My Brother Michael [Hardcover]

Janis Owens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997

Out of the shotgun houses and deep, shaded porches of a West Florida mill town comes this extraordinary novel of love and redemption. Gabriel Catts recounts his lifelong love for his brother's wife Myra - whose own demons threaten to overwhelm them all. Winner of the Chatauqua South Award for Fiction.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Despite a slightly irregular storyline, this first novel is certain to create a loyal readership for Owens. The narrative voice of Gabriel Catts, who relates the story of his lifelong love for his brother's wife, is nothing short of stunning. Myra, loved by both Gabriel and his brother, Michael, lives a life irrevocably tainted by a childhood of abuse and incest at the hands of her father. Added to the characters' other emotional demons-insanity and infidelity-the story could have been a dark and depressing one. Instead, because Owens depicts these demons against the backdrop of Southern cultural and familial restrictions that ultimately offer salvation, the story is one of quiet victory. Recommended for libraries with Southern fiction collections.
Susan C. Colegrove, Athens Regional Lib. System, Ga.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

A luminously written first novel that celebrates--not always convincingly--a surviving sibling's redemption and gratitude. When younger brother Gabe Catts comes home to north Florida for his brother Michael's funeral, he's been drinking, and he soon flees the family and heads back to New York, where he teaches college. Gabe is overcome by more than conventional grief, it seems, and the story he tells is as much a journey of self- discovery as of brotherly love and destructive jealousy. It begins in the small neighborhood of Magnolia Hill, where Gabe grew up and where his mother still lives. His father was a millworker. He had two siblings, a sister, Candace, and then Michael, named (like Gabe) after an angel. Next door, in a tumbledown house, lived the Sims--a mother and father with two children, Ira and Myra. Gabe falls in love with Myra. But the Simses are different: Dad beats up Ira and sexually abuses Myra, and when Dad is arrested, the family moves away. Meanwhile, Michael, a promising baseball player, turns down offers and stays home to help his parents, and Gabe, who's never forgotten Myra, goes on to college and graduate school. Myra comes back to Magnolia Hill and soon marries Michael, a union that the self-absorbed Gabe finds tough to accept. He flees north, combining a successful academic career with bouts of heavy, near- suicidal, drinking. Having taken time off to write a book, he returns home once more, seduces and impregnates Myra, by now being treated for schizophrenia, then flees when his betrayal is discovered. Ten years later, dying from cancer, Michael asks Gabe to look after his family. He also leaves him a lot of money, and with some bumps along the way, Gabe finds both happiness and his soul, just as his brother had hoped. A bit too schematic, but a refreshingly different take on fraternal rivalry. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Pineapple Press; 1st edition (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561641243
• ISBN-13: 978-1561641246
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,936,554 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent read!, January 4, 2000

By 

Kathy Tolbert - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Brother Michael (Hardcover)

Janis Owens has crafted a moving tale of sibling rivalry, love, guilt and forgiveness set in the rural south. Raised in the rural south myself, I found the sense of place Janis Owens has achieved familiar and true. The character, Myra Sims, with her unique combination of strength and vulnerability was especially intriguing. If you enjoy Southern Fiction or character driven novels, I highly reccomend that you read this novel.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Southern Comfort, May 11, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: My Brother Michael (Hardcover)

My Brother Michael is as delicious as a large glass of sweet tea on a hot Florida day! Janis Owens is a wonderful writer, with a skillfully spirited understanding of small- town Southern idiosyncrasies. This poignantly told story of love lost and found, captivates the reader immediatly with its wry Southern comfort and charm.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a "MUST READ" book!!, September 2, 2009

By 

Josie Jean (Maplewood, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Brother Michael (Paperback)

Janis Owens has magnificently written a wonderfully bittersweet novel. Chapter by chapter, she builds a powerful story of family, love, betrayal and redemption. Set in a north Florida mill town, narrator Gabriel Catts shares the story of his lifelong love for Myra Sims. While still a young boy growing up in the poor Magnolia Hill neighborhood, he falls in love with the girl next door, sweet Myra. When signs of abuse at the hands of her cruel, incestuous father are exposed, he is arrested and the family moves away. Years pass and Gabe returns home from college and is devastated to find that Myra has married his older brother, Michael. With a broken heart, Gabe leaves again. Still love-struck when he returns home years later, he is unable to resist and has a love affair with his brother's wife. The resulting pregnancy and discovery of his betrayal cause him to flee once more. Following his brother's death, he begins writing down his poignant life journey. Ms. Owens has brilliantly captured the culture and charm of the South in this compelling book. The storyline is very imaginative and captivating. The emotionally complex characters are extremely well developed and interesting. This is the perfect story from start to finish and I absolutely loved it! There are universal lessons about family and self throughout this amazing book. I highly recommend that you grab a copy and start reading! Meanwhile, I'm heading out the door to buy MYRA SIMS, the second book in this trilogy!!