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Saving Grace
"LUCID IN EXECUTION, BREATHTAKING IN SCOPE AND HEART-RENDING IN EFFECT--A REDEMPTIVE WORK OF ART. . . . Lee Smith has done more than write another novel about the South. She has broken through the grotesque surface to the underground spring, the music of Scrabble Creek, and the effect is stunning--a beguiling, gentle prose formed by an honesty so severe we are brought to our knees. . . . This novel has a grand and singular purpose, to clothe the spirit with flesh. In this, Lee Smith succeeds."--The Washington Post Book World"A compelling journey into all matters southern and spiritual . . . . Set in North Carolina and Tennessee, we follow young Grace Shepherd from a cabin in the bucolic poverty of Scrabble Creek to independence as a single woman. Stops along the way include seduction by a half-brother, a failed marriage, motherhood, the loss of her son, residence in the aptly-named Creekside apartments in Knoxville and a job waitressing. . . . While Grace's path may be a journey many of us would not choose to undertake, we have to raise a small fist of jubilance to Grace for having survived."--The Boston Sunday Globe"Ms. Smith possesses a fine talent for creating narrative voices, whether the ungrammatical eloquence of a hill-country healer or the educated affectations of a Richmond gentleman."--The New York Times Book Review"Lee Smith patiently woos us into double vision. . . . As her fans know, [she] has one of the truest ears for the speech in her part of the world."--Los Angeles Times Book Review
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1995
40 people are currently reading
1418 people want to read
About the author
Lee Smith
43 books983 followersGrowing up in the Appalachian mountains of southwestern Virginia, nine-year-old Lee Smith was already writing--and selling, for a nickel apiece--stories about her neighbors in the coal boomtown of Grundy and the nearby isolated "hollers." Since 1968, she has published eleven novels, as well as three collections of short stories, and has received many writing awards.
The sense of place infusing her novels reveals her insight into and empathy for the people and culture of Appalachia. Lee Smith was born in 1944 in Grundy, Virginia, a small coal-mining town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, not 10 miles from the Kentucky border. The Smith home sat on Main Street, and the Levisa River ran just behind it. Her mother, Virginia, was a college graduate who had come to Grundy to teach school.
Her father, Ernest, a native of the area, operated a dime store. And it was in that store that Smith's training as a writer began. Through a peephole in the ceiling of the store, Smith would watch and listen to the shoppers, paying close attention to the details of how they talked and dressed and what they said.
"I didn't know any writers," Smith says, "[but] I grew up in the midst of people just talking and talking and talking and telling these stories. My Uncle Vern, who was in the legislature, was a famous storyteller, as were others, including my dad. It was very local. I mean, my mother could make a story out of anything; she'd go to the grocery store and come home with a story."
Smith describes herself as a "deeply weird" child. She was an insatiable reader. When she was 9 or 10, she wrote her first story, about Adlai Stevenson and Jane Russell heading out west together to become Mormons--and embodying the very same themes, Smith says, that concern her even today. "You know, religion and flight, staying in one place or not staying, containment or flight--and religion." From Lee Smith's official website.
The sense of place infusing her novels reveals her insight into and empathy for the people and culture of Appalachia. Lee Smith was born in 1944 in Grundy, Virginia, a small coal-mining town in the Blue Ridge Mountains, not 10 miles from the Kentucky border. The Smith home sat on Main Street, and the Levisa River ran just behind it. Her mother, Virginia, was a college graduate who had come to Grundy to teach school.
Her father, Ernest, a native of the area, operated a dime store. And it was in that store that Smith's training as a writer began. Through a peephole in the ceiling of the store, Smith would watch and listen to the shoppers, paying close attention to the details of how they talked and dressed and what they said.
"I didn't know any writers," Smith says, "[but] I grew up in the midst of people just talking and talking and talking and telling these stories. My Uncle Vern, who was in the legislature, was a famous storyteller, as were others, including my dad. It was very local. I mean, my mother could make a story out of anything; she'd go to the grocery store and come home with a story."
Smith describes herself as a "deeply weird" child. She was an insatiable reader. When she was 9 or 10, she wrote her first story, about Adlai Stevenson and Jane Russell heading out west together to become Mormons--and embodying the very same themes, Smith says, that concern her even today. "You know, religion and flight, staying in one place or not staying, containment or flight--and religion." From Lee Smith's official website.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
August 5, 2009
Good fiction. In talking about children's reading habits, I frequently hear that "it doesn't matter what they read as long as they read." I have always disagreed with that sentiment, because I believe it does matter - on many different levels -- what children and young adults read.
What we read eventually affects our value-systems, our vocabularies,our thought patterns, and even to some degree our approach to problem-solving. Observing a book character (a realistic human being) move through the complications of the story, meeting and solving his/her problems, helps young readers develop their own system for dealing with life issues.
As an educator, parent, grandparent, and citizen, I believe that this is the kind of reading that young people need to be reading. There is some language and situations inappropriate for young children. The book contains some religious cynicism that young children are probably not mature enough to sort through. However, from the standpoint of learning life-skills from literature, this book is a good one for teenagers and young adults. Realistic Fiction like this book show characters with whom readers can identify, deal with life events with which readers have some experience, and reveal outcomes of the character's decisions. Young readers then draw their own conculsions about the efficacy of different ways to approach life problems.
What we read eventually affects our value-systems, our vocabularies,our thought patterns, and even to some degree our approach to problem-solving. Observing a book character (a realistic human being) move through the complications of the story, meeting and solving his/her problems, helps young readers develop their own system for dealing with life issues.
As an educator, parent, grandparent, and citizen, I believe that this is the kind of reading that young people need to be reading. There is some language and situations inappropriate for young children. The book contains some religious cynicism that young children are probably not mature enough to sort through. However, from the standpoint of learning life-skills from literature, this book is a good one for teenagers and young adults. Realistic Fiction like this book show characters with whom readers can identify, deal with life events with which readers have some experience, and reveal outcomes of the character's decisions. Young readers then draw their own conculsions about the efficacy of different ways to approach life problems.
March 20, 2022
I like how she writes. And all the locale feels are good. But this tale is overall quite sad.
Florida Grace is a strong woman. Although I never felt her ornery or reactive streaks ever got her much of what she actually wanted. A very common life story of/for all of those times of the mid-century. You didn't have to be that seeped in religion or Appalachia either.
Florida Grace is a strong woman. Although I never felt her ornery or reactive streaks ever got her much of what she actually wanted. A very common life story of/for all of those times of the mid-century. You didn't have to be that seeped in religion or Appalachia either.
April 13, 2011
Another Lee Smith. I find myself missing her voice when I'm not reading one of her books. Smith follows a family of snake handlers this time. For those of you who aren't from these hills, I'll tell you: snake handlers are holy rollers, people on the fringe of a Christianity that has no room for ambiguities. An interview in the back of this book shows us what Smith was thinking; she says this book really explores the vulnerability of children and how they have absolutely no control over what happens to them. This is a theme usually explored via parents who drink too much, or let their kids see them doing drugs, or worse. This time we follow a girl named Florida Grace. She is the daughter of a man who is called to do God's work, a man who puts his whole faith and the fate of his family utterly in God's hand, never working, never planning for tomorrow, saying the Lord will provide. They are often hungry and homeless. When her father does find a place to preach, he gets out his serpents, takes up "the signs" and dares them to bite. He tells the congregation the Lord will protect him from the rattlers and copperheads he handles. When he is bitten, he says, "Praise God!" and says it is God's will. That's snake handling for you.
Our narrator goes from a holiness family where makeup and bathing suits are prohibited (even in the 1950's--they still are today, for those women) to a life following more earthly pursuits. I loved the voice, the descriptions of bucolic mountains and harsh roadside motels. Smith's character unravels in a most disturbing way at the end...Loved that part the most.
Our narrator goes from a holiness family where makeup and bathing suits are prohibited (even in the 1950's--they still are today, for those women) to a life following more earthly pursuits. I loved the voice, the descriptions of bucolic mountains and harsh roadside motels. Smith's character unravels in a most disturbing way at the end...Loved that part the most.
April 19, 2015
I try to read books from a lot of different genres, but it seems that I am consistently drawn back to books that are based in Appalachia. Saving Grace is the story of Florida Grace whose father is a snake handling, Pentecostal preacher. It’s a hard life she lives; always poor and always wanting. It seems like everyone is caught up with the enthusiasm her charismatic father exudes but Grace never really feels the presence of God in her life. When she becomes a teenager things begin to change in the family and she finds herself helplessly swept along. This book is about the rocky path her life takes and how she finally begins to find redemption.
Lee Smith writes in a way that you can imagine the characters and setting clearly. I have read one other book of hers, Fair And Tender Ladies, and enjoyed it also. Even though I have never lived in Appalachia, reading books based there feels like coming home to me.
Lee Smith writes in a way that you can imagine the characters and setting clearly. I have read one other book of hers, Fair And Tender Ladies, and enjoyed it also. Even though I have never lived in Appalachia, reading books based there feels like coming home to me.
January 19, 2016
I will read anything by Lee Smith because I love the way she writes. Her book, "Fair and Tender Ladies" is still one of my all time favorites; I'm not sure that she could ever top that one, but that aside, I loved this one but wish that it had ended differently. I kind of hated to see the main character take such a downturn in her life, but life can be that way sometimes. I can certainly relate to the main character in more ways than I care to admit.
August 25, 2024
I’m drawn to books about the Appalachian life and no one does it better than Lee Smith. Florida Grace is the voice for this story. It’s about her father, a serpent handling preacher in the Carolina’s. We follow her family’s life and Grace’s into adulthood. I had no problem with the ending, it gives us the opportunity to ponder it. I’ve read other books like this. Lee Smith is a master at story telling and her writing is beautiful. One of the best narrators I’ve ever heard and perfect for this book.
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January 22, 2016
I really liked this book about a girl growing up in a family in which Dad was called to witness by handling serpents - Appalachian fiction - until the very end. The ending was not supported by anything else that had happened in the book and I felt the author capriciously decided just to call it a day in the easiest way possible. Very disappointing.
May 4, 2021
This is an unusual, unhappy character portrayal. My rating 2.5.
Florida Grace is the eleventh child of a snake handling, revival preacher. Her mother, (her father’s third wife) has a loving spirit while her father is a bit too busy to pay much attention to the young’uns. Grace feels out of step for most of her young life. While her parents are busy ministering she is partially raised by a warm, neighbor family.
While Grace is a young teen, an older teen boy shows up claiming a connection with her father. He wrangles a spot in the household and uses his charm to twist his relationship with Grace and others. When Grace’s mother dies, her father takes Grace and sets out on the road to continue his preaching. After a time Grace is abandoned and ends up taken in by the church’s strict pastor. The pastor lives with an equally strict and dour sister who isn’t thrilled to have Grace become part of the family.
Life brings some moments of joy to Grace but more times of trouble, confusion, and heartache. Some of the further troubles are brought about by Grace’s own actions which ultimately bring her full circle to her childhood home where she must face herself and the God who has long pursued her.
The story setting is bleak, although the history is eccentrically fascinating. I was glad that Grace is a strong character, at times even vibrant through her struggles. I felt sorrow at the failings in her childhood and in her adult life. I could understand her anger and bitterness and resistance to a God whose truths were so twisted by her father and others close to him.
The major tone of the story is hopelessness. I am not a fan of depressing, family dramas. The blurb gave me hope that there was a revelation in Grace’s story. I trudged through the sadness looking and hoping for the light. The revelation doesn’t come until the very end and I was disappointed by what I found to be a very weak concluding scene.
This is well written with a wonderful depth of description and emotion. Still, I can’t say that I enjoyed the story. It is not really a Christian novel but more an expose of a sad, twisted history of a small religious sect. Readers who like drama, history, and in-depth character portrayal might find this an interesting read or listen.
Audio Notes: Christina Moore does a good job with the narration which gives extra to my rating. She conveys the appropriate tone of Grace’s emotions throughout the story. I am glad (I think) I listened to this in audio as I am pretty sure I would have skipped to the end if I had a print/ebook version.
Florida Grace is the eleventh child of a snake handling, revival preacher. Her mother, (her father’s third wife) has a loving spirit while her father is a bit too busy to pay much attention to the young’uns. Grace feels out of step for most of her young life. While her parents are busy ministering she is partially raised by a warm, neighbor family.
While Grace is a young teen, an older teen boy shows up claiming a connection with her father. He wrangles a spot in the household and uses his charm to twist his relationship with Grace and others. When Grace’s mother dies, her father takes Grace and sets out on the road to continue his preaching. After a time Grace is abandoned and ends up taken in by the church’s strict pastor. The pastor lives with an equally strict and dour sister who isn’t thrilled to have Grace become part of the family.
Life brings some moments of joy to Grace but more times of trouble, confusion, and heartache. Some of the further troubles are brought about by Grace’s own actions which ultimately bring her full circle to her childhood home where she must face herself and the God who has long pursued her.
The story setting is bleak, although the history is eccentrically fascinating. I was glad that Grace is a strong character, at times even vibrant through her struggles. I felt sorrow at the failings in her childhood and in her adult life. I could understand her anger and bitterness and resistance to a God whose truths were so twisted by her father and others close to him.
The major tone of the story is hopelessness. I am not a fan of depressing, family dramas. The blurb gave me hope that there was a revelation in Grace’s story. I trudged through the sadness looking and hoping for the light. The revelation doesn’t come until the very end and I was disappointed by what I found to be a very weak concluding scene.
This is well written with a wonderful depth of description and emotion. Still, I can’t say that I enjoyed the story. It is not really a Christian novel but more an expose of a sad, twisted history of a small religious sect. Readers who like drama, history, and in-depth character portrayal might find this an interesting read or listen.
Audio Notes: Christina Moore does a good job with the narration which gives extra to my rating. She conveys the appropriate tone of Grace’s emotions throughout the story. I am glad (I think) I listened to this in audio as I am pretty sure I would have skipped to the end if I had a print/ebook version.
May 25, 2012
The setting (mountains of Appalachia) and the writing captured, then held me. I wavered a lot about the main character Florida Grace. After the perfection of Ivy Rowe in my first Lee Smith novel (Fair and Tender Ladies), maybe my expectations were too high. Grace is the daughter of a serpent-handling Pentecostal traveling preacher who searches for and struggles with her own spirituality. Her journey seemed very believable, but became so sordid and depressing - I wanted her to rise above her upbringing which probably would have been too unrealistic.
The whole world of southern fundamentalism was interesting in spite of Grace's womanizing father who was constantly fighting his "backsliding" ways. Serpent handling and strychnine drinking as means to spiritual rapture were new concepts to me and I didn't know they were native to this Appalachian area.
After my first two books, Lee Smith has definitely captured my attention!
The whole world of southern fundamentalism was interesting in spite of Grace's womanizing father who was constantly fighting his "backsliding" ways. Serpent handling and strychnine drinking as means to spiritual rapture were new concepts to me and I didn't know they were native to this Appalachian area.
After my first two books, Lee Smith has definitely captured my attention!
December 14, 2007
If you have not yet discovered Lee Smith, you must begin reading her works immediately. Fair and Tender Ladies is still my favorite book by her, but this one comes a close second. On the surface, the novel tells the life story of Florida Grace, a young woman whose father travels across the mountains of North Carolina and Georgia living plainly and preaching snake handling and poison drinking to the hill folk. Beneath that surface is the true story of a woman trying to find some sense of who she is and what her life means. She embraces the beauty and the ugliness of her life as she travels a path toward understanding the worth of her soul and the nature of her individual spirituality. This is the kind of book that leaves you feeling kind of quiet after you read it.
August 13, 2019
Oh gosh I absolutely loved this book all the way through. It was a fascinating narrative, wonderful characterizations, a beautiful and moving narrative voice. I was fascinated and carried it around in my purse, reading it at every opportunity. Until the end. I know it is probably veddy veddy high brow to leave the ambiguous ending. Is she going home? Is she returning to her other home? Is she committing suicide? Will she just wander forever? I was so pissed off to read that last page which left it open to all of the above and more that I will never read anything else by this author. Her brilliance and gift made it even worse when I was abandoned at the end to fill in the blanks on my own. I will not trust her again.
April 3, 2009
I really enjoyed this book. There is almost nothing I like more than a snappy narrator and Florida Grace is a hoot. Also, I liked the interesting subject matter - pentacostal-like religious up-bringing. The ending was rather ambiguous, but I like a book that makes me think. I definitely recommend this book.
April 30, 2009
I finished this one in less than a weekend. It wasn't a book that I expected to like as much as I did and I had never read anything by Lee Smith, but I love stories set in the South and Appalachia. This was a very unique and strangely uplifting story.
March 2, 2008
This was the first book by Lee Smith I have ever read and immediately become hooked. She has such an amazing style of writing that caputres your heart.
November 24, 2008
This is probably my favorite of Smith's novels, and not just because I love snake-handling, although I really do.
July 9, 2021
Saving Grace was an interesting read for the majority of the novel. I was quite invested. The main character is someone you really wanted to root for. No matter how dreadful things got for her there was always hope and someone to help her through her terrible circumstances; hence the title "Saving Grace". So I was rather disappointed with the direction the author decided to take with the main character for the last part of the novel after rooting for her happiness and success it felt like such a let down. Despite the depressing way the author decided to finish out the story I will still give it 4 stars since I still found it an intriguing quick read for most of it.
October 31, 2024
Reminds me so much of Flannery O'Connor, both in style and content. This was actually set in western NC which made it even more interesting to me.
A bit more spice than I usually like to read, but the insights on fundamentalist culture are spot on and made it all worth it. Looking forward to reading more by Smith – I'll be raiding my mom's bookshelf again in future!
A bit more spice than I usually like to read, but the insights on fundamentalist culture are spot on and made it all worth it. Looking forward to reading more by Smith – I'll be raiding my mom's bookshelf again in future!
July 2, 2015
This is the fourth book I have read by Lee Smith. Generally, I am not diligent about going through the backlist of authors, but Lee Smith’s storytelling abilities have given me confidence that no matter what I pick up of hers, I will be in good hands.
Saving Grace is the story of Florida Grace Shepherd, daughter of a snake-handling itinerant preacher named Virgil Shepherd. Florida’s mother had been a dancing girl in Atlanta, with three children already from a previous marriage, when she met and married Virgil. The story gets its proper start when the family’s car breaks down in the Appalachian region of North Carolina and Virgil takes it as a sign that he should take up his ministry there, up by a place called Scrabble Creek.
In Saving Grace, as with her earlier books, Lee Smith just nails it when it comes to capturing her main character’s years of girlhood. Through Florida Grace’s eyes of credulity, the world is filled with many wonders: her father handles snakes and drinks poison at his tent meetings and once she sees a little girl raised back to life in her family’s kitchen. But Florida also is wary of her father’s religion, and fears that her father will die of snakebite. She tries to establish a normal childhood at school, and covets the life of her best friend Marie. At Marie’s house, the two girls create elaborate horse stories and drink Coca-Colas while watching the television.
These early years are filled with an evocative timelessness. Though various references vaguely place the story in the mid-20th century, it is not until Florida’s engagement to a man in Tennessee that a specific date is mentioned, a date that demarcates between her childhood and her life as a wife and mother.
Florida Grace remains likable throughout the book, though it is no surprise that her parents’ neglect of her as a child leads to an ill-advised marriage and other unwise choices as an adult. I was sorry at first to leave Florida’s childhood behind, as tragic as it was, and leap forward to thirty-three year old Florida, who is on the brink of another bad decision. But Smith’s writing carried me through this plot turn. (Side note: I like how Smith lets her characters be of their time and place, with all the tastes and opinions you would expect of someone in that era.)
As with the other books I’ve read by Smith (and I don’t consider this a spoiler), the book ends with her protagonist returning to her home place, Scrabble Creek. I found the ending to be fitting, except for its abrupt switch into stream-of-consciousness narrative. In an interview included in this edition, Lee Smith said that Florida’s choice at the end of the book was not one that Smith personally wanted for her character, but it seemed the likely decision that Florida would make.
Saving Grace is the story of Florida Grace Shepherd, daughter of a snake-handling itinerant preacher named Virgil Shepherd. Florida’s mother had been a dancing girl in Atlanta, with three children already from a previous marriage, when she met and married Virgil. The story gets its proper start when the family’s car breaks down in the Appalachian region of North Carolina and Virgil takes it as a sign that he should take up his ministry there, up by a place called Scrabble Creek.
In Saving Grace, as with her earlier books, Lee Smith just nails it when it comes to capturing her main character’s years of girlhood. Through Florida Grace’s eyes of credulity, the world is filled with many wonders: her father handles snakes and drinks poison at his tent meetings and once she sees a little girl raised back to life in her family’s kitchen. But Florida also is wary of her father’s religion, and fears that her father will die of snakebite. She tries to establish a normal childhood at school, and covets the life of her best friend Marie. At Marie’s house, the two girls create elaborate horse stories and drink Coca-Colas while watching the television.
These early years are filled with an evocative timelessness. Though various references vaguely place the story in the mid-20th century, it is not until Florida’s engagement to a man in Tennessee that a specific date is mentioned, a date that demarcates between her childhood and her life as a wife and mother.
Florida Grace remains likable throughout the book, though it is no surprise that her parents’ neglect of her as a child leads to an ill-advised marriage and other unwise choices as an adult. I was sorry at first to leave Florida’s childhood behind, as tragic as it was, and leap forward to thirty-three year old Florida, who is on the brink of another bad decision. But Smith’s writing carried me through this plot turn. (Side note: I like how Smith lets her characters be of their time and place, with all the tastes and opinions you would expect of someone in that era.)
As with the other books I’ve read by Smith (and I don’t consider this a spoiler), the book ends with her protagonist returning to her home place, Scrabble Creek. I found the ending to be fitting, except for its abrupt switch into stream-of-consciousness narrative. In an interview included in this edition, Lee Smith said that Florida’s choice at the end of the book was not one that Smith personally wanted for her character, but it seemed the likely decision that Florida would make.
August 2, 2024
This is the best novel I have read all year (that's not a re-read) and one of the best I've read overall. For a long time I have been aware of Lee Smith as an Appalachian writer but I had never read any of her novels. Literary critics often speak of the "Catholic novel" ('Brideshead Revisited,' 'The Power and the Glory,' etc...); 'Saving Grace' is what I would call the "Holiness" or "pentecostal novel." The tale is imbued with a spirit of the miraculous, most notably in the handling of serpents and the protagonist's prophetic gift of discernment.
'Saving Grace' chronicles the life of Florida Grace Shepherd, the child of an itinerant Holiness preacher. The first half of the novel recounts her childhood and the latter half follows her through her life as a wife and mother who succumbs to worldly temptations. Despite the paperback cover (at least the one I have) that features a cozy cabin and rippling creek), there is true and honest wrestling with God and with human nature; this is not a novel of varnished sentimentality. I highly recommend it!
'Saving Grace' chronicles the life of Florida Grace Shepherd, the child of an itinerant Holiness preacher. The first half of the novel recounts her childhood and the latter half follows her through her life as a wife and mother who succumbs to worldly temptations. Despite the paperback cover (at least the one I have) that features a cozy cabin and rippling creek), there is true and honest wrestling with God and with human nature; this is not a novel of varnished sentimentality. I highly recommend it!
November 10, 2011
I really enjoyed this story. Grace is the daughter of a fanatical preacher (the kind that handles snakes and drinks poison) and often feels like she's on the outside of "normal" life, looking in -- especially since she grows up in poverty, even by the modest standards of Scrabble Creek, North Carolina. Her own relationship with God is strained at best -- she often feels that there's something bad inside her, and that badness reveals itself at different points throughout her life. It's a book about spirituality and frailty, about how our beliefs shape us and affect our decisions, but it's also a loving portrait of rural life in the South, told by Grace in an uneducated but compelling narrative. I could almost hear the soft drawl in her speech. I've never read any of Lee Smith's books, but I'm definitely going to look for more!
June 23, 2012
I came across this book on my shelves and couldn't fully recall the details of it, so I decided to indulge in the pleasures of re-reading. This is one of my favorite Lee Smith books, about the daughter of a charismatic snake-handling preacher. Gracie Shepherd is such a relatable protagonist, even as her problems stop being the result of other people's choices and start being the result of her own. I love that Lee Smith will write about a character like Gracie and not try to "class her up" so that her tastes or beliefs or thought processes will be socially acceptable for readers who have more money/education/experience. She just is who she is, and she's probably not like you, the reader, but you will love her and root for her and ache with her anyway.
May 19, 2016
I really liked this book. Grace Shepherd has quite a childhood, growing up with a snake-handling, Bible-thumping preacher for a father. Her father is very charismatic and able to reel people in, not only the people who attend his revivals, but his own wife and family for a time. But then, temptation steps into the family and things begin to unravel leaving, in it's wake, much despair. Grace must find her own way, on her own terms. Along the way, she flounders, outright fails, but she never stops trying and you get a sense that she will prevail in spite of everything. I couldn't help but cheer her on as she learns valuable lessons both from her circumstances as well as her past. I wanted this book to keep going!
March 11, 2015
I read this because the author has my same initials, and thus satisfied the requirement for a reading challenge. Finding a book like this is the entire reason to do such a challenge. The story is a first-person narrative from the perspective of Florida Grace Shepherd, the daughter of a snake-handling preacher. Smith did her homework here, and gets snake-handling right from the reputable nonfiction sources I've read. This book is mostly about how being the child of a charismatic fanatic can impact one's entire life trajectory. I found this book moving and thought-provoking, and I'll be reading more of Smith's work in the future.
September 7, 2016
Have you ever seen a movie and realized that all the best parts were in the trailer. The blurb at the back of Saving Grace is a little like that. The blurb tells you all very misadventure Florida Grace is going to encounter on her journey from Snake-charming preacher's daughter to Preacher's wife to adultery. Grace herself is a wonderful heroine, but all the other characters seem like the paper dolls she and her sister play with early in the book.
October 12, 2014
I really enjoyed this book and read it quite quickly. It reminded me of The Poisonwood Bible in its theme of religion. I loved the setting of rural North Carolina & Tennessee areas as well as the time setting. I fell in love with the character and couldn't wait to read on and find out what was going to happen to her next. Those who love Bloodroot by Amy Greene or Gap Creek by Robert Morgan will like this book.
October 10, 2015
Rained out of a long planed for Bicycle ride today, I turned to the stack of used books I purchased last week. Part one of this book ....the story of a child growing up in Appalachia, the daughter of an extreme Christian fundamentalist who handled serpents, left me more exhausted than any 20 mile cycling event I ever did. I had to take a long break before tackling the highs and lows of the rest of her life.
January 21, 2016
When I started reading this book, I was not prepared for the attachment I developed for the main character, Florida Grace. Lee Smith has created a character that is so realistic that it felt like her story could have easily been my own, or one of my friends from elementary school. Grace's journey is raw and uncensored. It expresses the reality of the human condition, and the ongoing struggle between doing what is right, and what feels good. Five stars!
November 27, 2017
Certainly I cared about the narrator, because I was deeply disappointed in the all the people who let her down during her childhood. And eventually I was deeply disappointed in her own bad decisions as an adult too. I had to take a break from the book at one point because I started to feel the book existed only to remind me how disappointing human beings can be. While it was well-written and entirely believable, I found it to be a mostly downbeat kind of read.
June 24, 2021
I had to force myself to finish this one. Trying to read thru my bookshelves before giving books away. I remember liking other Lee Smith books, but I never warmed to the protagonist (the eponymous Grace), or really any other characters. Happy to give this one away.
March 5, 2008
If you are unable to tolerate reading about snakes skip this book. This is the story of the daughter of a man possessed with God and the "old time religion". Tragic and fascinating.
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