering summer unfolds, Charley struggles to balance the overwhelming challenges of a farm in decline with the demands of family and the startling desires of her own heart

My reactions
I was introduced to this book as a result of seeing the author at a literary luncheon event. I liked her presentation, so got the book. There is a good premise here but Baszile’s debut work didn’t completely capture my attention, and I think it has some problems.

I wanted to like Charley and, basically, I did. But I had to agree when her grandmother said, “you ARE whining.” I get that Baszile was showing the many obstacles put in Charley’s path, and trying to show that she was working hard to overcome them, but I felt she focused too much attention on her becoming a cane farmer. I would have liked to have more attention on the relationship between Charley and the other women in her life – her daughter, her mother, her grandmother, her aunt. And show her interacting more with the community.

I thought Ralph Angel was a complete distraction and not really necessary to the main plot of a woman finding her roots and her new strength. He seemed to be there just to provide additional tension in the family and a convenient final challenge for Charley to overcome. Interestingly enough, when he first appeared in the novel, I pictured him as a white man … and despite my reading and knowing he was Charley’s brother, I kept picturing him as a white man. Certainly made for a different picture in my head than what the author probably intended.

The plot moved along fairly well and I certainly learned much about cane farming. I thought her descriptions of the landscape, the heat, the bugs, the back-breaking work gave a real sense of the place. But I wasn’t captivated and it took me over a week to read it.

Final verdict: an okay debut, but nothing special.
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Jul 13, 2021 Ron rated it really liked it

Charlotte aka Charley Bordelon is a well-educated single mom who leaves her home in Los Angeles to go to her late father's home town in Louisiana, where she has inherited a large sugar cane farm on the condition that she work it herself. This unusual legacy is complicated by the exclusion of Charley's troubled half-brother, Ralph, whose angry presence lurks throughout the book like Chekhov's gun.

I knew I was hooked on this family drama when I realized that I was refusing to feel sorry for Ralph, ...more

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