Customer Reviews

Lowcountry Summer: A Plantation Novel

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I too have loved Dorothea Benton Frank since I read her first book. She is one of my all time favorite writer/storytellers but... I have found her last two books to be not her best.

I didn't like Return to Sullivan's Island, and for the first time didn't finish a Dorothea Benton Frank book. I like Lowcountry Summer better, and did finish it, but it just isn't up to her earlier books.

I can't exactly put my finger on it... but something is missing now that was present in wonderful abundance in Sullivan's Island, Shem Creek, Plantation, and Isle of Palms. I hope Miss Dorothea finds that mysterious "something" again soon, I love her books, her style and her characters.

Looking forward to Ms. Frank's next effort.

Kaja

PS I'm NOT Harry lol, he's my husband...

Dorothea Benton Frank rates as one of my favorite authors. I have every book of hers in hard copy and buy the new release the day it comes out. Her last 2 books are huge disappointments and Lowcountry Summer was the absolute worst. The characters are shallow and unbelievable. The characters I enjoyed in Plantation were unrecognizable in Lowcountry Summer. The entire book was page after page of whining and personalities changing from rotten to rainbows within a few chapters.

I rarely write reviews but had to share with this one. If you are a true fan of Dorothea Benton Frank, you'll buy the book regardless of this review. But it's sad to say it will be a waste of your money. Hopefully she will get back on track with the next book because I miss her wonderful imagination and style of writing.

Having read all of her previous books, I looked forward to this one. It wasn't any better than the last one which was also a huge disappointment. I read it through because of the price and hopes that it would get better. The preoccupation with self and sex was overwhelming. And she wondered why her nieces were perverted? To top things off, the only decent character in the book gets killed off. I found no rhyme or reason to anything in this book. To me, this was writing just for the sake of publication and I don't advise anyone to waste their money or time on it.

A bit of background: I absolutely have loved early DBF books ("Sullivan's Island", "Plantation", and "The Land of Mango Sunsets"). When I read the most recent book, "Return to Sullivan's Island", I really thought it was one of the worst books I had read in a long time. I rated it 2-stars and only didn't go down to one since I had previously loved her work and pretty much hated to totally slam it. When this book came out, I picked it up, put it down, picked it up again, etc. since I was so hesitant to begin reading it. I was apprehensive about what I would find and dreading the thought I had lost one of my favorite authors. I made the decision if this one was as bad as the last one, I wouldn't waste my time and finish it.

I'm really all over the place with this particular review since there is so much history and I am really trying to form my opinion without bring too much of that forward. "Lowcountry Summer" is narrated by Caroline Wimbley Levine, woman running the Tall Pines plantation in South Carolina. She had been divorced for ten years and returned, with her son Eric, to the southern home where she grew up. Other characters populating the story are her brother, Trip, Trip's estranged wife and his four, out-of-control daughters. Millie, the plantation cook/housekeeper/confidante also has a huge role throughout. While this billed as a sequel to "Plantation", it really stands alone so there is no need to read that one first unless you would like to. Lots of family drama is front and center with some mysticism and intrigue mixed in to stir the pot.

Overall, this book is vastly better than the previous one. Fans of DBF will find that more of her snappy dialogue, humor and drama are included. That being said, this one still isn't as good as those earlier books and while the book is a significant step in the right direction (and I finished it with plans to read the next one), it still isn't as good as other efforts of hers. The tail-end was a bit "off" for me, though I don't want to spoil it by revealing what happens and a bit abrupt. While the Lowcountry is referred to often, Ms. Frank didn't draw the sense of place quite as well as before and it was more of a background setting rather than a central character in the story.

Glad I gave it a chance and hoping for even better in the future - better but not the best.

Let's start off with my saying I did not care for Return to Sullivan's Island. I am all for revisting old characters but not when they have all gone stupid and common sense has flown. I speed read that book and promptly gave it to a friend as a beach read.

I really used to love Dorothea Benton Frank. And I loved Plantation when I first read it, read it and loved all of the characters. With Benton's sequel to Plantation she promptly in the last few chapters of the book made me dislike every character. I thought the writing was stitled and for once was not as entranced with her writing as I was before.

SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW SPOILERS BELOW

One other reviewer I think hit the nail on the head with the fact that the book leaves a bad taste in your mouth with the "redemption" of Frances May.

Previously a thorn in the side of Caroline and her brother Tripp in Plantation. I remember hooting and laughing in Plantation when Tripp left Frances May for Caroline's son's tutor Rusty.

Rusty ends up dying tragically in this book and it just made me mad since with her death it leaves Frances May to come back and stay married to Tripp and move in with him and take care of him and her girls. Are you kidding me?

I was actually really ticked to have her redeeemed after all the horrible and crappy things she did in the last novel and this one in a word "@issed me off a lot. It felt like and yes I am stealing this word from the reviewer no "accountability" was being made for how horrible Frances May was, what a drunk she was, how she is mean, selfish, and wants Caroline's house and money. And now at the end of the novel Caroline is forced to live next door to Frances May until the end.

Her neices with the exception of all but one continue to be selfish and trashy and no one learned a thing.

Oh my, I know some alien has taken D.B.F.'S spirit. She couldn't have written this book. NO WAY. She said it was a favorite for her as far as writing it went but it doesn't sound like she wrote it at all. Did she use a 1st year student as a ghost writer? Wassup with this? How totally disappointing from page 1 and through to the end! This woman has been a favorite for years as I wait for the store to open to purchase her new book. The old books are lined up with reverence on my shelf and I'm ashamed to say I will not put Lowcountry Summer on the shelf next to them. Not worth the first read so I know I'll never pick it up to read again. Dorothea please rest, take a break, fall in love, something to bring back the spirit you've lost and then bring us another good book to read as summer won't be summer without your book to enjoy. This book was more like - well - torture as I tried hard to keep reading, hope upon hope that something would redeem it but it was not to be. Your fans just don't understand what has happened to you that has brought about this change in your writing style. This isn't you! Sorry to say that the first page had me questioning who actually wrote this book. Thumbs down and let's hope things improve!

I love reading Dorothea Benton Frank's book. That being said, I went back and re-read Plantation before reading this sequel. There is a huge difference is the main character's personality. In Plantation, the character was very warm and you could relate to her. In Lowcountry Summer, she was admittedly extremely bitter and self absorbed and didn't grow throughout the book. You couldn't relate to her at all. In fact, I was relating and feeling sympathy towards to antagonists instead. The "romances" were anything but. The ending left you with a "huh?" feeling. Sorry Dorothea, but please step up your game. I love your other books!

I have really enjoyed almost all of Dorthea Benton Frank's novels, and enjoy reading books that are set in the South. This one however, was really, really bad. It's like she checked in at the beginning and maybe a sentence or two in the middle, and the last couple of paragraphs in the end, but the rest is like it was written by a 16 year old ghost writer. There are also some shockingly bigoted (is that the right word?) content in here that really soured me to her as an author, and to the main character (who is vapid, bigoted, classist to the extreme, and has not one redeeming quality as far as I can tell). Here are some examples:

This paragraph about how her nieces are dating....gasp....landscapers!!! -- "It wasn't my place to make a judgment. Indeed, most Mexican families I had ever met had better family values, stronger loyalties to each other, better work ethics, and a greater sense of dignity and respect for others than most of the rednecks in the Southeast. It was the landscapers who were at risk. They could do so much better."

This is a paragraph where she is describing her own niece, her flesh and blood. -- "Arching my eyebrow I thought, With your little rubber face, you could go join a carnival, bless your heart." and "I looked down at Chloe and thought, You know what? She's not a BAD little girl, she's just really ugly." WHAT????!!!!

She calls her sister--n-law an "ungrateful stupid hillbilly from hell" and there are so many example of classism, with a 1920s/30s/40s mentality, that it's laughable.

I think it's time DBF takes a good look around at the lifestyle she has and how she created it, and be grateful to the South and the characters that got her there. THESE are not some of them. I don't know that I'll pick up another of her books again.

I have read all of Dorothea Benton Frank's books and, living in South Carolina and traveling to and vacationing in the area she writes about, usually enjoy reading her books. That has not been the case lately. This book, in particular, is just a literary mess. It took me several chapters to even discover a plot and the one that is allegedly there is pretty thin. None of the characters are fleshed out and, therefore, none are truly likeable (or even unlikeable; I just didn't care about them). Most seem to be caricatures - the trashy, wrong-side-of-the-tracks sister-in-la; the wise, no-nonsense housekeeper/cook; the young, college age kids that just simply do no ring true. The main character is the least likeable of all, which is a big problem in a novel, unless you're trying for an unsympathetic character (which doesn't seem to be the case here). She just seems like a self-centered jerk, to be honest.

Another reviewer stated that it seemed this book was written to fulfill a publication agreement and I have to say I think they're right. I didn't like Frank's previous book, but this book isn't doesn't even seem to be a detailed outline of a story and characters. It was a big disappointment. I hope she gets back on track and soon. I know she has a loyal fan-base, but it'll take more than just setting a story in coastal South Carolina to attract readers.

This was a complete disappointment. Her books have always so entertaining, couldn't put down the book, never wanted the story to end. This one is absolutely awful. I ended up skipping about half the book because it was so tedious. The main character is such a snob and is proud to tell everyone how redneck they are and how socially superior she is. Don't waste your money on this one.