Customer Reviews

What the Bayou Saw: A Novel

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Never before have I read a book on two controversial subjects that made me mad, sad, and depressed, while truly enjoying every page. What the Bayou Saw by Patti Lacy is a poignant story where the same crime happens to two different women. Can the secrets of two little girls, growing up during the times of segregation, really affect their adult lives? Exactly what is the bayou hiding and will anyone ever really know?

Sally Stevens, being a nurturing person, puts everything on the line to help one of her students over a tragedy. Sally has not been completely honest with the people around her, and now more than ever she will have to come clean in order to be there for Shamika Williams. Shamika, like Sally, has to choose how they will handle the bad cards that were dealt to them. For Sally, it has been quite a few years. But Shamika has the choice to either take the same path as Sally did years ago, or learn from her in making better choices. Will Sally be able to connect those things and people from her past? Will she succeed in making things right? And will Shamika learn from Sally?

The emotions of the characters were raw and I could feel them as I read. The characters and the plot were well-developed. The research that had to be done was extensive because certain details were so unrealistically real, and it could not come from Ms. Lacy's imagination alone. What the Bayou Saw is not a fast-paced book, but it is a page turner. I recommend this book to everyone interested in reading something out of the ordinary.

Jennifer Coissiere
APOOO BookClub

Patti Lacy has poured herself into What the Bayou Saw, and the result is an engrossing and beautifully written novel about secrets, healing, and transformed lives. As her characters struggled to overcome prejudice and lies, I struggled with them, and then I rooted for them as they began to free themselves from their burden of lies. I was captivated by this story!

All I can say is wow to this book. Two thumbs up to Patti Lacy for creating this story. Sally is the main character in this book. She has built her life around lies that she has so deceptively created that she can't remember what the truth is. That is until a tragic event at the school where she works as a teacher occurs that brings her right back to the reason she created all these lies in the first place. Her lies finally come full circle when she begins to tell her story and realizes what she needs to do to find closure. This is a tale that includes racism, some history, and fabulous characters. I felt the pain of the characters throughout the book and it made me feel as if I just wanted to be there for them and make the hurt go away. I loved this book. Patti Lacy took me to a place within the pages of this book that created a whole new view of events that occurred in our history. Some things I just never realized, and it takes reading about it maybe in a different way to bring it to the forefront. Definitely a book I would highly recommend.

Patti Lacy has penned an unforgettable literary masterpiece in What the Bayou Saw. Laced with lyrics from African American spirituals, this tale eloquently illustrates the lives of three unlikely women. The story takes the reader on a ride down highway 55 north, from Louisiana to Illinois, to embark on a journey crowded with bigotry, hatred, and prejudice.
Sally Stevens is a Christian woman who is struggling daily to deal with the demons of her past. Through the years, Sally had done a good job of hiding her pain until one of her students, Shamika Williams, is attacked. Shamika is the only African American student in Sally's American Music class. Afro-centric and regal in her appearance, it was well known that Shamika was poised to take on the world and this didn't set right with several of her peers.
Because of who she is, Sally felt compelled to lend her support in any way that she could. Upon learning the details of what happened, Sally was forced to remember an event from years ago that forever changed her life. The only person who knew was Ella and Sally had sworn her to secrecy with a blood oath. Sally and Ella became childhood friends during a time when prejudice flowed as freely as running water.
It was amazing how well Sally had buried the pain and memories as the years elapsed. She found herself bearing it all when she went to visit Shamika at her aunt Ruby's house. Sally had been telling lies so long that hearing the truth, from her own mouth, was somehow foreign to her. She had lied to her husband, her children, and even to herself. Sally soon realized that she would have to deal with the past in order to truly heal.
What the Bayou Saw is filled with real life injustices which bring about brutal understanding through spiritual reflection and forgiveness. It made me take a step back and reflect on the realities that were shoved to the forefront as the past replayed in front of my very own eyes. I experienced an array of emotions while reading this book. Patti Lacy did an awesome job with the scene descriptions. I could smell the musty fragrance of the Bayou, hear the calls of the creatures of the swamp, and see the moss covered trees. I highly recommend this book to all readers.

Unika Modlen
AAMBC Reviewer

This book covered so many "touchy" subjects. Trying to conceal things of the past, innocent friendship, racial issues, young girls having to deal with the issues of rape at such a tender age, and murder just to name a few. Once I got into the bulk of the story, and became familar with each of the characters in the story, I was hooked all the way to the very end. I truly loved the way the author captured the friendship of these two young girls of different races, in the midst of the prejudice that was surrounding them. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a good book to read. The only disappointment is having the story come to and end.

I don't even know how I ended up buying this book (it was never on my never-ending book list), but I am so glad I did.

It's a wonderful story that will make you sad, mad, frustrated and all the more so because you know that events like those in the book probably happened hundreds of times during the 50's and 60's. I love the way story goes back and forth from the 50's and 60's to the period of Hurricane Katrina. It made the story feel all the more real and close. It made me really sad to read some of the racist events/ attitudes, and to know that what was being written about was just the tip of the iceberg.

As this is a tale of fiction everything ends well, but not in a sugary,happily-ever-after way. It really gave me food for thought. It's also worth reading the Author's notes at the back of the book where she explains what events/people in her own life gave her the inspiration for the story.
Well worth reading!

What the Bayou Saw by Patti Lacy is a journey into an often told story, told through a panoramic lens. More than the black and white vision is shown as we become privy to Sally's (the main character) initiation into mindsets about Blacks as a youth, what she experienced first hand at a later age and how she must come to grips with it in the presence.

Although a work of fiction Author Lacy does a great job of showing the consequence and guilt brought on by living a lie and redemption that can be had when we seek truth.

Reviewed by Dr. Linda Beed
On Assignment Reviews

Love the characters in this one: a believable male character with true desires for his wife, fabulous background for a strong but realistic protagonist, a dynamic friendship from childhood. Great imagery. Compelling. Once you get started, you'll find it hard to lay down.

Every once in a while I get the chance to review a book that I love. What the Bayou Saw is one of those books. Lacy kept me interested from page one of the prologue until the final page of the book. This book was refreshingly well written and easy to follow but still complex in theme, plot, and character development.

Sally is a middle aged woman that grew up in the south during a time period when the other side of town was still called, "Colored Town." Sally sneaks around with her best friend, a colored girl, and together they face the alligators, snakes, and scary men in the bayou. But only the two of them know what really happened down in the bayou.

The book follows the life of Sally 25 years later as she deals with incidents in her past that she never came to terms with and realizes her entire life is a series of small and big lies that are culminating in her stable life falling apart. You really feel for this woman as she tries to find a way to share the secrets of the past that have been haunting her for so long.

Like I said before, this book was extremely well written. Each and every character is developed to the point where you can imagine their next move or next line. The plot is slightly predictable, but it's still a well thought out and defined plot that never slows down between flashbacks from Sally's childhood and her current circumstances. I would recommend this book to anyone really. It's a clean book laced with spiritual undertones of relying on the Lord and living truthful lives even when it may ruin your or someone else's life. 5 stars.

In What the Bayou Saw, author Patti Lacy skillfully tells a truthful and painful story of friendship and lost of innocence. The characters are real and their feelings are real and Ms. Lacy masterfully draws you into their world. While reading this story I felt it all: anger, frustration, love, joy, and hope.

This is a must read for everyone, regardless of ethnicity.