Customer Reviews

The Sand Castle

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

As one of my fellow viewers, I picked up this up at my local library due to the attractive, fun cover. "2 chicks from the 50's wearing beach caps and bright red lipstick? It'll be like an old MGM movie in my hands!"

It wasn't. And while it wasn't, it wasn't disappointing either. Being my first Rita Mae Brown short story (103 pages; reminds me of aiming to put $20 in my tank and spilling over to $20.03), I'm not surprised that these are repeat characters. If you're new to this book, the author has been able to flesh them out a little and make them extremely individualistic. They each have their own specific quirks (to the point of personality stererotypes) but the dialogue used to display them is witty, quick and relateable. Whereas I don't believe that people actually have these Mother/Daughter, Grandmother/Grandson, Sister/Sister, Cousin/Cousin relationships, I can see bits and pieces of my own childhood impressions of my peers and superiors in them.

The plot is pretty basic. Two attractive sisters in their mid- to late-forties and completing annual trip to the beach both towing children: one sister with her grandson (her daughter/his mother having passed away from illness 8 months or so before) and one with her only child (a tomboy daughter). Fresh from tasting death and heartcahe due to two World Wars, the sisters have taken two very different courses of life. The older sister chastises and preaches her new-found love of Jesus Christ while the younger sister approaches life more logically with a rational mind. Told from the voice of the tomboy-daughter, the dialogue that progresses from all four characters is carefully chosen and well worded... even if it is hard to believe.

With insightful scenes such as preparing, building and protecting a sandcastle (created with care that people use to decorate their Christmas trees each year), a wonderful story of a grumpy aunt and her woolen swimsuit, and the poor young boy's unfortunate accident with an over-zealous crab, it's familiar and heartwarming to remember rituals, excursions, and "remember when" moments from one's own childhood.

The Sand Castle won't change your life but it is a quick and thoughtful read in a few days (which allows you plenty of time to return to the library as it's a two-week rental!).

I'm a huge fan of Rita Mae Brown, owning every single book she has ever written, and an even bigger fan of Juts and Wheezy, first introduced in Six of One (her best, in my opinion). Upon seeing The Sand Castle release, I was thrilled to, yet again, visit the Hunsenmeier sisters and their vibrant, entertaining dialogue.

Needless to say, it wasn't a pleasant visit. While Brown still has the witty repartee she is so well known for, the storyline is thin, and the book is too - literally! Only 100 pages of what transpires in a day on the Chesapeake shore with Juts, Wheezy, Nickel, and her cousin, Leroy. Boring banter between the sisters, typical kid arguing, and a minor catastrophe really don't do anything to improve the storyline or endear one to the characters.

As a lover of Six of One and the subsequent sequels, it was also a bit disturbing to read certain affectations given to favorite old characters whom, to my knowledge, were never referred to as such in any previous books; i.e. Cora as "Big Wheezy?" Maybe I was sleeping.

In short, this review is probably longer and more substantial than The Sand Castle. One can only hope that the next releases from Brown have a bit more substance.

The best thing I can say about "The Sand Castle" is that it's a quick read. Other reviewers have recapped the story (what there is of it), so I won't go into that; I'll just say this: if you were a fan of "Six of One" and "Bingo", you should definitely skip this one. Other than the fact that the characters have the same names and more or less the same personalities, there's really no continuity at all between this prequel and the earlier "Runnymede" novels. (Same thing could be said about "Loose Lips", which suffered from similar continuity problems.) I tried my best while reading this to think of it as a completely separate story with characters that happened to have the same names, but it was difficult given that it just wasn't all that engaging on its own.

If you must read this one, get it from the library, like I did.

This is just another author's attempt to wring every last penny of revenue out of characters that were once vibrant and interesting, but which are now tired stereotypes. Wheezie is a caricature of a Catholic (by now we know that Brown holds in contempt those who attend church and adhere to a particular faith); Juts is a fearless, cigarette-smoking mom (who takes care to warn her 7 year old daughter of the dangers of smoking, even as she lets her take a puff).

The most horrendous part of the story (not even a book, it's not long enough) is when the grieving son of Wheezie's dead daughter gets attacked by a crab, and his penis is injured. I have to wonder at the anti-male message of the story; throughout the narrative Nickel, the seven year old protagonist, mocks her cousin's anatomy, telling him she'd hate to have a "worm" on her body that a bird will eat. And then he gets attacked by a crab.

In essence, this is alternately boring and gruesome. Don't bother. Read Six of One for interesting characters and a plot of some kind; read Bingo to find out how levelheaded the grownup Nickel is. Skip The Sand Castle.

I have loved Juts and Wheezie since I read Six of One years ago, but Rita Mae has destroyed these characters. Someone should also tell her you can't just change the names because you're too lazy to remember or look up what YOU wrote. I stopped reading after I saw she changed the names of Louise's daughter and son-in-law. This is not new to this book, though. She also changed a lot of stuff in Loose Lips, which I should have taken as a sign not to read any more of her books. I would give it zero stars if I could.

Great read, but has nothing to do with the original books before. Juts, Nickel and Wheezie are the only originals, most story lines and other characters (Leroy) are new and have nothing to do with the family and stories I have come to love. Even Louise's daughters name is different!! It would have been much more fun to read if she would have made a whole new story out of it without connecting it to the Hunsenmeir sisters!

I liked this book, mostly because it takes place in St. Mary's County, where I live.

It's summer 1952. The book is from the point of view of Nickel, a seven year old girl. She spends the day at the beach with her mother, her Aunt Wheezie (Louisa), and her eight year old cousin, Leroy. Leroy's mom died six months before, and has been taken care of by Wheezie. The story is told through conversation, mostly between Nickel's mother and Aunt Wheezie. There's some sadness, but mostly it's very witty. Nickel's mother is very strong, but then, I think the book deals with each character's ability to be strong in their own way.

The only downside is that the book ended so quickly. It's literally 100 pages.

After Loose Lips, I swore I would never pay good money for a book about Juts and Wheezy from Rita Mae Brown again. Luckily I didn't have to, a friend brought me this one while I was in bed sick to cheer me up.

And yet again the she has taken characters that were well established, well written, and well loved from Six of One and Bingo and totally made different people from them. How hard can it be to go back, reread a book that YOU wrote and check on what Louise's daughters' name was and how she died. Her grandson's name.....etc., etc.....It's like her thought process is "Well I want to buy a new horse and Juts and Wheezy sells so who cares what the story is and whether it lines up with the original books. I'll just stick their names in there and don't care if anyone notices."

Rita Mae, if you need money this bad honey, just start doing infomercials, quit suckering people for what is basically a short story about characters they once enjoyed, long, long ago.

The Sand Castle, by Rita Mae Brown (108 pgs., 2007, 2008). This is a sweet novella about family. It takes place in just one day. It's about a visit to the seashore by sisters Juts & Wheezie Hunsenmeir, along with Juts' seven-year old daughter, Nickel Smith & her first cousin Leroy; in August 1952.
Leroy's Mom recently passed away & he has gone to live with his Aunt Wheezie, Juts' older sister. Apparently, these two sisters & Nickel are well-known to fans of this writer from some of her previous books. This is my first exposure to them. I liked them.
This book contains two car rides. One, to the shore & one heading home from the shore. There is swimming, by some. There is fear, by others. There is intricate sand castle building. There are arguments between the adults & between the two younger cousins. There are tears. There is pain. There is love & explanation & forgiveness.
This book is about how two adults & one child help another child cope with the one big terrible loss in his young life. Family pulls together. Family soldiers on. This family has unshakeable bonds.

Short but poignant. Especially engaging if you're already familiar with the characters from previous novels.