Customer Reviews

Many Things Have Happened Since He Died

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the kind of novel that makes one forget to breathe, it's so compelling. From the first sentence to the last, every word of Dewberry's novel feels vital and necessary; at times I felt I was reading an extended poem. Told in the haunting first-person voice of a young wife, Many Things Have Happened Since He Died recounts her struggles with an abusive husband and an emotionally tangled family. Often beautiful, often disturbing, often sad, this book kept me riveted. By far the best novel I've read this year.

This beautiful and captivating novel is written in the very unique voice of a young woman whose view of Christianity is both compelling and horrifying. She strives to be submissive for Christ's sake, but her intense, violent husband makes that quite a challenge. There is something pitifully real and moving about her--and the humor is not like any I've read before. The narrative voice is very stream-of-consciousness, but accessible once you pick up the rhythm, something I found quite easy to do.

A unique protagonist, a unique novel.

I should have liked this book more than I did, because the narrating character's voice is so perfectly done... rushed and fussy and grating, inadvertantly blurting out the truth about herself through careful screens of Christian denial. As a character, she is annoying and brave, faithful and hypocritical, determined and lost all at once. I admire the skill it took to create her.

But in truth, I didn't really LIKE this character. The story she tells is horrifying but not compelling. She has "I didn't know any better and that's why" written all over her, and her rare moments of standing up for herself are always followed by a return to Christian values and the trap they have laid for her. It's as if she were specifically created to be the kind of character limited enough to tolerate what she tolerates, even though abuse cuts across all class and religion lines. Why is the plot so recursive? Why does she not move forward? Why does all delivery come from without, never from within?

That being said, something in there got to me. I'm ordering other Dewberry novels to see what I think. I guess I'll say, read it for the writing, not for the story.

I read this book 5 years ago. It always comes to mind when I think about great books I've read. The author's use of language and voice is unparralleled .

Sorry folks, this is a stupid, poorly written, pretentious book. I was so disappointed, I expected a lot based on the reviews. This just isn't worth the money. It is certainly NOT poetic, beautiful, humorous, profound or well-written. It is grim, depressing and badly written.