The Gin Girl [Paperback]

River Jordan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

Fiction. The new book of fiction from River Jordan, THE GIN GIRL, captures the essence of Florida and those who inhabit its salty marsh. Jordan "makes you care about the people she writes about, even the ones you might not like--but more then that, she makes you see them. Her literary spice rack has everything you need to put together a good book, and this was fun to taste" --Rick Bragg. Jordan's prose effectively paints images of Florida's sparsely inhabited landscape. Her images encompass characters "as haunted and lovely and endangered as the land they cherish"--Janis Owens.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Jordan vividly evokes the steamy, tropical climate of Toliquilah, a Gulf Coast island in North Florida, as she recounts the adventures of Mary, a local who returns home to search for her high-school sweetheart, Joe. Mary has been drifting and drinking Jack Daniels all over the South since her father's death, but she is obsessed with memories of Joe. None of the island's strange inhabitants--including a one-armed diner cook, a liquor-store proprietor who speaks in riddles, and an old blind woman who milks snakes--knows what really happened to Joe, but most assume he is dead, probably murdered. Mary's investigation raises as many questions as it answers and causes almost as much upheaval as the hurricane that strikes the region while she searches for clues. The plot moves as slowly as the air in the swamps, but those who crave atmosphere rather than action will find much to savor in this humid thriller. Barbara Bibel
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

River Jordan is a playwright and an avid promoter of the written word. She lives between the swamps and saltwaters of the Florida Gulf Coast where she spends her time contemplating quantum physics and other mystical realities.

Jordan is the creator of the mythical storyteller, Mama Jewels. She serves on the Foundation Board for the Northwest Florida Regional Library and for the Florida Network of Children’s Advocacy Centers. She is a founding member of the West Florida Playwrights Project. Jordan is the mother of two courageous sons—Nick and Chris—and wife of Owen Hicks, a superhero in disguise.

Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Livingston Press; First Edition edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931982171
• ISBN-13: 978-1931982177
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,474,936 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

River Jordan began her writing career as a playwright where her original works were produced, including Mama Jewels: Tales from Mullet Creek, Soul, Rhythm and Blues, and Virga. Ms. Jordan's first novel, The Gin Girl (Livingston Press, 2003), has garnered such high praise as "This author writes with a hard bitten confidence comparable to Ernest Hemingway. And yet, in the Southern tradition of William Faulkner, she can knit together sentences that can take your breath." Kirkus Reviews described her second novel, The Messenger of Magnolia Street, as "a beautifully written atmospheric tale." It was applauded as "a tale of wonder" by Southern Living, who chose the novel as their Selects feature for March 2006, and described by other reviewers as " a riveting, magical mystery" and "a remarkable book." Her third novel, Saints In Limbo has been painted by some of the finest fiction voices of today as "a lyrical and relentlessly beautiful book," and "a wise, funny, joyful and deadly serious book, written with a poet's multilayered sense of metaphor and meter and a page-turning sense of urgency," and reported by Paste Magazine as "a southern gothic masterpiece."
Her fourth novel, The Miracle of Mercy Land, arrives on September 7, 2010. Her first non-fiction work, Praying for Strangers, An Adventure of the Human Spirit will be published by Penguin/Berkley April 5, 2011.
Ms. Jordan teaches and speaks around the country on "The Power of Story", and produces and hosts the radio show Clearstory Radio from Nashville. When not traveling the back roads of America, River lives with her husband and their Great Pyrenees lap dog in Nashville, Tennessee.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Original, October 19, 2003

By 

Marcia Pitts "book lover" (Tallahassee FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gin Girl (Paperback)

Years after the deaths of her father and best friend, Mary returns from self-imposed exile to the swampy island of her childhood in search of answers, but too broken by painful memories and guilt to even know the questions. River Jordan has craftily weaved a collection of quirky islanders, drifters, and has-beens into Mary's world, forming the wildest support group known to man. From Edna, the one-armed giant ex-con, to Esther, the blind, all-seeing snake milker, they are loyally by her side as she survives racist cops, hurricane winds, dead bodies to bury, burn, and dig up, stolen police files, dirty G-men, even a marriage proposal. As she searches for the truth and the dull, alcoholic haze lifts, the warped humanity of her group of friends helps heal her heart (as well as her snakebite).

Ms. Jordan's vivid descriptions and clever, witty dialogue have created a thoroughly enjoyable intriguing read that will keep you up through the night, laughing and crying with Mary. It's a unique original--nothing out there like it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 4 1/2 Stars...An Author to Discover, September 4, 2006

By 

Eric Wilson "novelist" (Nashville, TN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Gin Girl (Paperback)

"Progress was like a pistol. One good shot and it could obliterate the past."

With lines like this, River Jordan not only expresses wisdom through her characters, she sets up motifs and layers to her story. Last year, I had the pleasure of discovering "The Messenger of Magnolia Street"--a masterpiece of theme, mood, and character. With the memories of that novel still fresh, I picked up "The Gin Girl" in hopes of revisiting River Jordan's wonderful prose.

The story starts off slowly, building atmosphere and emotion. But I disagree with the Booklist reviewer who implied that the entire plot moves slowly--no, once the mysteries begin to unfold, the story picks up pace and races through the last fifty pages. Mary Contrary has returned to her hometown after the untimely murder of her good friend. She finds herself dealing with memories of her parents' rough relationship and her own childhood struggles. Now, through events surrounding her friend's death, she must bridge the past and the present to uncover the truth.

The characters are wonderfully quirky and vivid. The narrative is rich and evocative of the Floridian island and backwaters it depicts. River is a good enough author to leave us filling in some of the blanks for ourselves; and although I would've liked to see a bit more resolution on one or two items, I got the feeling a sequel would be fitting for the ongoing story of Mary Contrary.

With hints of Rick Bragg and James Lee Burke, River Jordan takes Southern elements and makes them all her own. She is an author to discover and continue enjoying.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars River Sculpts Characters in 3-D, January 2, 2006

By 

Peggy S. Duke (Middle Tennessee, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gin Girl (Paperback)

Having spent the better part of a year near the top of my "must read" stack, I finally got around to reading The Gin Girl and, I must say, I'm mightily impressed. Mary is so well-carved and believable--in fact, she is very much like someone I know in grit, self-sufficiency and street wisdom. I say that to iterate how real River has drawn the character. I love the turn at the end, but it leaves me wanting more story. The craft is, in my humble opinion, impeccable. River Jordan writes with great discipline and her well-placed humor is a nod to her well-honed senses. Well, done. I anxiously await the opportunity to read The Messenger of Magnolia Street: A Novel.