What do you think?
Rate this book
GroVont Triology #4
Lydia
"Sandlin understands that the best black comedy is only a tiny slip away from despair, and he handles this walk without a misstep."
-Dallas Morning News Managing the Virgin Birth Home for Unwed Mothers means the women in Sam Callahan's life keep his world interesting. But it's his family members that really take the cake. His daughter may be having a nervous breakdown, and his mother's just out of prison for attempting to poison the president's dog. And when they hit the road with a geriatric, an adoptive son trying to discover his parentage, and an enraged psychopath on their tails, all hell may break loose. Fifteen years ago, Tim Sandlin concluded his "Gro-Vont" trilogy, a string of books that included a New York Times Notable Book and earned such accolades as "funny and compelling" (LA Times), "zany" (Cosmo), and "dazzling and moving" (New York Times). But some characters call a writer back. Welcome to the ribald, rollicking, and sometimes peculiar world of Tim Sandlin's GroVont, Wyoming, where family is always paramount, no matter how strange. "I don't understand why your mother was in prison in the first place," Eden said. "I heard she was a feminist force for justice in America."
I glanced in the rearview mirror at Gilia, staring out the window at the red cliffs along the river, pretending not to listen. It would be just like her to feed Eden that feminist force for justice in America line. Although we'd been together almost ten years, I still had no clue as to when Gilia was being sarcastic. It seemed like an important thing to know.
I said, "Mom FedExed a poison chew toy to Ronald Reagan's dog."
After a moment of semi-stunned silence, Eden said, "Now I see why you're so squirrelly."
Praise for Tim Sandlin
"Dazzling...moving...Sam's carapace is humor... He thinks like Holden Caulfield and has Joseph Heller's take on despair. His Walter Mitty-like fantasies are tiny comic gems...In the end you'll find yourself rooting for Sam."
-New York Times Book Review
"Funny, shocking, downright revolting, and occasionally sad. Sandlin is a compelling storyteller."
-Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Able storytelling and an engaging cast of dysfunctional modern American pilgrims animate this winning tale of the road...Sandlin fashions a convincing tale of redemption."
-Publishers Weekly
"Sparkles with intelligence."
-Booklist
"Wild, wonderful, and wickedly funny...Highly recommended."
-Library Journal
"Thoughtful, surprising, and delightful entertainment."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Tim Sandlin's fiction packs a punch. The writer's fictional Wyoming town is a grungier version of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, a community where people ponder the difference between depression and despair."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch Reviewers have variously compared Tim Sandlin to Jack Kerouac, Tom Robbins, Larry McMurtry, Joseph Heller, John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Hiaasen, and a few other writers you've probably heard of. He has published nine novels and a book of columns. He wrote eleven screenplays for hire, two of which have been made into movies. He used to write reviews for the New York Times Book Review but was fired for excessive niceness. He lives with his family in Jackson, Wyoming, where he is director of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference. His "Sandlinistas" follow him at www.timsandlin.com.
-Dallas Morning News Managing the Virgin Birth Home for Unwed Mothers means the women in Sam Callahan's life keep his world interesting. But it's his family members that really take the cake. His daughter may be having a nervous breakdown, and his mother's just out of prison for attempting to poison the president's dog. And when they hit the road with a geriatric, an adoptive son trying to discover his parentage, and an enraged psychopath on their tails, all hell may break loose. Fifteen years ago, Tim Sandlin concluded his "Gro-Vont" trilogy, a string of books that included a New York Times Notable Book and earned such accolades as "funny and compelling" (LA Times), "zany" (Cosmo), and "dazzling and moving" (New York Times). But some characters call a writer back. Welcome to the ribald, rollicking, and sometimes peculiar world of Tim Sandlin's GroVont, Wyoming, where family is always paramount, no matter how strange. "I don't understand why your mother was in prison in the first place," Eden said. "I heard she was a feminist force for justice in America."
I glanced in the rearview mirror at Gilia, staring out the window at the red cliffs along the river, pretending not to listen. It would be just like her to feed Eden that feminist force for justice in America line. Although we'd been together almost ten years, I still had no clue as to when Gilia was being sarcastic. It seemed like an important thing to know.
I said, "Mom FedExed a poison chew toy to Ronald Reagan's dog."
After a moment of semi-stunned silence, Eden said, "Now I see why you're so squirrelly."
Praise for Tim Sandlin
"Dazzling...moving...Sam's carapace is humor... He thinks like Holden Caulfield and has Joseph Heller's take on despair. His Walter Mitty-like fantasies are tiny comic gems...In the end you'll find yourself rooting for Sam."
-New York Times Book Review
"Funny, shocking, downright revolting, and occasionally sad. Sandlin is a compelling storyteller."
-Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Able storytelling and an engaging cast of dysfunctional modern American pilgrims animate this winning tale of the road...Sandlin fashions a convincing tale of redemption."
-Publishers Weekly
"Sparkles with intelligence."
-Booklist
"Wild, wonderful, and wickedly funny...Highly recommended."
-Library Journal
"Thoughtful, surprising, and delightful entertainment."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Tim Sandlin's fiction packs a punch. The writer's fictional Wyoming town is a grungier version of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, a community where people ponder the difference between depression and despair."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch Reviewers have variously compared Tim Sandlin to Jack Kerouac, Tom Robbins, Larry McMurtry, Joseph Heller, John Irving, Kurt Vonnegut, Carl Hiaasen, and a few other writers you've probably heard of. He has published nine novels and a book of columns. He wrote eleven screenplays for hire, two of which have been made into movies. He used to write reviews for the New York Times Book Review but was fired for excessive niceness. He lives with his family in Jackson, Wyoming, where he is director of the Jackson Hole Writers Conference. His "Sandlinistas" follow him at www.timsandlin.com.
438 pages, Hardcover
First published February 8, 2011
19 people are currently reading
231 people want to read
About the author
Tim Sandlin
22 books150 followersTim Sandlin has published ten novels and a book of columns. He wrote eleven screenplays for hire; three have been made into movies. He turned forty with no phone, TV, or flush toilet and now he has all that stuff. Tim and his wife adopted a little girl from China. He is now living happily (indoors) with his family in Jackson, Wyoming.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
February 27, 2019
I can't believe I'm saying this after such high praise for the previous books in the series, but I struggled a bit with this one. Don't get me wrong. I still love it, as the rating shows, but where the previous books flow really well, this one had a tendency to drag at times for me.
I suppose this is what happens when the various plot threads are more separated than usual. The book has three main threads that don't feel related at first, with one in particular that is basically Oly, a 99 year old man, narrating his life to Lydia. These narrations are not terrible, but they sit in the book like the story floating through John Irving's Setting Free The Bears. It has a point in the end, but it's painfully hard to get through them because they take you away from the other two plot threads that at least kinda relate to each other and feel like they actually drive the story more.
The story mostly centers around Roger and Shannon this time around, with Lydia being the driving force behind their stories rather than being a central figure. She also gives reason to Oly and his narration, which makes sense I guess, but the title had me thinking she would be a bigger central focus throughout the book and she really isn't, at least not in such a direct way. To be fair though, she's in this book more than any of the previous books, or it feels like it anyways.
In the end, it's more that there's a moral to the story, much like Sorrow Floats, which is fine. It's just harder to get there than before. It is a good book though, and a must read if you enjoyed the others in the series. Just prepare to be sidetracked from time to time with tales of an old man's youth.
I suppose this is what happens when the various plot threads are more separated than usual. The book has three main threads that don't feel related at first, with one in particular that is basically Oly, a 99 year old man, narrating his life to Lydia. These narrations are not terrible, but they sit in the book like the story floating through John Irving's Setting Free The Bears. It has a point in the end, but it's painfully hard to get through them because they take you away from the other two plot threads that at least kinda relate to each other and feel like they actually drive the story more.
The story mostly centers around Roger and Shannon this time around, with Lydia being the driving force behind their stories rather than being a central figure. She also gives reason to Oly and his narration, which makes sense I guess, but the title had me thinking she would be a bigger central focus throughout the book and she really isn't, at least not in such a direct way. To be fair though, she's in this book more than any of the previous books, or it feels like it anyways.
In the end, it's more that there's a moral to the story, much like Sorrow Floats, which is fine. It's just harder to get there than before. It is a good book though, and a must read if you enjoyed the others in the series. Just prepare to be sidetracked from time to time with tales of an old man's youth.
February 9, 2016
Having read all four books in the GroVont "trilogy" I can confidently say that Tim Sandlin ended his trek through four decades (1963-1993) of life in GroVont on a strong note in this final installment! Although the four books have varied widely in quality, "Lydia" is easily one of the two best.
"Lydia" starts off nicely, quickly engaging the reader with interesting character setup, and it is funny. As with "Skipped Parts" (the first book in the series) this one is narrated by Sam Callahan, the middle aged writer son of the Lydia of the novel's title. However, the first person narration is loosely used. Sam is our narrator, but he is privy to information that he is not present for. You have to suspend your disbelief as to how he knows things he did not witness. Sandlin nicely explains this on page 434 when he has Sam admit that as a novelist he "made up the parts of the story when I wasn't there." The narrator even goes so far as to say "I tell stories" to explain why he shuns symbolism and other literary angles in his writing. Sam as narrator is clearly a stand in for Mr. Sandlin's thinly veiled views on the subject. The narration of the book is nicely rendered, it is a strong suit of Sandlin's, although Sam as narrator has access to, and talks about, very intimate details of his daughter's sex life. It is gross, but the uncomfortable side of sex is nothing that Sandlin has shied away from in this series.
There are also many pleasures for the loyal reader of the GroVont series in this text as Sandlin incorporates many elements from his other novels in a clever manner into the plot of "Lydia". Examples include a brief cameo from the protagonist of his novel "Rowdy in Paris", and the subtle way in which he incorporates a minor incident from his novel "Sorrow Floats" as the starting point for a major plot element in this text.
The characters in "Lydia" are one of the book's main attractions, and personally I was intrigued by the character of Roger Talbot. I liked this smart loner, and wanted to hear more about him. Sandlin is very good at writing loners, and Roger is a nicely drawn character. There is also a remarkable growth in the character of Lydia in this text. I hated her in previous novels, but I loved her in this one. She has grown and mellowed, and it is a testament to Sandlin that he has so realistically created and shared the life span of this character.
Another great element of "Lydia" is the incorporation of Oly Pederson, a cameo in previous GroVont books, and the larger role he takes in this novel. Sandlin reminds the reader that everybody has some kind of story to tell, and this minor character that many readers may not even remember from the previous works has lived too, even if we don't register it. Oly is almost 100, and his life story is being recorded to preserve some sort of oral history. Oly's story is beautiful at times. It also includes WW I, and Sandlin does an excellent job with the battle scenes as they are vividly written. Oly's tale also comes back full circle to a minor event in the first book of the series ("Skipped Parts") and Sandlin elegantly shows how tight the circle of life / acquaintance is for most of us.
"Lydia" is told using three intersecting story lines (delineated by the use of 3 different fonts) and they go well together to form a full coherent novel. It also serves to break up the plot for some readers as they never have to focus solely on one story line. As with the best of Sandlin's writing "Lydia" demonstrates the power of human truth in literature, and one such moment was when he has a character say, "...I see that everything you choose to do means giving up a bunch of other things you thought you might do later." Simple and profound, as are many parts of this book including the final chapter titled "Loose Ends". The novel ends on a simple and lovely sentiment, as are the best parts of our lives.
Enjoy!
"Lydia" starts off nicely, quickly engaging the reader with interesting character setup, and it is funny. As with "Skipped Parts" (the first book in the series) this one is narrated by Sam Callahan, the middle aged writer son of the Lydia of the novel's title. However, the first person narration is loosely used. Sam is our narrator, but he is privy to information that he is not present for. You have to suspend your disbelief as to how he knows things he did not witness. Sandlin nicely explains this on page 434 when he has Sam admit that as a novelist he "made up the parts of the story when I wasn't there." The narrator even goes so far as to say "I tell stories" to explain why he shuns symbolism and other literary angles in his writing. Sam as narrator is clearly a stand in for Mr. Sandlin's thinly veiled views on the subject. The narration of the book is nicely rendered, it is a strong suit of Sandlin's, although Sam as narrator has access to, and talks about, very intimate details of his daughter's sex life. It is gross, but the uncomfortable side of sex is nothing that Sandlin has shied away from in this series.
There are also many pleasures for the loyal reader of the GroVont series in this text as Sandlin incorporates many elements from his other novels in a clever manner into the plot of "Lydia". Examples include a brief cameo from the protagonist of his novel "Rowdy in Paris", and the subtle way in which he incorporates a minor incident from his novel "Sorrow Floats" as the starting point for a major plot element in this text.
The characters in "Lydia" are one of the book's main attractions, and personally I was intrigued by the character of Roger Talbot. I liked this smart loner, and wanted to hear more about him. Sandlin is very good at writing loners, and Roger is a nicely drawn character. There is also a remarkable growth in the character of Lydia in this text. I hated her in previous novels, but I loved her in this one. She has grown and mellowed, and it is a testament to Sandlin that he has so realistically created and shared the life span of this character.
Another great element of "Lydia" is the incorporation of Oly Pederson, a cameo in previous GroVont books, and the larger role he takes in this novel. Sandlin reminds the reader that everybody has some kind of story to tell, and this minor character that many readers may not even remember from the previous works has lived too, even if we don't register it. Oly is almost 100, and his life story is being recorded to preserve some sort of oral history. Oly's story is beautiful at times. It also includes WW I, and Sandlin does an excellent job with the battle scenes as they are vividly written. Oly's tale also comes back full circle to a minor event in the first book of the series ("Skipped Parts") and Sandlin elegantly shows how tight the circle of life / acquaintance is for most of us.
"Lydia" is told using three intersecting story lines (delineated by the use of 3 different fonts) and they go well together to form a full coherent novel. It also serves to break up the plot for some readers as they never have to focus solely on one story line. As with the best of Sandlin's writing "Lydia" demonstrates the power of human truth in literature, and one such moment was when he has a character say, "...I see that everything you choose to do means giving up a bunch of other things you thought you might do later." Simple and profound, as are many parts of this book including the final chapter titled "Loose Ends". The novel ends on a simple and lovely sentiment, as are the best parts of our lives.
Enjoy!
Read
March 3, 2018Lydia is the fourth book in Tim Sandlin's GroVont trilogy. While it isn't the strongest book in the trilogy, it isn't the weakest either. It can be read as a stand alone book, but it does make more sense to read the rest of the series first to get a sense of the characters, and how they all fit in with each other. There is still plenty of humour, and as a series it has spanned four decades, so things will have changed with the times. As it was written some fifteen years after the original trilogy there are some noticeable errors, but they didn't stop me from enjoying the book.
December 11, 2014
A Book Review of Lydia By Tim Sandlin (by Tammy Dominguez)
When I first started reading Lydia, I didn’t like it all. I thought Lyida was the most selfish, narcissistic person I ever read about. About five chapters in, the book began to grow on me. I found myself trying to find more time to read and looking forward to finding out what happened to the characters. Lydia’s code for herself was, “The strong woman does not allow love to confine her. The strong woman does not feel guilt. The strong woman does not grow old and needy.” (360) .
I’m not sure how well the story-within-the-story works (well, it must have, since the book sells) about Oly, but it is certainly an interesting technique. Furthermore, that was my favorite part of the book. Oly is a very endearing character, and the author neatly tied the two stories together in the end. The other characters were believable, although as one of my fellow classmates explained, they are all extraordinary in some way. In the author’s own words, “Sometimes the novelist would rather make things colorful more than safe. It’s a bad habit, fine for fictional characters, but not at all in healthy people,” (264) .
Each of the characters teaches the reader important lessons. For instance Oly’s sad and often tragic journey through life teaches, “…it is a sad fact of human nature that an enemy’s scorn can cause you to betray those you love, (142) . Lydia tries to empower women, Roger’s story gives hope of learning the answer to mysterious questions, and Oly’s life shows that one can find happiness no matter what their age.
Throughout the book are little nuggets of truth and codes to live by. Sandlin speaks of something that I learned about myself, “You can release pain by writing about it, at least to some extent. You can make the unbearable, bearable,” (409) . This book causes the reader to want to learn more about each character and what is their story. Thankfully, Sandlin obliged, as several books in the GroVont series exist. The end of Lydia definitely surprised me, but I won’t spoil it with details; I’ll just say that Lydia broke character of serving only herself or her interests.
When I first started reading Lydia, I didn’t like it all. I thought Lyida was the most selfish, narcissistic person I ever read about. About five chapters in, the book began to grow on me. I found myself trying to find more time to read and looking forward to finding out what happened to the characters. Lydia’s code for herself was, “The strong woman does not allow love to confine her. The strong woman does not feel guilt. The strong woman does not grow old and needy.” (360) .
I’m not sure how well the story-within-the-story works (well, it must have, since the book sells) about Oly, but it is certainly an interesting technique. Furthermore, that was my favorite part of the book. Oly is a very endearing character, and the author neatly tied the two stories together in the end. The other characters were believable, although as one of my fellow classmates explained, they are all extraordinary in some way. In the author’s own words, “Sometimes the novelist would rather make things colorful more than safe. It’s a bad habit, fine for fictional characters, but not at all in healthy people,” (264) .
Each of the characters teaches the reader important lessons. For instance Oly’s sad and often tragic journey through life teaches, “…it is a sad fact of human nature that an enemy’s scorn can cause you to betray those you love, (142) . Lydia tries to empower women, Roger’s story gives hope of learning the answer to mysterious questions, and Oly’s life shows that one can find happiness no matter what their age.
Throughout the book are little nuggets of truth and codes to live by. Sandlin speaks of something that I learned about myself, “You can release pain by writing about it, at least to some extent. You can make the unbearable, bearable,” (409) . This book causes the reader to want to learn more about each character and what is their story. Thankfully, Sandlin obliged, as several books in the GroVont series exist. The end of Lydia definitely surprised me, but I won’t spoil it with details; I’ll just say that Lydia broke character of serving only herself or her interests.
April 18, 2011
Lydia is a Novel of Fiction by Tim Sandlin from SourceBooks Landmark.
Book Blurb:
Managing the Virgin Birth Home for Unwed Mothers means the women in Sam Callahan’s life keep his world interesting. But it’s his family members that really take the cake. His daughter may be having a nervous breakdown, and his mother’s just out of prison for attempting to poison the president’s dog.
And when they hit the road with a geriatric, an adoptive son trying to discover his parentage and an enraged psychopath on their tails, all hell may break loose.
My thoughts:
Lydia is the first book I have read in the GroVant, Wyoming series by Tim Sandlin and I honestly laughed until tears rolled down my face.
This book tugs on all the emotional strings - humor, anger, regret, love, hate, forgiveness and triumph - to name a few.
I instantly connected with the characters in this book and now I have to get the first three in the wonderful series.
I give Lydia 5 out of 5 stars.
M
Product Details
* Hardcover: 464 pages
* Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (April 1, 2011)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 140224181X
* ISBN-13: 978-1402241819
Book Blurb:
Managing the Virgin Birth Home for Unwed Mothers means the women in Sam Callahan’s life keep his world interesting. But it’s his family members that really take the cake. His daughter may be having a nervous breakdown, and his mother’s just out of prison for attempting to poison the president’s dog.
And when they hit the road with a geriatric, an adoptive son trying to discover his parentage and an enraged psychopath on their tails, all hell may break loose.
My thoughts:
Lydia is the first book I have read in the GroVant, Wyoming series by Tim Sandlin and I honestly laughed until tears rolled down my face.
This book tugs on all the emotional strings - humor, anger, regret, love, hate, forgiveness and triumph - to name a few.
I instantly connected with the characters in this book and now I have to get the first three in the wonderful series.
I give Lydia 5 out of 5 stars.
M
Product Details
* Hardcover: 464 pages
* Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (April 1, 2011)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 140224181X
* ISBN-13: 978-1402241819
June 26, 2011
Caveat--this book earns 5 stars only for devoted followers of Sandlin. If you haven't read any (or really, all) of Sandlin's work, you're best off avoiding this one. And it really does have flaws, including some very undercooked plotlines and some huge holes. But devotees of the cult of Sandlin really could not ask for more as the author brings back pretty much all the familiar figures from the GroVont trilogy, but also pulls in characters from his other novels, some in cameos, others in really essential plot twists. When you get right down to it, it really is Sandlin's voice and humanity and the way it flows through his remarkable cast of characters that make these books so wonderful and all are in fine form throughout. Although readers would probably like to reunite with Sam Callahan anytime Sandlin's willing to commit a few hundred pages to paper, this sort of feels like the last go around and it doesn't disappoint a bit.
April 12, 2015
Four stars, but only for Tim Sandlin junkies. I loved reading this book because Sandlin brought back all of my favorite characters and smushed them into one book. Reading about Sam and Maurey and (a now grown-up) Shannon and Lydia and Hank and Loren, and even Rowdy... It felt like visiting old friends and catching up-- the kind of old friends who have the best, most ridiculous and entertaining stories ever. That said, the book has its problems, particularly with a constantly shifting point of view/narrator that can sometimes be confusing/annoying as it jumps, at times, right in the middle of chapters. I was willing to overlook it because I was so happy to be reading about the GroVont folks once again. If you loved Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats and Social Blunders, this is a must read.
March 23, 2020
It had been a while since I read the GroVont trilogy. This one had enough reminders to bring me back up to speed, without excessive rehashing of the events of those books. I have to admit, though, that it wasn't until after I'd finished and looked at some commentary that I realized Sandlin had included some characters from Western Swing and Rowdy in Paris in this one.
I guess I'd classify myself as a Sandlin fan, having read all but a couple of his books. For some reason, I couldn't seem to get into Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty, and set it aside. I'll have to go back and try it again. That said, none of his "lesser" works holds up to the GroVont series, but if you've been put off Sandlin by one of those, don't let that stop you from picking up Lydia.
Besides Sam and Maurey and Lydia, Sandlin focuses primarily on Roger Talbot (same last name as Rowdy, but no apparent connection), who has been raised by Maurey and who works at the Virgin Birth Home for Unwed Mothers - the mystery of his origins and his search for answers form the primary plotline of the book - and Oly Pederson, a resident of Haven House nursing home who is nearing his 100th birthday and whose life story Lydia is assigned to record as her community service associated with her parole.
The story-within-a-story of Oly Pederson is somewhat reminiscent of some of John Irving's novels, but its inclusion seemed to me less contrived than Irving's. I thought Sandlin's way of melding Oly's story into the narrative really worked.
Like the others, this one has to be classified as black humor, with nearly equal parts tragedy and hope. Sandlin can throw out lines like "eyebrows you could clean a chimney with" or have a character think she heard coyotes howling and then realize it was just the neighbors arguing about money, as well as some wonderfully humorous deadpan dialog, and then turn around and break your heart with a tragic event or a devastating realization on the part of a character.
The only real criticism I have is Sandlin's inconsistency in the narration of the main plotline. He is determined to have Sam as first person narrator, but he frequently reverts to omniscient author form - presenting events, dialog, and inner thoughts and feelings that Sam could not possibly have known or witnessed. He tries to cover that in the last part of the book with some mumbo-jumbo about Sam being an author and making up what he didn't witness first-hand, but that after-the-fact rationalization didn't make up for the awkwardness and occasional confusion I felt during the read, when it came back to me that I was supposed to be hearing Sam's voice.
But don't let that keep you from reading Lydia.
I guess I'd classify myself as a Sandlin fan, having read all but a couple of his books. For some reason, I couldn't seem to get into Jimi Hendrix Turns Eighty, and set it aside. I'll have to go back and try it again. That said, none of his "lesser" works holds up to the GroVont series, but if you've been put off Sandlin by one of those, don't let that stop you from picking up Lydia.
Besides Sam and Maurey and Lydia, Sandlin focuses primarily on Roger Talbot (same last name as Rowdy, but no apparent connection), who has been raised by Maurey and who works at the Virgin Birth Home for Unwed Mothers - the mystery of his origins and his search for answers form the primary plotline of the book - and Oly Pederson, a resident of Haven House nursing home who is nearing his 100th birthday and whose life story Lydia is assigned to record as her community service associated with her parole.
The story-within-a-story of Oly Pederson is somewhat reminiscent of some of John Irving's novels, but its inclusion seemed to me less contrived than Irving's. I thought Sandlin's way of melding Oly's story into the narrative really worked.
Like the others, this one has to be classified as black humor, with nearly equal parts tragedy and hope. Sandlin can throw out lines like "eyebrows you could clean a chimney with" or have a character think she heard coyotes howling and then realize it was just the neighbors arguing about money, as well as some wonderfully humorous deadpan dialog, and then turn around and break your heart with a tragic event or a devastating realization on the part of a character.
The only real criticism I have is Sandlin's inconsistency in the narration of the main plotline. He is determined to have Sam as first person narrator, but he frequently reverts to omniscient author form - presenting events, dialog, and inner thoughts and feelings that Sam could not possibly have known or witnessed. He tries to cover that in the last part of the book with some mumbo-jumbo about Sam being an author and making up what he didn't witness first-hand, but that after-the-fact rationalization didn't make up for the awkwardness and occasional confusion I felt during the read, when it came back to me that I was supposed to be hearing Sam's voice.
But don't let that keep you from reading Lydia.
December 4, 2021
Sam, who runs a home for unwed mothers, narrates several interwoven stories. His mother, Lydia, has just been released from prison for sending poison dog biscuits to Reagan’s dog and is assigned community service recording the oral history of a 99 year old. His daughter, Shannon, has come home to escape a string of failed romantic relationships. Roger, a young man the family took in when he was a traumatized 11 year old, is looking for answers about his parentage and early life, Leroy, a sociopath who believes he is Roger’s father, tracks down Roger to exact revenge for having been denied his perceived parental rights. The stories are told with insight and humor and somehow come together in a surprisingly satisfying way
July 25, 2019
Similar prose to the grovont trilogy, and the characters are true to their roots. Time has passed and we're all different now, so these things can't help but be seen through a different lens.
May 10, 2011
Lydia Callahan is a free woman. She was in Dublin, California Penitentiary for trying to kill President Ronald Reagan’s dog. Sam Callahan manages the Virgin Birthing House for Unwed Mothers. When Sam, his daughter and adoptive son hit the road to go pick up Lydia, disaster ensues.
I have never read anything by Mr. Sandlin before this book. So, this might explain a little of why I could never fully commit to the characters as long time fans of the GroVont trilogy have. While, I may not be a long time fan of the GroVonts, I did not have a problem jumping right into this book. I would recommend though, starting with Skipped Parts. Though, I did like Lydia. She was full of spunk and always spoke her mind. I just wished that she was more prominent in this book. The humor in this book was sometimes on the settle side as to opposed to right in your face. It was like black humor. For some people, black humor takes a while to get used too as it can also come off as rude and offensive. While, I did not mind the humor, not caring about the characters and the story line, I found that I could not finish this book. Again, this book was not my cup of tea but from what I could read, fans of this series will be pleased.
I have never read anything by Mr. Sandlin before this book. So, this might explain a little of why I could never fully commit to the characters as long time fans of the GroVont trilogy have. While, I may not be a long time fan of the GroVonts, I did not have a problem jumping right into this book. I would recommend though, starting with Skipped Parts. Though, I did like Lydia. She was full of spunk and always spoke her mind. I just wished that she was more prominent in this book. The humor in this book was sometimes on the settle side as to opposed to right in your face. It was like black humor. For some people, black humor takes a while to get used too as it can also come off as rude and offensive. While, I did not mind the humor, not caring about the characters and the story line, I found that I could not finish this book. Again, this book was not my cup of tea but from what I could read, fans of this series will be pleased.
May 31, 2013
I'm a tim sandlin fan, but for some reason this book did not thrill me as much as the previous novels in his grovant trilogy. My friend says I need to re-read this because it is deeper and much more intense than his previous writings, all of which are laugh out loud funny.
mr. sanlin is a talented writer whose wit is phenomenal and his characters always relate-able, however i had mixed emotions with this book. Maybe I just didn't want the lives of characters I'd followed for decades to come to an end. I'm not sure what was off in Lydia, so I am going to place it on my re-read list for next September, and if there's hidden meaning I failed to grasp, I will re-review it with a higher rating. Again, maybe I love Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats, and Social Blunders too much to fairly just their grand finale.
mr. sanlin is a talented writer whose wit is phenomenal and his characters always relate-able, however i had mixed emotions with this book. Maybe I just didn't want the lives of characters I'd followed for decades to come to an end. I'm not sure what was off in Lydia, so I am going to place it on my re-read list for next September, and if there's hidden meaning I failed to grasp, I will re-review it with a higher rating. Again, maybe I love Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats, and Social Blunders too much to fairly just their grand finale.
April 25, 2011
I tried to read this book a few times but just could not get into it..My husband did read it though and found it to be very quirky and said it was pretty good. So it must just be me then...I asked my husband what he thought... He said that there was a lot of humor in it, especially Lydia. There were a lot of different characters in the book that told their own story, but the main character, he felt was the old man, Oly. Any fans of Carl Hiaasen will enjoy this book. Tim Sandlin also wrote Social Blunders and Skipped Parts. I am giving this book 4 stars, not because I read it but my husband, Tom, thought it was a good story. I don't feel it is fair to the author to give it one star just because I could not read it.
April 25, 2016
After reading the first three GroVont books in order, and immediately rounding it out by reading "Lydia" (written 15 years after the original three books were released), I have to say that I found the conclusion of the GroVont story to be a little tepid and thin. Perhaps had I read the books spaced further apart I would not have noticed the waning strength of characterization, or the somewhat scattered and forced plot. "Lydia" (for me, at any rate) was a gentle winding-down of the energy and surrealism of the life story of the Callahan's banishment to GroVont.
Sandlin remains an excellent author, caustically witty and adept at mocking the entire range of family dynamics. Hope to read others of his books in the future.
Sandlin remains an excellent author, caustically witty and adept at mocking the entire range of family dynamics. Hope to read others of his books in the future.
April 30, 2011
Tim Sandlin returns to the colorful characters he developed in his GroVont Trilogy, and fans of those books will welcome the opportunity to again immerse themselves in Sandlin's Wyoming wit. That said, if you've not read Sandlin before, begin instead with his hilarious debut, Sex and Sunsets, heads and shoulders above this book. [full review]
May 26, 2011
Mr. Sandlin has done it again. I'm a big fan of his wicked wit and sharp tongue. Lydia does not disappoint. How a writer can make me laugh until my sides hurt with a simple paragraph and then tug at my heart in the next is nothing short of magic. I'd suggest reading the first three (Skipped Parts, Sorrow Floats, and Social Blunders) because a)they're fantastic and b)you get mucho background on the characters found here, but it's not 100% necessary to read Lydia. Just do it.
December 19, 2011
I wish that I could give this 2.5 stars. I love this series, and this author, but this feels like an afterthought epilogue book that was written just because. The rest of the books came out in the mid 90's and revisiting it now is a little awkward. The characters were a bit off and it was just tough to get through and choppy. That being said, I still like to know the end of the story for characters I loved for many years.
May 10, 2013
It's been 10-15 years since I read my last Tim Sandlin book, and yet his characters are so funny and memorable it all came right back to me. This time they were more grown up, and there were separate stories woven in which made it more fun to read and switch back and forth between. I just may go back to the old library to pick up the others in the series that I missed, to catch up on what happened in between.
July 25, 2014
This was a good read for sure, but it seemed to be less than par for what I have come to expect when reading a Tim Sandlin novel. I enjoyed how the story brought back the characters from Sandlin's previous books, and while I was reading it I felt a sense of nostalgia for the prior novels. That being said, I think part of the nostalgia came about because the book, while entertaining, fell short of all it's predecessors.
June 9, 2011
This has all the ingredients of a fun read and a good book: an assortment of memorable characters, a plot with good forward tilt, a concise use of language and good story telling. Set in 1993 TM Wyoming and Santa Monica, CA, this novel will take you on a ride that'll make you laugh a lot, suffer a bit of sorrow but close the book, remembering the fun.
February 12, 2012
Again, a story within a the story is a structure that works for me - although, the fluidity with which the aged teller of the story within (his past) speaks does not match-up with his ability to communicate in the main story (the present).
I find the narration of the main story awkward and at times confusing, but
I am amused and interested at the half-way point.
I find the narration of the main story awkward and at times confusing, but
I am amused and interested at the half-way point.
July 21, 2012
At the beginning, I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair. The middle was interesting, exciting and scary. Near the end, I was desperate to see how on earth it came out. By the end, I felt I knew these people, and liked them very much.
Also, it should be made into a movie with Meryl Streep.
Also, it should be made into a movie with Meryl Streep.
August 4, 2012
So I read the rest of Tim Sandlin's books when I was in my early 20's. I was young, single and didn't have a care in the world. I really enjoyed the books back then. They were fun and flirty, just like me. I recently picked up Lydia hoping to have the same reaction. It is a case of "it's not you, it's me". Three stars simply becuase it didn't grab me the way the others did.
August 11, 2013
One of my very most favorite authors is at it again, with the familiar characters we know and love from the GroVont Trilogy. Lydia Elkrunner, nee Callahan, is out of prison after trying to poison Ronald Reagan's dog and she's beginning to exhibit shockingly human-like behavior. This book details her adventures with her granddaughter, a senior citizen, and a psychopath.
August 23, 2011
Once I remembered who the cast of characters were and how all the dysfunctional pieces fit together I really enjoyed this book. I'm sure you can enjoy Lydia without previously reading the GroVont Trilogy but you would be doing yourself a disservice, they are great reads.
February 1, 2013
The book was very strange. Of course all the Gro Vont books are strange. I had a hard time getting into it and wish I had read it right away after I finished the first 3. I think I would have enjoyed it more. In the end though it was nice to have the series wrapped up.
June 13, 2012
Lack of chronology and confusion of voice detracted from the book. The author is a good wordsmith, unfortunately he had too many stories intertwined to make any of them truly significant. I kept reading hoping they would become more integrated, but it never happened!
March 16, 2013
I have to say I am so disappointed in this book!!! The books before this were amazing!This one was good but not like the others! The first part was good and the part right before the end was good!!! But the rest of it was not that great! I am so sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 14, 2013
Only other Sandlin book I've read was "Jim Hendrix Turns 80" and I liked this one a lot better. Alternately wacky and poignant, just the way I like 'em. Sandlin's best trait is his ability to create characters who are as endearing as they are flawed.
April 29, 2011
Sandlin never, never, never disappoints!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews