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Title: Beautifully written, Ultimately Boring
Review: This book was beautifully written; I found myself pausing to admire the language frequently, with images clinging quietly but powerfully. I also enjoyed the dialect that Naomi uses to express herself -- at least at first.That said, very little happened. I'm more in favor of character-driven versus plot-driven novels, but the character here wasn't strong enough to drive things and there was way too much repetition. Both the infidelity theme and the forgiveness theme were driven into the ground. A much better novella than novel.I also wonder if a woman who spent 60 years away from the South would still be so very, very Southern in her voice. I've lived away from my home for only 25 years and have lost much of my local accent. "Might could" and "fixing to," "couple three" seem as if they might have dropped by the wayside after that long a time. Also, they became irritating after a while rather than charming -- a big reason most authors avoid dialect.
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