Customer Reviews

Sorrow Floats

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have to say that I was not seriously searching for a book when I was browsing down at the local book store. I ran into the "out of print" discount table, and happened apon this book *Sorry Tim* I read the first few pages and laughed out loud in the middle of the store -- From that moment on I was hooked to Tim Sandlin. I finished this book in 3 days (would have finished it sooner but school and work call) and it has become my all time favorite. It wasn't until I was half way through the book did I realize that it was the middle book in the GroVont Trilogy, and I was thrilled that there were other books out there by him with the same humor (at times dark, off-color, and hilariously inappropriate) realness, and charm as this one. I went on to read the other books in the Trilogy -- Social Blunders, and the finally tracked down Skipped Parts. I highly recommened this book if you want a book that is a witty, realistic, and exciting adventure through and about life. I laughed at this book, and laughed some more, and cried some, but more than anything it made me feel -- I could relate to the characters in a way that I never thought that I could in a book. Read it. If you would like to chat about his books, e-mail me.

Katie

Maurey Pierce-Talbot is a lost soul never to be found without her gun in her pocket and a bottle of whiskey in her hand. When Maurey leaves her baby on the hood of her Bronco during one of her many drunk spells, she realizes that what she has done is beyond redemption and decides to hit the road. Off she heads across the country in a big white ambulance with two recovering alcoholics and a band of assorted vagabonds picked up along the way.

The story is compelling and even touching at times, but ultimately, Maurey's selfishness and insecurity is a little irksome. Sandlin does a fine job of explaining some of the reasons for her behavior, and her little idiosyncrasies can be charming (i.e. she writes postcards to her dead father because of a joke he once made that when he died, he was going to San Francisco). However, most of her personality traits are more obnoxious than anything else. For example, her habit of naming her bottles of whiskey as though they were lovers is a tad overboard.

There are strokes of genius abound, however...for instance, Maurey's partners on the run are wonderful characters; primarily Shane, the obese, wheelchair-bound compulsive liar. His epic lies and grandiose behavior call to mind Ignatius J. Reilly in A Confederacy of Dunces in a most entertaining way.

In all, I give this book 4 stars, because it was a great read and because Sandlin has such a way with words. Maurey as a character is a little despicable, but he does a good job of redeeming her in the end and making her a bit more bearable.

To be quite frank, the tale of Maurey is my least favorite in the Grovont trilogy, but this is still a gem of a book.

I was hesitant to read Sorrow Floats when I found out it begins with Maurey leaving her baby on the roof--how much more depressing can you get? In true Sandlin fashion it turns tragedy into comedy, and Maurey's character development is just fantastic. As a 22-year-old woman myself, I can attest that Sandlin manages to write from the perspective of a 22-year-old woman with astounding accuracy. Maurey is a good example of someone who screws up her life and then somehow manages to learn that she is worth saving. I went through that too, and so did you I bet. Read this book if you are curious about what happened in the spring of 1973 in a very memorable young woman's head.

You sort of knew that the Maurey Pierce that Sam Callahan described in his first-person narrative in Skipped Parts wasn't as together and perfect as he made her out to be. In Sorrow Floats, Maurey takes up the narrative herself, and we see not only the sadness and insecurity that Sam missed, but the guilt she felt about how her life had gone and her inability and unwillingness to parent the daughter she had on her 14th birthday and eventually over her father's untimely death, while riding her own beloved show horse.

This has led Maurey to pursue a marriage with Dothan Talbot, her high school boyfriend, that she knew would be disastrous, and to drink. The real love of her life, she thinks, is Yukon Jack, and she nearly kills her infant son Auburn (all Talbots are named for Alabama towns) and loses her marriage, self-respect and her standing in her hometown of Gro Vont, Wyoming.

To begin her redemption, she begins a picaresque journey with two unlikely characters, Lloyd, pursuing a lost wife who is never found, and Shane, wheelchair-bound but hardly wheelchair-ridden, and given to apparent exaggeration of his personal exploits, which included bedding Katharine Hepburn in unusual circumstances and dating Priscilla Beaulieu before Elvis, to whom he introduced her. Both are recovering alcoholics who never miss a meeting, but the mission of their trip, besides finding Lloyd's wife and saving Shane's sister, is to sell Coors beer east of Arkansas for a large profit. Maurey can provide money and a horse trailer to drag behind the hearse named Moby Dick, and on they go, headed to Shane's grandmother in North Carolina, which is also where Sam now lives with Shannon.

So much just seems to happen along the way, as they pick up, in turn, Shane's sister Marcella and her two children, with her estranged husband hanging behind like Inspector Fix, a young hippie girl named Critter who is returning to her lover named Freedom, perhaps the most oxymoronic nickname in all literature, and Freedom's son Owley, who has never trusted anyone in his life until he meets Maurey.

But all the while Lloyd and Shane are leaving Maurey to her own devices, as she gives names like Jesus and Elvis to her bottles of liquor, while subtlely and persistently letting her know what they think she needs to do to fix her life. When disaster happens in the shape of a man who first saves them from corrupt police in Tennessee and then turns on Maurey savagely, Shane, wheelchair and all, is the one to save her hide, and then, in a beautifully written segment at his Grandma's farm, her soul.

This is not a Christian book, a religious book or a tract in favor of Alcoholics Anonymous. Quite the contrary. But it is very much a book about how an individual might need a whole lot of friends to support her getting her act together. Sandlin does this in the context of his usual humor and sharply written characters.

Its a real testament to Tim Sandlin that he can return to the territory of the wonderful Skipped Parts and write a sequal that lives up to its predecessor. Its even more remarkable that he can pick up the story 10 years later and from the point of view of Maurey Pierce, Sam Callahan's junior high love interest from Skipped Parts and still make it ring true.

This is a different type of book than Skipped Parts. Its considerably darker, due in no small part to Maurey's struggle with severe alcoholism. The characters in this installment, although no less colorful or multidimensional than those in the first book are leading more painful and more desperate lives. Although it has its funny moments, Sorrow Floats is not a comedy.

Yet it is ultimately uplifting, although not alwasy in the way you'd expect. Like most road stories, Maurey's journey is as much metaphorical as literal and along the way Sandlin really allows you to feel her anger, pain, confusion and tenderness. Of the three books in the GroVont trilogy, this is the most difficult and definitely the least fun, but in many ways its the most rewarding. Hats off to Sandlin.

Under my point of view i found the main line of story pretty poor. On the othe hand i liked a lot the realism and the limitations that the different characters show along the book. In general, a good sensivity for the writing but not a good story.

Not as sly or witty as the first book, "Skipped Parts," but still entertaining, provocative, and humorous. This book follows Maurey, after she has Sam's baby, marries her horrid high school sweetheart, and loses custody of her second baby after leaving him on top of the Bronco as she drives off in a drunken stupor. It follows her journey to find her soul and sobriety. I remember vaguely seeing the movie, "Floating Away," which is based on this book. The book is MUCH better. The three books in this series do not need to be read in order; each book can be read independently without losing the plot.

I just bought this book today, i am about 60 pages or so in and i can't get enough of it. I had bought the movie skipped parts on dvd and i love it, i want to buy the book but can't find it anywhere, i picked this up to continue the story and i am happy i did. can't wait to get further into the book.

Sorrow Floats is an entertaining and thoughtful post-modern tale that combines hilarity with despair. After meeting Maurey in Skipped Parts it was a joyful surprise to follow her along her journey across America. Sandlin's characters are realistic and intensely profound. Tim Sandlin is the J.D. Salinger of the 90's and hopefully beyond.

The book is a great read, as are the rest in the series, but there is one thing that drive me nuts: it is not Carolina, it is NORTH Carolina (or South, if that's where Greensboro was). I've lived most of my life in either North or South Carolina and the only times people say just "Carolina" is when they are referring to the school (UNC or USC) or in songs/poems.