Saved Folk in the House [Paperback]

Sonnie Beverly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2006

Told in three parts, a Southern family and their friends grapple with the joys and disappointments of life as a direct result of being raised in a home with strong Christian values.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

In "the village," a Virginia suburb, everyone knows and looks out for one another. Zakia Wilkes is a smart girl who goes to college and discovers she is pregnant two months after graduation. Eventually, she marries Jay, who provides her a comfortable life. Yet with all of her possessions, she still feels incomplete. In her search to fill the void, she becomes very involved in her church, at the expense of her marriage. Nikki Riley leaves the village for Atlanta after her divorce. She joins the church she has always watched on television and lands a job working in its accounting department. She also falls in love with her neighbor. Nikki is very close to her cousin Rae, who refuses to work legally. When Rae is incarcerated, she reflects on her cousin's preaching and starts a Bible study in jail. Rae's influence helps to reduce the violence amongst the women. Each woman relies on her faith to get what she needs and wants out of life and the lives of those she loves. Lillian Lewis
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

'The author's prose has the merits of simplicity, euphony and precision ... This is the art that conceals art. I haven't read anything with such unalloyed pleasure for a long time' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Walk Worthy Press (May 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446693162
• ISBN-13: 978-0446693165
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #875,046 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Less than enthralling, July 6, 2006

By 

BMAR (Northern USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Saved Folk in the House (Paperback)

"Saved Folks in the House" by Sonnie Beverly is three-story compilation/novel based on a very strong story concept of following three women's lives who are all connected to the same set of family and friends in their extended village as they learn to draw on faith and spiritual strength. The execution of the story, however, was inconsistent for this reader. Generally a very fast reader, it took me a while to get through this book due to the underdeveloped characters and dialogue. After reading the reviews and synopsis of this novel, I was really excited about receiving this book and eagerly delving into reading it. This was squelched quickly, however, as the writing was extremely simplistic and less than fulfilling.

The first of the three stories centers on Zakia, who despite having attained success in family and marriage, still feels emotionally empty. She searches for fulfillment in many things including travel and redecorating her home until she finds solace in a new church. Her solace, however, wreaks havoc in her relationships and career. Zakia is faced with balancing her new found spirituality with her daily life.

In the second story, Nikki moves away from everyone she knows after finding spiritual fulfillment in a television ministry. After relocating to the city where the church is located, everything starts to fall in place for Nikki and her children. In this section we see where faith in action leads.

The final story is described as focusing on LaKisha, a young member of the village who is living with her grandmother as her Mom ran into legal trouble and has been incarcerated. LaKisha shows all the knocks that come from a challenging upbringing. Although this is advertised as LaKisha's story, it is really the story of the children of all of the different "village" members including Zakia and Nikki introduced earlier in the book.

The three stories conclude with a bit of a perplexing and rapid conclusion.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Amateur writing, August 22, 2006

By 

Melissa Cobb "Loves Music" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Saved Folk in the House (Mass Market Paperback)

This was one of those I just wanted to finish. Good thing because the author had a great story going then, all of a sudden, everything wrapped up nice and tidy in a paragraph. I never felt like I got to know the characters.

I was disappointed as I enjoy Christ-based authors and their characters. This was not an interesting book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Didn't like it., June 16, 2006

By 

LoVe2ReAd (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saved Folk in the House (Paperback)

I picked up this book b/c of the Christian aspect, but this was not a good book. I felt the book did not flow well. Everything had a "see Jane run. See Jane feed dog" elementary style to it.

The way the author went through periods of the characters' lives made the book seem rushed. On this page, Zakia is in high school...next page, graduating from college. Just too rushed and everything was in a place.

On to the Christian aspects, I'm a Christian and I love the Lord, but I never felt that the book contained the message of Jesus Christ. Sure, there was a lot of church references and things in there, but I never got behind the author and said "tell it! or Amen!" The speaking in tongues situation was just crazy. As a reviewer below states, there is a time and place for everything and if Ms. Zakia attended my church and went around bragging that speaking in tongues got her out of a ticket, she would get a talking to.

The way the main character neglected her family and didn't work on her marriage, etc, just seemed so contradictory. She didn't shed a tear about her marriage, she didn't have conversations with her kids about it, she selfishly didn't introduce her firstborn to his father til near the end, etc.

The stories were weak and one-dimensional. Oh, and the out of left field middle section of the book--with a whole new character that I didn't know existed? I SKIPPED THAT ENTIRE SECTION...WHICH HAD TO BE 100 PAGES.