Customer Reviews

Year the Colored Sisters Came to Town

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Jacqueline Guidry - a Louisiana Cajun by birth - has taken a turmoil-rocked time, the mid-1950s in the South, and allowed us to view the events that would forever change America through the eyes of a ten-year-old child. Her young narrator, Vivien Leigh Dubois, lives near a small Louisiana town, Ville d'Angelle, with her mother and father and her little sister Mavis (whose place in life is seemingly to continuously irritate Vivien Leigh). The family is Catholic, and the girls attend Holy Rosary School. They enjoy a fairly idyllic existence among their extended family and friends - but the time is 1957, and things in the American South (and the rest of the nation, of course) are about to change forever.

The `troubles' in Little Rock - the attempt by black children to attend Little Rock's Central High School - are of course in the news. Since the institution of slavery in America, race has played a part in our lives that we cannot ever erase - the scars from it, even if the wounds were somehow miraculously healed today, would be with us for decades to come. Memories retain pain suffered, even if it is buried for years - it must be faced and dealt with if we are to learn from it and pass through it. When two black nuns arrive in the town and appear at mass one Sunday - and when the townspeople learn that they are new teachers, to work in the otherwise all-white Catholic school - fears raise their heads, tempers flare, and friendships between blacks and whites that have been (at best) tenuous for years begin to fray and snap.

Vivien Leigh sees the sisters' presence as a problem - she sees them as `out of place', only because that is what she has been taught, if not directly, then by example. It is far easier for a child to come to accept change, however, than it is for adults, who have lived with their beliefs for most of their lives. The family's housekeeper, a hard-working, honest and lovable black woman named Aussie, and her young daughter Marydale (who is the `best friend' of young Mavis) are caught up in the hard feelings and impending changes like everyone else. The relationship between them and the Dubois family, which goes back for years, is bruised to the point of never properly healing - which, although each of the sides recognizes as a sad thing, is also seen as inevitable, something with a bad taste that the simply have to accept.

Guidry's characters are endowed by the author with distinct, honest and accurate voices - the rite of passage through which they are traveling takes its toll of each of them, and changes each of them uniquely. The care and compassion - and sheer literary talent - with which the author relates this story makes this a book that anyone who wishes to understand (and we all NEED to understand) the troubled times depicted here, as well as the challenges that remain before us, should read. It's also moving and entertaining, and I can recommend it highly.

This book has living, breathing characters in a real-life situation. The story is compelling from the first sentence to the last with a subtle undercurrent throughout. Set in the South in the late 1950s, the book tells the story of residents of a small Louisiana town. They don't know it yet, but they are about to participate in events that will change their town and their country forever. One summer Sunday, two African American nuns arrive at church for Mass. No one is too alarmed, assuming they are just passing through -- although there is some question of why they didn't go to Mass at the "colored church" instead. But the nuns are back again the next week. And soon, the townfolk learn that they're staying to teach first and fifth grades in the all-white Catholic school. No one seems happy about it, but some are more unhappy than others, especially parents who form The Concerned Citizens group and another group of men from Baton Rouge known as "the sheets." Told from the viewpoint of a 10-year-old girl, this story will keep you turning pages all night long.

It has been a long time since I have read a book this well written. The author has taken life in the 50's South and shown us the everyday cracks and crevices that can mold and/or alter lives.

She is to be congratulated for an incredible book. I eagerly await ner next one.

In 1957, the south is struggling with the Freedom Marches that have drawn the nation's attention to Little Rock, Arkansas, many still in denial that their way of life will be affected by the dreaded desegregation. In Cajun country, the little town of Ville de Angelle is rampant with gossip of the inevitable, still hoping "it won't happen here". But it's coming, sure as the end of summer; the question is what kind of trouble will be riding the coattails of change?

Soon-to-be ten year-old Vivien Leigh (yes, named for the heroine of GWTW) has her ears fine-tuned to nuance, eavesdropping on her mother's conversations with relatives, the hired Thursday cleaning lady, Aussie, and even her younger sister, Mavis, best friends forever with Aussie's daughter Marydale. Vivien Leigh is on the edge of puberty, anxious for her grown-up self to emerge and paying close attention to the world around her.

When Vivien Leigh learns that her aunt will be having a change-of-life baby, the pregnancy takes on mythic proportions, possibly altering the future for the Dubois family, even the small town she has known since birth, where "the colored know their place", black and white relations long constricted to particular conventions. For her part, Mavis isn't having any part of plans that will separate her from Marydale, in many ways more sophisticated in her approach to reality.

There are two Catholic schools, one for white and one for black, but when two colored nuns show up in church one Sunday, the community is soon buzzing with speculation. The men, including Vivien Leigh's father, form a "Concerned Citizens" group in an effort to deny at least one of the new teachers her first-grade position. Nevertheless, once the colored sisters come to town, the rest of the world will not be far behind.

Guidry isolates this small southern town with all its eccentricities, racial conventions and sense of security, noting the panic that quickly spreads with the advent of change. In the Dubois household, all is not lost, even though Vivien Leigh's father, Floyd Dubois, is the first to panic. Luckily, his wife is more reasonable about the meaning of change, including her years of friendship with Aussie. Yet significant progress is made person by person, as noted through Vivien Leigh's perspective, her opinions as yet unformed by the adults around her. Open to potential, questioning the old ways yet anxious about the future, Vivien Leigh is a child of her times, a few short years from the sixties. And the times, they are a'changin'. Luan Gaines/2005.

The characters in this book will stay with you for a long time. They're as real and unpredictable as your cousins, and caught up in the events of Ville d'Angelle, Louisiana, in 1957, they'll pull you in and keep you spellbound until--like all good stories--you don't want it to end. The varied and complex reactions of one family to the fact that two black nuns are assigned to teach at the town's all-white Catholic elementary school form the framework in which the two daughters, 10-year-old narrator Vivien Leigh and her seven-year-old sister Mavis, come to realize how they feel and how they're expected to feel about the black people they've known all their lives. Details like fig picking and speech patterns provide a passionate sense of place, while a change-of-life baby, a visit from Baton Rouge "sheets," and a divisive wager propel the plot. Guidry has a fine sense of how the smallest change affects and is affected by the larger landscape. This book is a very good read.

I enjoyed being introduced to rural Cajun Louisiana in the 1950's by the delightful Vivien Leigh. Her delightful voice carried me through a time and place full of difficulties and contradictions the ten year-old was trying to understand.
A well written, easy read but one that leaves you with much to think about.

I loved this novel for its narrator, 10-year-old, precocious Vivien Leigh, who watches her world change around her when two "colored" nuns arrive to teach at her Catholic school and for its reminder of all that baby boomers in the south witnessed during the early 60's without understanding. Guidry is a talented, insightful writer, and her novel has funny moments, as well as those that make the reader look deep within. I checked it out of the library, bought a copy to give away, then bought one to keep.

THE YEAR THE COLORED SISTERS CAME TO TOWN

This book and its characters will stay with me for a very, very long time. This is absolutely a must read book. I checked this book out from the library and it has sat on my shelf since early March. I wish I would have read it sooner! Now, I wish I still had it to read -- it is truly wonderful.

Vivien Leigh Dubois, ten years old, is the narrator. She tells a great story, told in true Southern charm and style. She lives with her younger sister, Mavis, and her parents in Ville d'Angelle, Louisiana; the year is 1957.

Vivien Leigh (named for the actress who played Scarlett in GWTW, but Scarlett is such a trampy name!), is a girl wise beyond her years. She tells the story of the colored nuns coming to town. This doesn't set well with the town folk -- remember, it is the South, the year is 1957. However, the book does not deal with just the nuns coming to town and the effect of that -- Vivien Leigh's story is FUN, witty, interesting and told in such a humorous way!

Vivien Leigh and her family are not too upset by colored nuns showing up and eventually teaching at the Catholic school Vivien and Mavis attend. However, the ripples of this will effect many.

Vivien Leigh and her family have had a friendship with their black cleaning lady, Aussie, and her family forever. Aussie's daughter, Marydale, and Mavis are the best of friends. The girls see no color barrier; they just LIKE each other. The girls can't understand the fear and hatred people of color can cause in town.

However, this book is not all political and totally about the controversy of the black nuns. This book deals with a ten year old girl, growing up, her days, her holidays, her dreams, her family and friends, school life. And it is all delightfully narrated by the one and only Vivien Leigh. Her outlook on life is fun and I grew to love this character. I especially enjoyed her speculations on "change-of-life" babies!!!!!

Read this book and then tell all of your friends. It is a joy and a fun ride. At first I didn't think I was going to like the book or even read it, but wow, was I wrong. This is truly one of the best books out there.

I will miss Vivien Leigh and her family and friends. Her points-of-view and outlook on life were priceless. A great, easy read, and one you will not soon forget.

READ THIS BOOK. You will not be sorry!

Thank you!
Pam

Thought the humor in this story was priceless. The author did an excellent job of revealing this southern family during a difficult and historical time. Ten year old Vivian Dubois is wise beyond her years. Enjoyed it.

I found this book both charming and thought provoking. It is bittersweet and a don't miss, read!