Thursday, April 10, 2008

Serials and Scenarios - Nicole Seitz's Trouble the Waters

Click on the beautiful book cover to visit the Amazon page. Nicole's website is here, and her Dregs interview, here.



My Review:


Nicole Seitz is an artist. Literary fiction lovers might want to check into her further.

Through a group of Gullah women, Seitz reveals the fascinating spirit, superstitions and cultural richness as she revisits the Low Country once again. Though Trouble the Water is not a sequel to Spirit of Sweetgrass Seitz revisits settings that are obviously as fascinating to her as to her readers.

This is the type of novel I love to curl up with and savor. Seitz brought three first-person point of view characters to life as they relived sorrow and shame, choices and consequences. Honor, Alice, Duchess and The Nannies live and breath through Seitz's words. And what stories they tell.

This is not an easy read. Christian fiction, yes, traditional, no. Seitz writes with realism including sin and consequences, hypocrisy and the damage done through it. There is no salvation prayer at the end and very subtle gospel sharing, so those who expect a strong gospel message within their Christian fiction may be disappointed. In addition, the superstitions and beliefs of the characters may stomp on some toes. However, those who are hungry for honest, transparent stories about tragedy and sorrow, and hope and restoration need to look further into Seitz's novels.

3 comments:

Lianne Lopes said...

This sounds very interesting. And so does Amber Morn. I am a Brandilyn Collins fan, but I've not gotten around to reading any of the Kanner Lake stories. Yet. :)

I've been "absent" from the world of blogging for most of this week, but I'm back now. Well duh. This comment is proof of that. lol. We've had a hectic week, and I'm glad it's ending.

BTW, your post on mothers and porcupines was awesome. A great analogy.

Still hoping to see you tomorrow.

Kim said...

Kelly,
This is a very unusual and beautiful story. I think the redemptive story is there, but in a way that "fits" her style. True, it's not an easy read, but the story and characters are so real that the story leaves you changed. This was a treasure among my books!

Good review! You make the reader aware of things about the style and tone of this novel that some would find different from a lot of other books in this market.

Kim

Scrambled Dregs said...

Lianne,

If you are a Brandilyn Collins fan you really owe it to yourself to look into Kanner Lake. The people, the relationships, the drama, the gore, the terror...win/win. I liked her other books, loved this series.

Thanks for your kind words...I love it when you visit.

Kim,

I agree. Nicole does it well...now I'm going to go see what you said about it.