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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"The whole world likes to mourn together and hate together when it can.", September 23, 2005
This review is from: The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God (Paperback)
You don't know what to expect when a novel begins with the celebration of an execution. Everyone is in costume to commemorate the death of a father who killed his two sons by putting rat poison in their Halloween candy apples. And the newly divorced school bus driver, Hud Smith, carries a root beer bottle filled with vodka, ruminating on his separation from eight-year old Nina as he chauffeurs the oddball kids to school in the morning. Meanwhile, Hud's seventeen-year old son, Gatling, has taken to the road with a popular gospel singing group, The Daughters of God, Sunny, Harmony, Dolly and June. Hud also thinks about religion, how it "got passed around town like something infectious". Where most kids used to escape in music, drugs and sex, the teens in this Nebraska town are clinging to that old time religion, quoting doomsday verses from the Bible and inking red dots on their palms to express solidarity with the Crucifixion. When the Daughters of God singing group shows up at the Rivoli Sky-Vue drive-in theater, Hud is hoping for a reunion with his son, but things never go as Hud expects and he is forced to make adjustments to his plans. Luckily, just about everything that happens to Hud is an inspiration for a new song.
These people live simple lives, their worldly goods slightly shabby, faithful congregations at Sunday services, their only expectations to minimize trouble and grief. Filled with strange rituals, quirky residents and an infusion of religious fanaticism, this novel is a symphony of images, parents caught up in broken dreams, their children holding the Good Book and murmuring damnation scripture. Each character is uniquely eccentric: Hud, the alcoholic song-writer; his ex, Tuesday, who is drifting slowly back to her husband; Ozzie Yates, the best friend whose wife died of breast cancer, leaving him to raise teen-aged Charlotte alone; the enigmatic Charlotte, once girlfriend to Hud's son, traveling gospel musician, Gatling; and Junior, Charlotte's current boyfriend, preacher of biblical catastrophe.
The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God is a charming story of regular people somehow gone off track, the promises of youth abandoned for a more realistic approach to the daily troubles that come with marriage and raising children. These hapless characters are all the more sympathetic for their faults, their personalities familiar and unpretentious. I suspect this small town in Nebraska is a microcosm for Anywhere, USA, where generations stumble through the social changes of an evolving society, one hand firmly clutching the values that make them such likeable people. There is a strong undercurrent of hope as Hud struggles to regain his fragmented family, both children benefiting from their parents' love, if sometimes misguided. Every heartache is tempered with tenderness, every mistake with forgiveness. Luan Gaines/ 2005.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quirky story told by a skilled wordsmith...., October 10, 2005
This review is from: The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God (Paperback)
These characters are earthy and real, common folk with endearing foibles and vulnerabilities. Schaffert breathes life into his characters with a delicate touch, lending a
poignant dignity to even the oddest misfit.
Hud Smith writes mournful country songs and drinks more than he should. He lives above the shoe repair shop on the square in a fading Nebraska town but dreams of reconciling with his ex-wife, Tuesday. Every dream he ever had has fallen through, but despite his dreary life, Hud faces every day with hope and humor. He plays piano and sings at a nearby Ramada, fending off lonely women who find his music appealing, living for the day his family will be restored.
Tuesday's mothering skills are somewhat lacking. She barely
has the energy and drive to supervise their eight year old daughter, Nina. Nina is an irrepressible child who sings off key and makes up graceless dance steps. Whatever Nina does, Hud finds adorable and brilliant. He adores his quirky daughter and imagines stealing her away from Tuesday to
keep her with him all the time. Their seventeen year old son Gatling has run away from home to play guitar and sing backup with The Daughters of God, an iconic Christian rock group. Nina is all Hud and Tuesday have left to remind them of a marriage that once brought joy. All three dream of having
Gatling back home where he belongs and set off in a borrowed schoolbus to find him.
Circulating around this mismatched threesome are an equally strange mix of friends, neighbors, and churchgoers who speak their own dark language. The story is often humorous, but is not a cruel parody of life's rejects. These are lives made up of large and small failures, joys, and negotiations. And Schaffert makes them shine. Highly recommended.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Warm, Witty Look at Family, February 25, 2006
This review is from: The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God (Paperback)
Timothy Schaffert's 2nd novel is much more than the typical, quirky rural novel; it's a tender, thoughtful examination of parents and children. I thought it expertly captured that duality we parents all face: our fierce desire to protect and love our children, contrasted with the damage we sometimes inflict upon them, despite our best intentions. Hud, Tuesday and Oz are deeply flawed and barely able to make sense of their own lives, let alone their children's, but that doesn't stop them from loving their children deeply and trying, no matter what, to keep their families together. In the end I cared so much about these characters I wanted to wrap my arms around them and take them home with me. I can't wait until Schaffert's next book.
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