Going Down South: A Novel (Paperback)

by Bonnie Glover (Author)
Key Phrases: Olivia Jean, Going Down South, Shorty Long (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Glover weaves the stories of three generations of African American women in a tale both familiar and surprising. In the early 1960s, 15-year-old Olivia Jean tells her parents she is pregnant, and her father, Turk, and mother, Daisy, decide to take Olivia to Daisy's mother's house in Cold Water Springs, Ala., to avoid a scandal in their Brooklyn neighborhood. The plan is for Daisy and Turk to return to Brooklyn and leave Olivia in the care of her grandmother, Birdie. But Birdie insists that Daisy remain as well. Daisy is deeply resentful of her mother, who ran a bootlegging operation in their dry county when Daisy was young, but she agrees to stay, and over the next few months, all three women learn about themselves. While the arc may seem familiar, Glover does an admirable job of avoiding cliché (as when Daisy and Birdie attempt to resolve their conflicts with a wrestling match) and provides readers with an absorbing setting and a complex family.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From School Library Journal
Adult/High School—Olivia Jean, Daisy, and Birdie are three generations of black women who must deal with pregnancy, relationships with difficult and absent mothers, and men who cannot or will not stand by them in times of emotional ordeal. Each of their stories forms the core of the book, with the fourth section given over to a well-crafted, credible, and cathartic denouement in which they are reconstituted as a family. In the early 1960s, New Yorker Olivia Jean, 15, discovers that she is pregnant. Her 30-year-old mother, Daisy, takes her to Alabama to her own mother, Birdie, whom she hasn't seen since she left home at Olivia Jean's age. There, they wait out the teen's shameful state away from neighbors' prying eyes and wagging tongues. Each of these women is feisty, insightful, and smart—and impatient with the generation immediately next to her own. Glover brings each of them—as well as Olivia Jean's adored daddy and Birdie's mysterious partners—to vivid and well-focused life. Easy and quick to read, this story will resonate with girls who know the culture portrayed as well as those who are looking from the outside in.—Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: One World/Ballantine (July 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345480910
• ISBN-13: 978-0345480910
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #125,305 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Ties That Bind..., July 29, 2008

By	Phyllis Rhodes (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

When I received the Advanced Uncorrected Proof of Going Down South, I had no clue as what the book was about; I knew I had enjoyed Bonnie Glover's debut, The Middle Sister, and eagerly wanted to read her sophomore release. Having grown up in the Mid-West, I incorrectly thought the title referred to the annual treks to various parts of the South that I and other children with Southern roots routinely took every summer to visit grandparents and other relatives. However, I quickly realized that the title references an alternative connotation of the phrase -- it is/was often the excuse given to school administrators, church members, and neighbors to explain the une xpected and lengthy disappearance of their daughters. Going Down South was literally the scuttling of unwed (usually teen) mothers to relatives in the South to have their babies away from condemning eyes, scornful stares, and gossiping neighbors.

Olivia Jean Stone is a homely, bookish fifteen year-old Brooklynite who lives with her beautiful, emotionally-distant mother, Daisy, and her philandering, drunkard father, Turk. As with most of the girls in school, she has a crush on an older popular (skirt-chasing) upperclassman, Preston Douglass, who for the most part does not know she exists. One fateful day, his attentions turn to Olivia Jean and the inevitable happens -- she ends up pregnant as a result of raging, uncontrollable hormones, no protection, and an overeager desire to please and (in her mind) keep Preston. Quite naturally, Preston balks at the notion of fatherhood and marriage. The news turns fun-loving Turk into a cold, mean-spirited man who shuts out Olivia Jean and breaks her heart even more by refusing to talk to her or even look in her direction. Her parents make arrangements for Olivia Jean to stay with her maternal grandmother, Birdie, in Alabama after she refuses to reveal the name of the child's father and an abortion. Neighbors are told that Olivia Jean is going South to tend to an ailing grandmother. Daisy and Turk's plan is to drive down to Alabama over th e weekend, leave Olivia Jean with Birdie until the child is born, and immediately drive all night to arrive back in New York in time for work Monday morning. Unbeknownst to them, Birdie has changed the original agreement -- she intentionally waits until they arrive in Alabama to state her terms. She will now accept the deal on the condition that one of the parents stay with Olivia Jean throughout the pregnancy. Daisy is livid at Birdie's ninth hour demand; a controlling tactic which will jeopardize her job, but relents and reluctantly sends her wayward husband back home to Brooklyn alone.

As Olivia Jean's belly grows, so does the tension between all three women. The author craftily interweaves a series of flashbacks that provide the missing pieces of how these women came to be complete with colorful characters, nuggets of wisdom, and unconditional love. The result is a sometimes funny, sometimes sad page-turner of a novel which I read in one sitting. I had to keep reading for the revelation of decades-long kept secr ets: Birdie's secret regarding her eccentric employer, Daisy's source of anger and apathy toward Birdie and Olivia Jean, Daisy's unending love for Turk and her long-standing tolerance of his infidelity, Daisy's refusal to visit Birdie for 15 years, and Daisy's secret that shakes Olivia Jean's world. Granted, the author gives enough clues for the reader to deduce the secrets before they are revealed by the characters, but that does not detract from the story.

Going Down South is worth a chance as it will fit nicely on the shelf along side similarly themed Mother/Daughter relationship novels like Nowhere Is A Place by Bernice McFadden, Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice, and daughter by asha bandele. I think that book clubs will find this novel appealing as it deals with issues and themes (racism, colorism, sexism, parental sacrifices, etc. ) that will provide fodder for great discussions.

Reviewed by Phyllis
June 20, 2008
APOOO BookClub

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Going Down South Rings REAL, July 30, 2008

By	Elaine D. Little (Calhoun, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just finished Going Down South: This book was the most "feel good" read I've experienced in a long time. From the first quirky and highly visual scene, the characters came alive and took me with them. Rich descriptions ("stained glassed windows, but when you got up close you saw that some were only drawings of stained glass taped on top of windows held open by iron bars,") poignant similes ("Charm oozed out of him like Karo syrup, heavy, smooth and sweet," ) and real life metaphors ("They were night and day, one a piece of bread, the other a thick pork chop with dripping gravy) make every page a sensory experience.
Ms. Glover grounds the reader in familiar objects, ("She'd heard the poetry of Langston Hughes, stretched to Zora Neale Hurston, twisted to her mother's laughter,") oftentimes delivering the essence of a whole lifetime in one sentence ("...Daisy became Batman and Olivia Jean imagined herself as the old butler, Alfred Pennyworth.")
Actually my favorite thing about this book is that it's a plethora of show-don't-tell. Though all a part of the story, the focus is not on race relations, spousal abuse, teenage pregnancy or abortion, it's on life lessons, relationships, and how we all learn and grow. It exudes a philosophy that we all learn from our mistakes, and oftentimes there is no one person or group to blame. This universal idea relates to all colors, ages, and socioeconomic groups. Going Down South is endearing coming-of-age novel that brings hope to women of all generations.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Going Down South is a celebration of motherhood and the power of going home, September 15, 2008

By	Tonya Evans - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Going Down South" is a wonderful story about motherhood, love, disappointment and redemption. Three generations of women are forced to confront their past and find a way to both heal and accept one another. At 15, Olivia Jean finds herself pregnant and alone. Her mother, Daisy, tries to convince her to have an abortion and when that does not work, Daisy decides that they must take Olivia Jean to have the child down south - a decision made by many parents during the 50's and 60's.

To Daisy going back home means facing her mother, Birdie, and the small town and small life she had left behind long ago and had hoped were behind her for good. Daisy hopes to make her trip "home" a brief one until her mother, Birdie, insist that Olivia Jean can stay only if one of her parents stays behind until the child is born.

The book also explores the dysfunctional male relationships selected by each of these women. Olivia Jean, who must face the prospect of motherhood alone; Daisy whose husband, Turk, has an eye for other women; and Birdie who longs for a relationship with a man from the distant past. In each case, these women sacrifice themselves in some way for the sake of a man who doesn't meet all of their needs.

Glover's mouthwatering descriptions of catfish meals, makes me reminisce about my own Sunday Dinner's with my grandmother.

This book would be an excellent selection for book clubs because it explores what it means to be a woman from a multi-generational perspective and takes an empathetic look at the flaws and insecurities in each of us. This is a must read that will make you want to rediscover your own roots.