Sweet Piece [Paperback]

Silvanus Slaughter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2002

sweet piece is Silvanus Slaughters much-discussed, erotic, expertly crafted, jaw-clenching, compulsively readable historical Southern love story thats catching America and the status quo by surprise night after sleepless night across the country. It is

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Details let you sense every rub, lick, whisper of a stunningly beautiful story. Eroticism and dread drip from every page." -- Elcorre DeBenica, Lather Weekly, January 2003

"Seductive, acutely perceptive, this Southern mosaic blends comedy, horror, and unabashed romance with cinematic ferocity... full of complex characters." -- Vicky Jiggetts, Reel Carolina Magazine, October 2002

"Southern fried characters and dialog carry it along at a wicked clip...using sex, comedy and tragedy as page-turning vehicles." -- Hunter Lewis, The Herald-Sun, February 2003

"Think William Faulker... Erskine Caldwell. "sweet piece" bears the intensity and weight of repression of all that is deemed Southern." -- Charles Richards. The Daily Dispatch, April 19, 2002

"Think William Faulkner...Erskine Calwell. "sweet piece" bears the intensity and weight of all that is deemed Southern." -- Charles Richards, The Daily Dispatch, April 2002

From the Publisher

Silvanus Slaughter's addictive and beguiling tale of enduring love, "sweet piece", heralds the arrival of post-modern Southern Gothic. Slaughter - a native Southerner - peppers his Byzantine tale with hefty doses of eroticism that cross the sexual spectrum, ribald comedy, and bursts of poetic tenderness, all of which seem strategically placed to seduce the reader into tackling the astringent theology and psychology at the novel's core. Additionally, the colorful parade of characters - all masters of the Dixie-bred indirect aside - brim with a sardonic authenticity peculiar to the best southern novels, but a new sensibility is at work here: borne of the same soil, tongue-in-cheek but deadly serious, tweaking the genre while caressing it, and more subversive than ever.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Trevisi Publications (November 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972290400
• ISBN-13: 978-0972290401
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,073,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a remarkable book..., January 17, 2004

By 

ed (los angeles, california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Piece (Paperback)

...I found 'sweet piece' on the shelf of a friend from Hollywood who reviews for a living. He called it 'amazing' and then stumbled trying to describe it. Having read this remarkable book, I also struggle to convey what Silvanus Slaughter has evoked in this most modern of southern gothic novels: a new story of sex and violence that brings romance, spirituality and deep psychological insight into an intensely engaging and entertaining story. An angel speaks to a blind girl, a child channels Elizabeth Taylor, and a father's gun challenges love's attempt to find a way. I can not do this book justice. Read it, or make a movie out of it.

5.0 out of 5 stars A haunting southern gothic novel, December 23, 2003

By 

"tomonwheels" (Henderson, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Piece (Paperback)

"Sweet Piece" immediately captured my attention from page one, and did not relent until the final page. I found myself anxiously turning the pages, eager to find out what happens next. This is what good storytelling is all about.

The story centers on a teenager named Chas Collins. Chas is growing up in a small North Carolina town in the 1960s. He longs to break away and build a better life for himself. Unfortunately, he has a few obstacles in his way. He has also recently discovered a young lady who has captured his heart.

Slaughter writes with a passion for his characters and their story. You will experience an array of emotions while involved in this book: anger, shock, disbelief, sadness and humor. The characters are well-rounded without falling into stereotypes. I found myself feeling sympathy and pity even for the most horrible character in this book. I was fighting that tooth and nail, but I ultimately could not help myself. Slaughter gives insight into the characters that allows the reader to understand why they are the way that they are, instead of just simply letting the reader take them at face value.

The story itself is complex and multi-layered. I will leave out the details here and allow you to discover the story for yourself, but there is something for everyone, from heart-pounding action to the gentle and tender pangs of first love.

The book also explores sexual and spiritual life themes that are at times served up with jaw-dropping honesty. I found it bold and refreshing, as these are not easy subjects to address. It is rare that a writer can explore these issues with a tasteful frankness that allows the reader to ponder what was presented without feeling as though he or she has been "preached" to. Slaughter pulls it off masterfully.

The characters and story stick with you after reading the book. I still catch myself wondering what they might be up to in the current time, forty years after the story that unfolds in the novel.

Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging and memorable!, September 11, 2003

By 

N. Adcox "All People Thriving!" (Raleigh, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sweet Piece (Paperback)

This is a poignant and moving story about 18-year-old Chas Collins, no longer a child yet denied his freedom to be a man in charge of his own destiny. It is a satisfying yet troubling read. Silvanus Slaughter writes what, for me (a life-long southerner), was a somewhat regrettably realistic portrait of a narrow-minded small southern town of the 1960s.

Chas, nicknamed "Sweet Piece," is a high school senior whose sexuality seems to be deeply intertwined within almost every aspect of his life. Facing constant domination by an angry violent father, Chas is known as "that Collin's boy" by the socially bigoted people of his small southern town and he unfairly bears the stigma of his father's misdeeds. He struggles to survive living with his dysfunctional family for the six months remaining before he graduates from high school.

Slaughter draws us immediately into Chas Collin's restlessness and his drive to get away to be with the gifted blind girl who makes him feel complete. Startling for me at first, Slaughter writes with a style that includes the occurrence of not always politically correct sexual situations. He goes further than other modern fiction writers I've read in his authenticity about male-to-male relationships.

Sweet Piece contains an interesting element of spiritual/theological content and Slaughter seems sincere in bringing up issues around forgiveness and spiritual "sight."

This was one of those compelling books for reading cover-to-cover in a day; yet, I knew from reading Chapter One that, instead, I would want to prolong the experience of this book. For me, even days after I finished reading "Sweet Piece", the haunting story played itself over and over in my head as I pondered what had happened and why.

Highly recommended!