Thursday, July 23, 2009

What the Bayou Saw

Title: WHAT THE BAYOU SAW
Author: Patti Lacy
Publisher: Kregel
April 2009
ISBN: 978-0-8254-2937-8
Genre: Inspirational/women’s fiction

Sally Stevens might have left New Orleans for the Midwestern state of Illinois, but she is still a southerner. She has hidden all her secrets in a sunny disposition and sugar-coated lies. And there they stayed, hidden beneath her smiles, as she taught in a university in Normal, Illinois.

When one of Sally’s students is brutally attacked, Sally is stunned, shocked, and horrified that the university is more interested in covering up what could be a hate-crime rather than caring about the girl who must go on living after this horrific attack. When Sally’s boss suggest she visits the girl in the hospital, Sally is quick to agree, but not to smooth things over for the school, but rather to hopefully let the girl know that she cares.

Unfortunately, that plan doesn’t go so well. Sally is white and the black student doesn’t seem to appreciate her getting involved. And when Sally tries to stress that she understands what the student is facing instead, Sally finds herself remembering long suppressed memories of segregation, a chain link fence, and a blood oath…and then Sally is forced to face the truth that she has long buried.

WHAT THE BAYOU SAW is the second book I’ve read by Ms. Lacy, and while I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as I did her first book, WHAT THE BAYOU SAW is a book t hat will stay with you for a long period of time, forcing you to deal with your own thoughts of bigotry, rape, and hate crimes—whether these are topics you normally think about or not.

WHAT THE BAYOU SAW is not an easy book to read. Whether you want to or not, the deep point of view forces you to identify with these characters and feel the pain, the horror, and the despair. The characters are very realistically developed, the setting expertly described, the story puts you there. Ms. Lacy is definitely a very talented author, and not afraid of tackling tough issues. Don’t miss WHAT THE BAYOU SAW. It is a story that will make you think—and more importantly, make you feel. $14.99. 293 pages.

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