The School of Beauty and Charm: A Novel

by Melanie Sumner

This is the story of the Peppers family of Counterpoint, Georgia. Henry, a stoic businessman, vies for rule of the house with his flamboyant wife, Florida, a pertinacious Baptist and aspiring artist. Their clear mission is to protect, guide, rein in, and keep well-dressed their children—asthmatic, hormonal Roderick and hell-bent Louise, who flees the Maude Wilson College for Women to join the Arthur Reese Traveling Show.

Louise, who tells the story, introduces the folks: “Pepperses are white, not albino or Swedish or anything like that, but regular white. We are also white on the inside. Except for my mother, Florida, who is high-strung, we never raise our voices or blow the horn of an automobile. We have no rhythm, and when we watch others dance, we tend to blush. Spicy food burns our tongues. Every other November, we vote Democrat, which, down South, used to mean the same as voting Republican. Florida is always careful not to cancel Henry’s vote by voting for a different candidate. The whole family avoids discussing sex, politics, and religion, favoring the topic of the weather, which averages seventy-five degrees in Counterpoint year-round.”

Louise would prefer something stormier: “If a circus had come to Counterpoint, not the three-ride gig that went up in the Sears parkig lot, forbidden to the Peppers family because of insurance liabilities, but a real cotton-candy-stinking, clown-smirking, two-headed-baby, maiden-stealing, rip-your-last-dollar-off, old-fashioned show, I would have been on the first caravan out of town.”

The School of Beauty and Charm is a daring roller coaster of a first novel that fuses wild, satiric humor and deeply felt pain. It is also a moving portrait of a father and mother, two good-hearted people doing everything wrong to win back a beloved child.

Genres: Fiction

308 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanie_...

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I just didn't like this book. I was torn between my initial engagement in the girlhood story - which I did like, and then the seemingly random and odd carnie story.

After a point in the book I just lost interest in the character. It seems she just floated along rarely taking any interest in her own life, and I really disconnected from the book.

I originally started this book in audio format - but the last disc was horribly scratched and I couldn't finish the book. Finally I decided to just read it at the library the other day and I was sad to find there was no connection between the two stories, nothing that made one half jive with the other, nothing that gave an indication the main character had moved in her life at all - if there was it was too deep for me and I missed it.

I failed to find the comedy in this, instead just settling on considering it a bizarre, surreal coming of age, without a lot of coming of age.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the story and characters a lot. It took about a quarter of the way through for the story to pick up a lot, which I didn't mind. The characters all felt so real it was almost uncomfortable. Despite Henry being a racist workaholic, he was still a really good father (especially seen at the very end and with the TC Curtis stuff), and personally I didn't see any issues with Florida at all besides her being a religious fruitcake

what this needed was more of a set-up. It was not very apparent from the beginning where this was going. Maybe an intro written by an older Louise would have helped. From skimming the summary, I thought this would be about an entire family joining the circus. The actual part about the circus comprises maybe a quarter of the overall story (which I don't mind). This is mostly a coming-of-age dark comedy that reminded me a lot of a John Irving story. There is some very subtle foreshadowing but not much to

the cover images are really unique and drew my attention to this book. I can't really say which character that is because none of the characters have piercings

in the ending, Louise leaves the circus after Zane marries someone else / cheats on her, goes home, cuts her hair into the pixie cut style her mom always wanted, wears conservatives clothes, gives up drinking and smoking, and goes to jail for drunk driving. It sort of sounds like she is making up her own religion at the end too. Overall I think the ending was pretty bold. It would have been very easy to just have a quick "happily ever after" ending of her with the circus, but instead there is a scene of her entering jail with her parents making sure she has everything and encouraging her.


The ending the author chose fits better with the themes discussed throughout the book, mainly reality vs unrealistic expectations. Readers always expect the main character to get their way in the end no matter what, so it was definitely a surprise ending

[Diane Payne]

I heard an interview by Melanie Sumner on NPR and knew I wanted to read this book where she writes about growing up in Rome, Georgia. She had been living out West for years, but her thirty-seven-year-old husband was diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs disease, and she had a toddler, and decided to return home where she would receive help from these very family members who would be disappointed in her book that seemed to be all too true. The narrator’s mother wanted her daughter to have a fancy makeover, something that cost a fair amount of money, but she thought this new hair and face would make her daughter happier. During the interview, Sumner mentions her mother cried when she read that chapter, disappointed she felt that way about her makeover. Sumner assured her mother the book was fiction. But we all know how that works. This is the kind of book one can read before bed and you’ll recognize this narrator, if not as yourself at times, certainly as someone you knew in school. It’s a coming-of-age novel filled with quirky Southern tales.

[She Reads What? · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little all over the board. Kept forgetting it was set in the...60s? 70s? 80s? I forget. Anyway. A bit like if Scout Finch had a narcissist for a mom and a racist factory owner for a dad, so she developed a drug habit, got a makeover and ran away to join the circus. Read it in a few hours, but was not very satisfied with the ending. Kind of like burning through an entire bag of potato chips.

[Kara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible
Could not even finish. Dragged on and on and character Louise was so uninteresting I could not care what happened to her to finish the book.

[Sally Kilpatrick]

Why do I mainly remember the cardboard factory?

[Shawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Louise is hell-bent on destroying her life and does a pretty good job of it. This part of the story is not nearly as interesting as her parents, Florida and Henry and their attempt to get through life after the death of their son. They may be cliched or stereotypical, but they provide the humor in this book. I'm torn between 2 and 3 stars, but if you go in with little or no expectations, then you might enjoy it. Just ignore the misplaced apostrophes (2 in the first six pages!) and spelling errors.

[Patty Busch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrifically engaging book -- in fact I thought it would become one of my all-time favorites. Unfortunately the author did what many others do when they are weaving a really great story and realize they have to wrap it up. You can almost hear them saying to themselves, "Oh crap, I have to end this and I'm totally clueless as to how..." However, in spite of the the abrupt unsatisfying ending, it's a great read.

[Librarinista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute enough story, some wonderful imagery and humorous turns of phrase, but desperately in need of editing. I had trouble understanding several huge sections of the book due to grammatical and spelling errors, plus unclear writing. I don't really know what exactly happened in many places. The ending was abrupt and ill-fitting.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was cute. a dark comedy ... i guess? it's a quick read and, while it won't change your life, it does entertain. i heard it reviewed on NPR and while i didn't love it as much as i've loved other NPR suggestions, it was good.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, coming of age type of story, but including a traveling circus.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mildly entertaining.

[C · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh-boring. Maybe I was expecting something like Barbara Kingsolver. I usually adore Southern writers and books about the south but this was annoying and I after about 120 pages in I gave up.

[Bernadette]

I picked it because of the cover. I know...I'm shallow.

[Melissa]

Nice little Southern Gothic novel. There were 2 characters who scarily reminded me of my parents. I could have done without the setup of the story as an AA testimonial.

[Shelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmmmm it was kind of weird - it did keep me interested enough to finish it, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it.

[Joy Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book by a native Roman. Read it years ago and really enjoyed it.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Louise Pepper is a great character, as a child and as an adult. The book is funny and poignant.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sounded great, started great, lost me. I felt like there was a lot of sexual dysfunction thrown in for shock value in the last half which really did not add to the story.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't really hold my interest. There were numerous spelling errors and it ended abruptly.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story about growing out of a traditional household. I would recommend it to the black sheep of a family.

[C. Adam Volle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book's depiction of a north Georgian family and their town is hilarious, and occasionally hard-hitting.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rather cute but not great.

[Bay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful - read it very quickly - funny and sad at the same time.