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Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears: A Novel
A freak accident forces a New Yorker to return to Louisiana and confront her Cajun past
There is nothing more dangerous than a spooked rhinoceros. It is just before lunchtime when Huey, the prized black rhino of Broussard, Louisiana, erupts from his enclosure, trampling a zoo employee on his way to a rampage in the Cajun countryside. The incident makes the rounds online as News of the Weird, and Katherine Fontenot is laughing along with the rest of her New York office when she notices the name of the hurt zookeeper: Karen-Anne Castille—her sister.
Fifty years old, lonely, and in danger of being laid off, Katherine has spent decades trying to ignore her Louisiana roots. Forced home by Karen-Anne’s accident, she remembers everything about the bayou that she wanted to escape: the heat, the mosquitoes, and the constant, crushing embrace of family. But when forced to confront the ghosts of her past, she discovers that escape might never have been necessary.
There is nothing more dangerous than a spooked rhinoceros. It is just before lunchtime when Huey, the prized black rhino of Broussard, Louisiana, erupts from his enclosure, trampling a zoo employee on his way to a rampage in the Cajun countryside. The incident makes the rounds online as News of the Weird, and Katherine Fontenot is laughing along with the rest of her New York office when she notices the name of the hurt zookeeper: Karen-Anne Castille—her sister.
Fifty years old, lonely, and in danger of being laid off, Katherine has spent decades trying to ignore her Louisiana roots. Forced home by Karen-Anne’s accident, she remembers everything about the bayou that she wanted to escape: the heat, the mosquitoes, and the constant, crushing embrace of family. But when forced to confront the ghosts of her past, she discovers that escape might never have been necessary.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2014
92 people are currently reading
518 people want to read
About the author
Ken Wheaton
4 books21 followersBorn and raised in Opelousas, Louisiana, Ken Wheaton is the author of "The First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival," "Bacon and Egg Man," "Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears," and "Duck Duck Gator." He now lives in Colorado.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
April 9, 2020
Real Rating: 3.5* of five
8 APRIL 2020 UPDATE This very good read is on Kindle sale for $1.99 until midnight!
The Publisher Says: A freak accident forces a New Yorker to return to Louisiana and confront her Cajun past
There is nothing more dangerous than a spooked rhinoceros. It is just before lunchtime when Huey, the prized black rhino of Broussard, Louisiana, erupts from his enclosure, trampling a zoo employee on his way to a rampage in the Cajun countryside. The incident makes the rounds online as News of the Weird, and Katherine Fontenot is laughing along with the rest of her New York office when she notices the name of the hurt zookeeper: Karen-Anne Castille—her sister.
Fifty years old, lonely, and in danger of being laid off, Katherine has spent decades trying to ignore her Louisiana roots. Forced home by Karen-Anne’s accident, she remembers everything about the bayou that she wanted to escape: the heat, the mosquitoes, and the constant, crushing embrace of family. But when forced to confront the ghosts of her past, she discovers that escape might never have been necessary.
I RECEIVED THIS BOOK FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS-PLUS. THANK YOU.
My Review: It's funny how The Book for a particular mood will lurk until that moment hits. I needed an undemanding read, one that had nothing to do with the present-day mishegas I find both distasteful and unseemly; I found this book set in Obama-era New York City and central Louisiana. About a funeral, and coming to terms with what family means, what being in a family requires, how it is that Facebook has metastasized across nations and cultures.
Published in 2015, the book follows Katie-Lee, fiftyish and full of the fear that gives single people, as she returns to bury her little sister in the wake of a Facebook-meme-able death. In fact, she finds out about the life-ending from her colleagues at (unnamed but obvious) Advertising Age, their titters and chuckles about a humorous tale of a zookeeper trampled by a rhino morphing into a dreadful reality: That's her baby sister. The shamefaced colleagues try to make it right, but she's already launched the boat onto the Styx.
She has to Go Home. Not a flying visit. The Native has to Return. O frabjous day.
Must be done. She does it. Hijinks ensue; her Louisiana family, of her generation that is, are all au courant with the world as they see it on Facebook, which is a large player in the novel. No political crap yet, as this book was written and published before the 2016 debacle revealed how much influence the platform has over far more than one's personal life. No Instagram, glancing mentions of Twitter, and Katie-Lee's a screen addict whose phone running out of bars is a Biblical-level disaster. She has more in common with the grandkids of her sisters and brother than with them.
She honestly has no idea what to do with her sadness. Facing mortality for the first time is a life-changing experience. I did it in my 20s when the AIDS epidemic decimated the gay guys I knew and loved. I remember the emotions, the detachment from reality that realizing your own death is, inevitably and inexorably, coming closer and closer. Youth is gone in that moment, calendar be hanged. And Katie-Lee's life in Brooklyn isn't such that she's cushioned from the yawning emptiness of survivorhood.
Dig we must, chere.
The healing in this tale is family-wide, and inclusive. The tragedies of the past are present again as they always are at funerals; so are the fun memories that inject themselves into the geology of one's life. People whose acts are literally unforgivable are not forgiven, though that day will clearly come. But the truly unforgivable ones are the least likely to see themselves as needing forgiveness. THAT resonated. Author Wheaton nailed that. But he did so in a format, following a structure, and thus made sure the Lesson isn't A Sermon (and he includes one of those, a real dilly of a tone-deaf nightmare-from-Hell one at that) and moves on to the next laugh.
There's the rub. This is a nightclub act written as a book. These moments are Wheaton's Brooklyn party pieces connected into a gender-swapped story to make them cohesive. (In fact, Katie-Lee's ex Howie sounds to me like Wheaton's ex only maybe not gender-swapped, if you take my meaning.) They're not less real or funny for that, but the structure of the book does nothing to hide this fact from knowing eyes. I'm from South Central Texas, I had a mamaw and she was transplanted Cajun stock, and in the days when I had party pieces, they fit together much the same way as Wheaton's do. So my eyes weren't fogged up but rather cleared by reading the present action-memory-lesson structure.
I hurry to remind y'all that 3-1/2 stars is a positive rating. I'm not trying to blast the author; in fact I liked the rhythm, was comfortably on board with the predictability of it, and felt completely relaxed and happy and at home. Nothing much happens. No excitement apart from a funeral games scene that about popped my eyeballs out from trying not to wake my roomie up from the laughing.
So do I recommend this read? Sure, so long as you're a storytelling-voice addict. It's $8 on your ereader and that's not a lot to spend on four or five hours' vacation without moving. But if you're not in the mood to listen to stories, this will not be a successful trip to Opelousas. (Where Mamaw's family came from! Now, I don't *know* that any Tullises married any Wheatons, but I bet if we....)
8 APRIL 2020 UPDATE This very good read is on Kindle sale for $1.99 until midnight!
The Publisher Says: A freak accident forces a New Yorker to return to Louisiana and confront her Cajun past
There is nothing more dangerous than a spooked rhinoceros. It is just before lunchtime when Huey, the prized black rhino of Broussard, Louisiana, erupts from his enclosure, trampling a zoo employee on his way to a rampage in the Cajun countryside. The incident makes the rounds online as News of the Weird, and Katherine Fontenot is laughing along with the rest of her New York office when she notices the name of the hurt zookeeper: Karen-Anne Castille—her sister.
Fifty years old, lonely, and in danger of being laid off, Katherine has spent decades trying to ignore her Louisiana roots. Forced home by Karen-Anne’s accident, she remembers everything about the bayou that she wanted to escape: the heat, the mosquitoes, and the constant, crushing embrace of family. But when forced to confront the ghosts of her past, she discovers that escape might never have been necessary.
I RECEIVED THIS BOOK FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS-PLUS. THANK YOU.
My Review: It's funny how The Book for a particular mood will lurk until that moment hits. I needed an undemanding read, one that had nothing to do with the present-day mishegas I find both distasteful and unseemly; I found this book set in Obama-era New York City and central Louisiana. About a funeral, and coming to terms with what family means, what being in a family requires, how it is that Facebook has metastasized across nations and cultures.
Published in 2015, the book follows Katie-Lee, fiftyish and full of the fear that gives single people, as she returns to bury her little sister in the wake of a Facebook-meme-able death. In fact, she finds out about the life-ending from her colleagues at (unnamed but obvious) Advertising Age, their titters and chuckles about a humorous tale of a zookeeper trampled by a rhino morphing into a dreadful reality: That's her baby sister. The shamefaced colleagues try to make it right, but she's already launched the boat onto the Styx.
She has to Go Home. Not a flying visit. The Native has to Return. O frabjous day.
Must be done. She does it. Hijinks ensue; her Louisiana family, of her generation that is, are all au courant with the world as they see it on Facebook, which is a large player in the novel. No political crap yet, as this book was written and published before the 2016 debacle revealed how much influence the platform has over far more than one's personal life. No Instagram, glancing mentions of Twitter, and Katie-Lee's a screen addict whose phone running out of bars is a Biblical-level disaster. She has more in common with the grandkids of her sisters and brother than with them.
She honestly has no idea what to do with her sadness. Facing mortality for the first time is a life-changing experience. I did it in my 20s when the AIDS epidemic decimated the gay guys I knew and loved. I remember the emotions, the detachment from reality that realizing your own death is, inevitably and inexorably, coming closer and closer. Youth is gone in that moment, calendar be hanged. And Katie-Lee's life in Brooklyn isn't such that she's cushioned from the yawning emptiness of survivorhood.
Dig we must, chere.
The healing in this tale is family-wide, and inclusive. The tragedies of the past are present again as they always are at funerals; so are the fun memories that inject themselves into the geology of one's life. People whose acts are literally unforgivable are not forgiven, though that day will clearly come. But the truly unforgivable ones are the least likely to see themselves as needing forgiveness. THAT resonated. Author Wheaton nailed that. But he did so in a format, following a structure, and thus made sure the Lesson isn't A Sermon (and he includes one of those, a real dilly of a tone-deaf nightmare-from-Hell one at that) and moves on to the next laugh.
There's the rub. This is a nightclub act written as a book. These moments are Wheaton's Brooklyn party pieces connected into a gender-swapped story to make them cohesive. (In fact, Katie-Lee's ex Howie sounds to me like Wheaton's ex only maybe not gender-swapped, if you take my meaning.) They're not less real or funny for that, but the structure of the book does nothing to hide this fact from knowing eyes. I'm from South Central Texas, I had a mamaw and she was transplanted Cajun stock, and in the days when I had party pieces, they fit together much the same way as Wheaton's do. So my eyes weren't fogged up but rather cleared by reading the present action-memory-lesson structure.
I hurry to remind y'all that 3-1/2 stars is a positive rating. I'm not trying to blast the author; in fact I liked the rhythm, was comfortably on board with the predictability of it, and felt completely relaxed and happy and at home. Nothing much happens. No excitement apart from a funeral games scene that about popped my eyeballs out from trying not to wake my roomie up from the laughing.
So do I recommend this read? Sure, so long as you're a storytelling-voice addict. It's $8 on your ereader and that's not a lot to spend on four or five hours' vacation without moving. But if you're not in the mood to listen to stories, this will not be a successful trip to Opelousas. (Where Mamaw's family came from! Now, I don't *know* that any Tullises married any Wheatons, but I bet if we....)
October 22, 2019
Mais, yeah! I loved dis here book, cher! If you're from Louisiana you'll understand that sentence. For the rest, with little knowledge of the Cajuns, let me translate:
"Well, yes! I loved this book, dear!" Seriously, Ken Wheaton took me back to the good ole days growing up in Opelousas, Louisiana. Wheaton and I are both from this small, tight community. I don't personally know Wheaton but I feel like I should. How did such an amazing storyteller, from my own hometown, escape my book radar? Mais, he's on it now thanks to NetGalley. I've had two of Wheaton's books on my Kindle for way too long and I'm so glad I decided to read them. I started with this one first because I like the idea that Ken's protagonist was a fifty year old female, not much older than myself. (Well, ya know...maybe fifteen years older.) Wheaton's female character, Katherine/Katie Lee, was totally believable. Matter of fact, I completely identified with Katie Lee. She reminded me of me. Katie Lee and I both bolted from Opelousas because we were too afraid to face tragedy. After my youngest daughter died at the age of eight in 2002, Opelousas became my prison and my hell. My husband and I packed up our darkness and moved away. I still haven't made my peace with my hometown, but who would've thought that a southern fiction character, from the mind of an Opelousas author, would bring me back to happier days? Katie Lee must also make the difficult journey home and the life lessons she learns along the way had me laughing and crying all at once. I may not have had the drama growing up that Katie Lee had to endure but our childhoods didn't differ all that much. Katie Lee stole my heart as she reminisced about growing up in a large family. I could almost smell Mrs. Fontenot's (Fon-ta-nose) gumbo simmering on the stove. Wheaton's descriptions are vivid and colorful. With each chapter read I became nostalgic for Friday nights at Sonic, crosstown rival football games, homework, classmates, cruising through South City Park one last time. Good times! Ken Wheaton's Sweet As Cane, Salty As Tears! tells a story about a journey home, reconnecting with loved ones, the what if's, and learning to forgive those we feel have broken our hearts. The message that stuck with me after reading is this: our past is who we are and no matter what, family will always be family. Pick up the phone and give sis a call. Spend a long weekend with Mom and Dad. Face to face. Hug your parents tight. Ya just never know.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Open Road Media for approving my request to read an author I'm so proud to call a fellow Opelousas native. A DRC was sent to me in exchange for review. Opinions are my own.
"Well, yes! I loved this book, dear!" Seriously, Ken Wheaton took me back to the good ole days growing up in Opelousas, Louisiana. Wheaton and I are both from this small, tight community. I don't personally know Wheaton but I feel like I should. How did such an amazing storyteller, from my own hometown, escape my book radar? Mais, he's on it now thanks to NetGalley. I've had two of Wheaton's books on my Kindle for way too long and I'm so glad I decided to read them. I started with this one first because I like the idea that Ken's protagonist was a fifty year old female, not much older than myself. (Well, ya know...maybe fifteen years older.) Wheaton's female character, Katherine/Katie Lee, was totally believable. Matter of fact, I completely identified with Katie Lee. She reminded me of me. Katie Lee and I both bolted from Opelousas because we were too afraid to face tragedy. After my youngest daughter died at the age of eight in 2002, Opelousas became my prison and my hell. My husband and I packed up our darkness and moved away. I still haven't made my peace with my hometown, but who would've thought that a southern fiction character, from the mind of an Opelousas author, would bring me back to happier days? Katie Lee must also make the difficult journey home and the life lessons she learns along the way had me laughing and crying all at once. I may not have had the drama growing up that Katie Lee had to endure but our childhoods didn't differ all that much. Katie Lee stole my heart as she reminisced about growing up in a large family. I could almost smell Mrs. Fontenot's (Fon-ta-nose) gumbo simmering on the stove. Wheaton's descriptions are vivid and colorful. With each chapter read I became nostalgic for Friday nights at Sonic, crosstown rival football games, homework, classmates, cruising through South City Park one last time. Good times! Ken Wheaton's Sweet As Cane, Salty As Tears! tells a story about a journey home, reconnecting with loved ones, the what if's, and learning to forgive those we feel have broken our hearts. The message that stuck with me after reading is this: our past is who we are and no matter what, family will always be family. Pick up the phone and give sis a call. Spend a long weekend with Mom and Dad. Face to face. Hug your parents tight. Ya just never know.
*Thanks to NetGalley and Open Road Media for approving my request to read an author I'm so proud to call a fellow Opelousas native. A DRC was sent to me in exchange for review. Opinions are my own.
December 2, 2014
(2.5) I’d never heard of Ken Wheaton, even though this is his third novel. It sounded delightfully unusual (the title and cover are especially appealing), opening with what seems like a freak accident: a black rhino trampling a zookeeper in Louisiana. Except that Katherine Fontenot, a middle-aged sharecropper’s daughter, quickly realizes that this unlucky zookeeper happened to be her sister. Leaving behind her hard-won success in New York City, she returns to her family down in the bayou – and to everything she thought she needed to escape to make her own life.
The story of the family member who moves away somewhere more sophisticated and finally has to come back to join their dysfunctional family for a funeral is an old, old one; I can think of two books I came across with versions of that very plot this year: The Violet Hour by Katherine Hill and Don’t Forget Me, Bro by John Michael Cummings. Wheaton never gets too far beyond gentle mockery of Southern white trash – the kids have hyphenated names starting with ‘K’ and two out of four sisters become teenage mothers – but it’s good-natured enough that I don’t think many people should find it offensive. It’s Wheaton’s home turf, and you can tell that the vocabulary and scenery are authentic.
‘You can’t go home again is a powerful theme,’ in any case. I was remembering my dad going back to Georgia last month for his mother’s funeral. Like Katherine, he’s thrown off his Southern upbringing, deliberately losing the accent and the mannerisms, to be a sophisticated Mid-Atlantic suburbanite; unfortunately, he also took this to mean that he couldn’t keep in touch with his family or visit them more than a couple times a decade. As one of the siblings says to Katherine, “Karen-Anne always said one of ’em would have to die to get you back here for something other than Christmas.”
The low-ish rating mostly takes into account that there is far too much in the way of preliminaries and prologue. Katherine’s empty life in NYC, losing her job, etc. all takes up well over a third of the text; I was antsy for the real story down in Louisiana to begin. I also grew tired of the repeated commentary on our dependence on technology (even though Wheaton makes it important to the plot). Another point of criticism is that we never get a sense of who the deceased sister was; she’s just some unlucky sap who got gored by a rhino. It was a nice comic setup, but then the novel doesn’t really follow through on it.
I probably wouldn’t read anything else by Wheaton without a personal recommendation.
The story of the family member who moves away somewhere more sophisticated and finally has to come back to join their dysfunctional family for a funeral is an old, old one; I can think of two books I came across with versions of that very plot this year: The Violet Hour by Katherine Hill and Don’t Forget Me, Bro by John Michael Cummings. Wheaton never gets too far beyond gentle mockery of Southern white trash – the kids have hyphenated names starting with ‘K’ and two out of four sisters become teenage mothers – but it’s good-natured enough that I don’t think many people should find it offensive. It’s Wheaton’s home turf, and you can tell that the vocabulary and scenery are authentic.
‘You can’t go home again is a powerful theme,’ in any case. I was remembering my dad going back to Georgia last month for his mother’s funeral. Like Katherine, he’s thrown off his Southern upbringing, deliberately losing the accent and the mannerisms, to be a sophisticated Mid-Atlantic suburbanite; unfortunately, he also took this to mean that he couldn’t keep in touch with his family or visit them more than a couple times a decade. As one of the siblings says to Katherine, “Karen-Anne always said one of ’em would have to die to get you back here for something other than Christmas.”
The low-ish rating mostly takes into account that there is far too much in the way of preliminaries and prologue. Katherine’s empty life in NYC, losing her job, etc. all takes up well over a third of the text; I was antsy for the real story down in Louisiana to begin. I also grew tired of the repeated commentary on our dependence on technology (even though Wheaton makes it important to the plot). Another point of criticism is that we never get a sense of who the deceased sister was; she’s just some unlucky sap who got gored by a rhino. It was a nice comic setup, but then the novel doesn’t really follow through on it.
I probably wouldn’t read anything else by Wheaton without a personal recommendation.
August 18, 2014
This book - it had me smiling at the Prologue. I went into it not knowing what to expect. Katie-Lee (or Katherine to her New York office colleagues) has left Louisiana behind after a family tragedy to work for a magazine in NYC. Addicted to facebook, she uses it as her only real means of keeping tabs on her family, mainly her sisters. When someone posts a link about an accident involving a Rhino and a Louisiana vet, Katie-Lee is stunned to find that the vet is her younger sister, Karen-Anne. Forcing her to face her past, Katie-Lee has to conquer her demons and head back home.
I can't believe this was written by a man. Can NOT believe it. Katie-Lee is so real, so warm, so fragile (yet so strong), so loveable - this book is a gorgeous read. The author makes both Louisiana and New York City jump off the page. I've never been to either place, but by the end, I felt like I had. The way Katie-Lee and her sister Kendra-Sue interact is so familiar to anyone who's ever had a bit of family drama - some of their spats had me in tears laughing.
Loved, loved this book. Sincere thanks to the publishers & author for granting my Netgalley request to read it.
I can't believe this was written by a man. Can NOT believe it. Katie-Lee is so real, so warm, so fragile (yet so strong), so loveable - this book is a gorgeous read. The author makes both Louisiana and New York City jump off the page. I've never been to either place, but by the end, I felt like I had. The way Katie-Lee and her sister Kendra-Sue interact is so familiar to anyone who's ever had a bit of family drama - some of their spats had me in tears laughing.
Loved, loved this book. Sincere thanks to the publishers & author for granting my Netgalley request to read it.
July 7, 2014
Ken Wheaton’s Sweet As Cane, Salty As Tears is a funny, honest story of middle age and coming to terms with who you are, where you came from, and what your future holds.
Katie-Lee, or Katherine, Fontenot is a 50 year-old Cajun girl living in New York City. Everyday she fights her Louisiana roots, pretending to be exasperated and annoyed by her family on Facebook, but unwilling to cut them off. Layoffs loom in her world, and she understands that she’s at an age where finding a new job is more than difficult.
When her sister is trampled by a black rhino, Katie-Lee must return home. Here memories and history start to collide, and Katie-Lee learns that running away didn’t change anything.
Sweet As Cane, Salty As Tears is funny and sad, heart-warming and heartbreaking. It’s a story that creates an ache for family and Cajun food. And it makes you remember that no matter where you go, there’s no place like home and no one knows you like family.
Katie-Lee, or Katherine, Fontenot is a 50 year-old Cajun girl living in New York City. Everyday she fights her Louisiana roots, pretending to be exasperated and annoyed by her family on Facebook, but unwilling to cut them off. Layoffs loom in her world, and she understands that she’s at an age where finding a new job is more than difficult.
When her sister is trampled by a black rhino, Katie-Lee must return home. Here memories and history start to collide, and Katie-Lee learns that running away didn’t change anything.
Sweet As Cane, Salty As Tears is funny and sad, heart-warming and heartbreaking. It’s a story that creates an ache for family and Cajun food. And it makes you remember that no matter where you go, there’s no place like home and no one knows you like family.
June 30, 2014
This great summer read, with a likeable, completely identifiable 50-year old woman, was written by a — what? A 41 year old GUY? (I even double-checked, thinking that “Ken” might be short for Kendra or something.) But Ken it is, and he definitely gets it right.
Sweet As Cane is about family, and avoidance, and painful pasts, and perfectly captures the fears and doubts that go along with reaching a certain age. It's a definite thumbs up, and I'm looking forward to checking into Wheaton's earlier stuff. ...now if I could just stop thinking about Popeye’s chicken...
Was read as a Netgalley advance copy.
Sweet As Cane is about family, and avoidance, and painful pasts, and perfectly captures the fears and doubts that go along with reaching a certain age. It's a definite thumbs up, and I'm looking forward to checking into Wheaton's earlier stuff. ...now if I could just stop thinking about Popeye’s chicken...
Was read as a Netgalley advance copy.
February 3, 2024
This is as real as it gets
I didn’t grow up in South Louisiana, but since I live here now every bit of it rings true. Having lived in Washington DC and then retired to the Cajun prairie surrounded by my husband’s extended family, friends and high school classmates, the Fontenot family sounded like many people I have come to know and love. And Katie-Lee (or Katherine if you’re trying to recreate yourself) struck many cords with me. As a gay couple, I can relate to the experiences of Lucy and Tina. If you’re not from South Louisiana, I’m not sure you’ll get all of the nuances. But it’s a good story well told. Treat yourself!
I didn’t grow up in South Louisiana, but since I live here now every bit of it rings true. Having lived in Washington DC and then retired to the Cajun prairie surrounded by my husband’s extended family, friends and high school classmates, the Fontenot family sounded like many people I have come to know and love. And Katie-Lee (or Katherine if you’re trying to recreate yourself) struck many cords with me. As a gay couple, I can relate to the experiences of Lucy and Tina. If you’re not from South Louisiana, I’m not sure you’ll get all of the nuances. But it’s a good story well told. Treat yourself!
December 11, 2017
This is why I love GR Challenges. I would never have found this book or thought to read it if not for a challenge requirement and I am Oh so glad that I did. As a child of the 70s myself, I could relate to the cultural references of the time and anyone with siblings could relate in some way to Katie-Lee's relationship with hers. Humorous and Heartwarming, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Want to read
October 29, 2019EarlyBirdBooks 199
July 2, 2014
This review can be found on my blog
This book was a nice blend of current day life and past day Southern roots and traditions. The main character, Katie-Lee or Katherine as she is called in her New York life, finds out that her sister Karen-Anne has been injured via a Facebook post by one of her co-workers. The story weaves on that Katie-Lee left Louisiana and hasn't really looked back. She is friends with family on Facebook, some relatives she hasn't even met in person. You can sense that she is trying so hard to leave her old life in the shadows. But when Katie-Lee receives word from another sister that Karen-Anne has passed away, she needs to return home and confront all the things she is trying so hard to forget.
Katie-Lee is the 4th of 5 children, the youngest of which has passed away as well. You spend most of the novel aware of the fact that he died but unaware of the circumstances. She only stays in touch with one sister, Kendra-Sue, and you get the sense that this isn't by choice. It is Kendra-Sue that alerts her of her sister's death. When she returns home, she re-enters her family unit, meeting all those relatives she has only seen on social media and is forced to confront why she left in the first place.
This book didn't make me laugh or cry, but had true emotion behind each character and situation. I think anyone who has siblings (which I don't, so I am speculating here) will be able to relate to the banter, the struggles, and the emotions between Katie-Lee and her brother/sisters. The secondary characters of the story, her friends from New York, add their own spin to the story and are her "family" as well. Everything comes together in the last 10% of the book, and you then really realize the complexity and emotion behind Katie-Lee's keeping her distance from her past.
I can personally relate to this story on some level and completely understand Katie-Lee's desire to maintain her distance from a place that carries hurtful memories and reminds her of harder times. All in all, this was a well put together novel about family bonds and never forgetting your roots.
Recommended For: Fans of women's fiction, tales set in the South. Anyone with a dysfunctional family!
This book was a nice blend of current day life and past day Southern roots and traditions. The main character, Katie-Lee or Katherine as she is called in her New York life, finds out that her sister Karen-Anne has been injured via a Facebook post by one of her co-workers. The story weaves on that Katie-Lee left Louisiana and hasn't really looked back. She is friends with family on Facebook, some relatives she hasn't even met in person. You can sense that she is trying so hard to leave her old life in the shadows. But when Katie-Lee receives word from another sister that Karen-Anne has passed away, she needs to return home and confront all the things she is trying so hard to forget.
Katie-Lee is the 4th of 5 children, the youngest of which has passed away as well. You spend most of the novel aware of the fact that he died but unaware of the circumstances. She only stays in touch with one sister, Kendra-Sue, and you get the sense that this isn't by choice. It is Kendra-Sue that alerts her of her sister's death. When she returns home, she re-enters her family unit, meeting all those relatives she has only seen on social media and is forced to confront why she left in the first place.
This book didn't make me laugh or cry, but had true emotion behind each character and situation. I think anyone who has siblings (which I don't, so I am speculating here) will be able to relate to the banter, the struggles, and the emotions between Katie-Lee and her brother/sisters. The secondary characters of the story, her friends from New York, add their own spin to the story and are her "family" as well. Everything comes together in the last 10% of the book, and you then really realize the complexity and emotion behind Katie-Lee's keeping her distance from her past.
I can personally relate to this story on some level and completely understand Katie-Lee's desire to maintain her distance from a place that carries hurtful memories and reminds her of harder times. All in all, this was a well put together novel about family bonds and never forgetting your roots.
Recommended For: Fans of women's fiction, tales set in the South. Anyone with a dysfunctional family!
October 19, 2015
This is...not a good book. It features Katherine, a 50 year old living in New York City where she ran to after a tragedy in Louisiana. She doesn't have a good relationship with her family, so she finds out that her sister Karen-Ann was gored by an escaping rhino via facebook. She heads back to Louisiana to visit.
The book is one of those horrible back and forth where we hit memories of her time in Louisiana with her five siblings. They all have similar names and they all have similar personalities so it's hard to distinguish anybody from each other and really care. And they're really mean to each other. Like, really mean. I feel like it went past sibling rivalry into just plain meanness. Even with her injured sister, Katherine and her other sister just keep throwing barbs at each other.
When we jump to New York, it's the same. Katherine has two friends who don't like each other, but then it's hard to keep them separate in your head and know if you're supposed to like either of them.
And nothing gets resolved. No one feels better at the end, there's no conclusion. It's just a jumble of beer, shrimp, and weird Cajun accents.
The book is one of those horrible back and forth where we hit memories of her time in Louisiana with her five siblings. They all have similar names and they all have similar personalities so it's hard to distinguish anybody from each other and really care. And they're really mean to each other. Like, really mean. I feel like it went past sibling rivalry into just plain meanness. Even with her injured sister, Katherine and her other sister just keep throwing barbs at each other.
When we jump to New York, it's the same. Katherine has two friends who don't like each other, but then it's hard to keep them separate in your head and know if you're supposed to like either of them.
And nothing gets resolved. No one feels better at the end, there's no conclusion. It's just a jumble of beer, shrimp, and weird Cajun accents.
July 18, 2014
Given To Me For An Honest Review
This book started off slow for me but once I got into it I could not put it down. I read it in one day. It is about a woman who grew up in Louisiana and just walk away from her family and life when she was 20. She ended up in New York. She creates a life there, makes friends, marries and gets divorced. She is fifty, gets fired from her job and learns that her sister is killed by a rhinoceros at the zoo where she works. She needs to go "home". She hasn't been back for a very long time. When she gets back she doesn't recognize many at all. She ends up getting into a fight with her sister. I don't want to give all the story away but believe me Ken Wheaton did a marvelous job with this book. It could be any family that he wrote about. I loved it and I highly recommend it to all. You will not regret reading it. My only negative is, I wish I could give it a 10+ stars.
This book started off slow for me but once I got into it I could not put it down. I read it in one day. It is about a woman who grew up in Louisiana and just walk away from her family and life when she was 20. She ended up in New York. She creates a life there, makes friends, marries and gets divorced. She is fifty, gets fired from her job and learns that her sister is killed by a rhinoceros at the zoo where she works. She needs to go "home". She hasn't been back for a very long time. When she gets back she doesn't recognize many at all. She ends up getting into a fight with her sister. I don't want to give all the story away but believe me Ken Wheaton did a marvelous job with this book. It could be any family that he wrote about. I loved it and I highly recommend it to all. You will not regret reading it. My only negative is, I wish I could give it a 10+ stars.
July 15, 2014
The novel should come with a warning:"If you don't appreciate the South, don't read this book." However, anyone with an appreciation of Southern idiosyncrasies will end up rolling on the floor with laughter. And where did Ken Wheaton pick up the nuances of a daughter of the South who would rather be anywhere else than Broussard, La.? '
Katherine Fontenot has become a New Yorker, leaving her bayou roots and family far behind. That is until a black rhino escape from the Broussard and kills her sister. Fontenot has to return to her Cajun past, complete with double-name siblings, beer drinking, fishing and hunting. Wheaton's novel is written with humor without malice or insult to life among the Spanish moss.
A fun read - perfect for the beach or vacation.
Katherine Fontenot has become a New Yorker, leaving her bayou roots and family far behind. That is until a black rhino escape from the Broussard and kills her sister. Fontenot has to return to her Cajun past, complete with double-name siblings, beer drinking, fishing and hunting. Wheaton's novel is written with humor without malice or insult to life among the Spanish moss.
A fun read - perfect for the beach or vacation.
November 10, 2013
This review is based on an ARC provided to me by the publisher.
Loved, loved, loved this book. Katherine is a 50-ish woman living the New York Dream - at least on the surface. As Wheaton gently unwraps her story we come to know her as Katie-Lee, a sharecropper's daughter who fled her rural life to create a new life on her own. Her story is sad, funny and moving all at once. I especially likes the descriptions of the country lifestyle so alien to my own childhood. I'll definitely be looking for more by this author.
Loved, loved, loved this book. Katherine is a 50-ish woman living the New York Dream - at least on the surface. As Wheaton gently unwraps her story we come to know her as Katie-Lee, a sharecropper's daughter who fled her rural life to create a new life on her own. Her story is sad, funny and moving all at once. I especially likes the descriptions of the country lifestyle so alien to my own childhood. I'll definitely be looking for more by this author.
February 5, 2015
If you liked "Steel Magnolias", anything by Fannie Flagg, or Jill Conner Browne's Sweet Potato Queen series, you'll like this book! While the bulk of the action takes place in NYC and not down south in Louisiana, it still evokes that same atmosphere throughout the story.
It's a little darker and sadder and not quite as humorous as what you think it might be, but it was a great read and I sure hope that the author might write a book or two more with these characters.
It's a little darker and sadder and not quite as humorous as what you think it might be, but it was a great read and I sure hope that the author might write a book or two more with these characters.
July 21, 2014
I really liked this story about Katie Lee who fled Louisiana at the age of 20 after an unspeakable tragedy, only to find herself home after another tragedy 30 years later. Her reflection on her life at 50...her relationship (or lack of) with her family...her friends...I liked it all. This book paints an accurate portrait of a people and place, but the story could have taken place in any small town anywhere in America.
July 10, 2014
When I finished this book, I immediately wanted to flip it over and start again. But I decided I should try to stop sniveling on the subway first. Wheaton created characters whose voices ring so true and clear that I could imagine slapping mosquitoes on the family porch right along with Katie-Lee. It made my heart hurt, in a good way. Well done.
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August 11, 2014"Ken Wheaton gets back to his Opelousas roots with a quick and cathartic read. It’s perfect for the beach; the surf will drown out the sound of you laughing to yourself."
Read more here.
Read more here.
July 15, 2014
Great book! Funny and quick, deep and touching. When you're done you'll want to book a trip to Louisiana just to get some boudin!
July 13, 2014
Really enjoyed this. A wonderful story that everyone can relate to. Reading this was like making a visit back home.
January 11, 2025
Family
At the beginning I could not get into the story. A single woman living in New York and lonely. Work. Riding subways. Going to bars sometimes alone. I couldn't work up any connection to Katharine. Why doesn't she do something fun, or worthwhile?
Then she gets fired. Then her baby sister dies.
Her fourth sister. The 5th child of six. Four girls bracketed by two boys.
She goes home home to the large Cajun family. One brother and two sisters and herself, and a multitude of nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews and cousins.
Then we learn a lot more of her story and laugh at the Cajun peculiarities and the family stories and old resentments. Then three middle aged sisters are fighting, rolling in the mud at the cemetery and somehow its all hysterically funny.
At the beginning I could not get into the story. A single woman living in New York and lonely. Work. Riding subways. Going to bars sometimes alone. I couldn't work up any connection to Katharine. Why doesn't she do something fun, or worthwhile?
Then she gets fired. Then her baby sister dies.
Her fourth sister. The 5th child of six. Four girls bracketed by two boys.
She goes home home to the large Cajun family. One brother and two sisters and herself, and a multitude of nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews and cousins.
Then we learn a lot more of her story and laugh at the Cajun peculiarities and the family stories and old resentments. Then three middle aged sisters are fighting, rolling in the mud at the cemetery and somehow its all hysterically funny.
October 15, 2023
Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears is a testament to Ken Wheaton’s sure-handed, thought-provoking writing voice. He captures the complexities of human behavior with both humor and heart.
After a decades ago migration to a much different social-cultural climate, protagonist Katie-Lee grapples with midlife growing pains, amped up by a tragedy that bullies a return to her place of birth and, thus, complex spaces of psychological trauma.
Wheaton has crafted, as the title suggests, a “sweet” and “salty” recipe with ingredients that incite tears, laughter, frustrations, and feelings of psychological renewal.
Ultimately, questions about sibling dynamics coupled with concerns about one’s place in the world outside one’s family of origin, leaves readers emotionally satiated. Bravo, Mr. Wheaton.
After a decades ago migration to a much different social-cultural climate, protagonist Katie-Lee grapples with midlife growing pains, amped up by a tragedy that bullies a return to her place of birth and, thus, complex spaces of psychological trauma.
Wheaton has crafted, as the title suggests, a “sweet” and “salty” recipe with ingredients that incite tears, laughter, frustrations, and feelings of psychological renewal.
Ultimately, questions about sibling dynamics coupled with concerns about one’s place in the world outside one’s family of origin, leaves readers emotionally satiated. Bravo, Mr. Wheaton.
July 22, 2024
I'm thinking that if you're not from South Louisiana one would have a problem understanding some of the Cajun sayings uttered throughout the book by the Fontenot family and friends. But for me, having been raised in that same country, it all makes perfect sense to me. This book is like coming home! It is not unusual, even in this day and time, to find folks that have lived their entire lives within the confines of their home parish (county) and are blissfully ignorant and unconcerned about the rest of the goings on elsewhere. But even if you're not a Cajun, the storyline alone should get and keep your attention.
This book kept me up beyond my bedtime! Highly recommended.
This book kept me up beyond my bedtime! Highly recommended.
July 13, 2017
I sought out this book after reading Wheaton's First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival. I was not disappointed. What happens when a young woman who has the world in the palm of her hands encounters a tragedy and runs away instead of dealing with it? This book is what happens. I'm not Cajun and I'm not from the South but as a fan of USL baseball (Geaux Tigers!🐯), a woman facing 50, and a recovering Catholic I found the humor, family interactions and life choices to be humorous, heart warming, and easily relatable. Enjoy a $5 Popeye box while you read.
January 28, 2021
It was a good book exploring the ever changing dynamics of a poor Louisiana family, The book written as a dark comedy at times looked at the ever changing makeup of this family as people died, people married into the family, divorced out of the family and were born into the family. Some tried as they might to disassociate themselves the family but through life's circumstances found themselves drawn back into it whether they wanted to be or not. In the end they all found things they thought they had lost, buried or given up on.
October 31, 2017
Loved this book!
I can relate to this story in so many ways. Large family and all the good and bad that goes with that...country living, using a chamber pot/outhouse,etc... I moved away from family to the South, as a result I know about Cajun Country too! Try it, you'll like it.
I can relate to this story in so many ways. Large family and all the good and bad that goes with that...country living, using a chamber pot/outhouse,etc... I moved away from family to the South, as a result I know about Cajun Country too! Try it, you'll like it.
January 6, 2022
Living, as I do, in Lafayette
I didn't have to read the 'about the author' blurb to know this was a sure enough native of South Louisiana.
No one else could have carried this yarn off while getting so many if the details exactly right.
My mother was a Thibodeaux, and I'd pitch a hissy over tomatoes in gumbo, no lie. Did actually. In Tallahassee.
I didn't have to read the 'about the author' blurb to know this was a sure enough native of South Louisiana.
No one else could have carried this yarn off while getting so many if the details exactly right.
My mother was a Thibodeaux, and I'd pitch a hissy over tomatoes in gumbo, no lie. Did actually. In Tallahassee.
August 20, 2025
Sweet as Cane, Salty as Tears is an immersive, enjoyable read. If you enjoy stories about people escaping from their past and a single event forcing them to reevaluate and confront those past events, with a Cajun American setting, then you’ll probably enjoy this. 3.5/5
More here: https://jessicagrixtistanley.com/2021...
More here: https://jessicagrixtistanley.com/2021...
dnf
June 18, 2017I was looking for something new to read and the description sounded interesting, but I'm at 40% and bored and annoyed. I'd usually just finish it anyway, but I've amassed a backlog and don't have the energy to do so.
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January 16, 2024The characters and setting were very interesting, and the book had a lot of heart. The plot dragged some, which is why it took me a while to finish it, and the writing style was a tad uneven at times, but the book was a good portrait of family and the ways we love and hurt each other.
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