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South of Everything
Set in 1940s Germantown, Tennessee, South of Everything is a magical coming of age story about the daughter of a plantation-owning family, who, despite her privileged background, finds more in common with “the help” than her own family. She develops a special kinship with her parents’ servant Old Thomas, who introduces her to the mysterious Lolololo Tree––a magical, mystical tree with healing powers that she discovers is wiser than any teacher or parent or priest. Her connection with the Lolololo Tree opens her eyes to the religious and racial prejudice of her surroundings and readers will root for her to fight against injustice and follow her heart to meet her fate.
228 pages, Hardcover
First published September 15, 2015
2 people are currently reading
360 people want to read
About the author
Audrey Taylor Gonzalez
6 books10 followersReverend Audrey Taylor Gonzalez was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1939. In the span of her long career, she’s been a journalist, TV host, art gallery owner, racehorse breeder, mountain climber, world traveler, breast cancer survivor, and the first woman to be ordained to holy orders in the Southern Cone of South America at Uruguay’s Holy Trinity Cathedral in Montevideo. She’s a philanthropist, and mother and grandmother to her own children as well as many people in need that have crossed her path over the years. As a deacon at Calvary Episcopal Church in Memphis, Audrey received the prestigious Juvenile Court Judges Award for Outstanding Service in 2012 and 2014 and she was selected by the governor of Tennessee as a Commissioner on TCCY (Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth). She is the author of the fictional memoir The Lolololo Tree and two collections of writings and homilies, Sermons and Such and The Shady Place, and two collections of poetry – Waiting for Rain, and Hurgadores de la Vida. Her debut novel, South of Everything, is a magical tale, set in the South in the 40s-50s, and will be published by She Writes Press in the fall of 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 3, 2021
Too much description and it distracted from plot.
October 2, 2015
Germanville in the 1940s is rife with segregation and inequality. For Missy Sara, daughter of wealthy plantation owners, this inequality is incomprehensible, and her coming of age story is her struggle to understand the world around her through her own kind of magic.
The story:
Missy Sara, known as Missy, has a privileged life. She and her brother Robertelee live on their Grandfather's property, surrounded by cattle, horses, cotton, acres of property to explore, and of course, black servants, who cook for them, coddle them, and look after them more so than their own family do. Missy understands the hierarchy of the house – Mammyrosy cooks and cleans and looks after her and Robertelee, Old Thomas keeps an eye on everything around the property and takes special care of Missy's grandfather, Reddaddy. Reddaddy and Old Thomas are great friends, but one was born with everything and the other nothing, And Missy can't understand how that works. But Old Thomas has a special place in his heart for Missy, and introduces her to the special magic and mysticism of the South, which wraps up Jesus and nature and superstition all in one.
Missy runs unchecked around the property, and learns from the people she encounters – crazy B-Budd, son of Mr Hugh who keeps the cattle – is a friend whose evangelism is incomprehensible to her, and his story is one that fascinates Missy. Old Thomas keeps the magic alive in Missy, and imparts to her wisdom which she instinctively understands despite her limited understanding of a world that's designed to keep the rich rich and the poor poor. As Missy gets older, she begins to question certain aspects of the life she's living, and discovers unsettling aspects of society like the Klu Klux Klan, and the tragic world of show horses. Missy's coming of age story is fraught with death, inequality, and conversely, love and magic.
The style:
The South Of Everything was an interesting read. When I first began reading it I was unsure. The style is very southern from the word go – not over-the-top by any means, more incredibly authentic feeling, but this isn't something I'm used to so I was a bit wrong-footed. The story is written in the first person from Missy Sara's perspective, and the magic realism certainly doesn't pussy-foot around and starts straight away, and that also shook me up a bit. It was interesting because in the beginning Missy is a young girl, so the magic realism could pass as imagination, but combined with that was the plethora of southern names and relationships to keep a track of. I like that Gonzalez certainly wasn't dumbing the story down for the reader... I've had this particular name/relationship confusion with Rushdie, so she's in good company there. My confusion continued until probably just under half way, when I started to relax into the swing of things and suddenly everything clicked. I'm not sure if this was due to my initial unfamiliarity wearing off or something in the writing style falling into place, or a combination of the two.
Furthermore, I found the writing in the beginning – when Missy is quite young – to have a distant, once-upon-a-time quality. Obviously the story is written in memoir style, but I felt as though the author was looking back to a distant past which didn't make me feel close to the characters. Hence my sympathy took a little while to kick in. During this time period, Missy didn't understand much about what was going on around her – which is certainly realistic for a little kid – but it confused me about what was actually happening.
HOWEVER. I persisted, and it was worth it. Once Missy got a bit older, the style of narrative became a bit more immediate, Missy started to develop a comprehension about her surroundings she could portray to the reader, and the beautiful writing style really took shape. Suddenly I was seeing everything, smelling everything – I was there. As I said, it could have been the fact that I finally found the surroundings familiar because I'd read myself into familiarity, or it could just be that Gonzalez really found her stride towards the middle. But I'm so glad I persevered, because by the end I was hooked. And every now and again Gonzalez pulled out the perfect sentence that transported me to exactly where I should have been, like magic. Most authors can't manage one perfect sentence per novel, and Gonzalez had at least three. Also, I found the religious aspect of the story fascinating. I'm not religious, but the way religion was realised in the story was different to the many religious educations I've had about Christianity. Totally worth it as a reading and learning experience, I feel richer for having read this book.
Who is this book for?
Maybe people who are at least acquainted with the South would find it easier from the outset, but I recommend this story for anyone who likes memoirs. It's a beauty.
If you like this book, you would also like...
I was recommended this book on the strength of like Rebecca Wells, but I wouldn't necessarily compare the two, although she's certainly a winner on the Southern literature aspect, and potentially more accessible to novice readers.
The story:
Missy Sara, known as Missy, has a privileged life. She and her brother Robertelee live on their Grandfather's property, surrounded by cattle, horses, cotton, acres of property to explore, and of course, black servants, who cook for them, coddle them, and look after them more so than their own family do. Missy understands the hierarchy of the house – Mammyrosy cooks and cleans and looks after her and Robertelee, Old Thomas keeps an eye on everything around the property and takes special care of Missy's grandfather, Reddaddy. Reddaddy and Old Thomas are great friends, but one was born with everything and the other nothing, And Missy can't understand how that works. But Old Thomas has a special place in his heart for Missy, and introduces her to the special magic and mysticism of the South, which wraps up Jesus and nature and superstition all in one.
Missy runs unchecked around the property, and learns from the people she encounters – crazy B-Budd, son of Mr Hugh who keeps the cattle – is a friend whose evangelism is incomprehensible to her, and his story is one that fascinates Missy. Old Thomas keeps the magic alive in Missy, and imparts to her wisdom which she instinctively understands despite her limited understanding of a world that's designed to keep the rich rich and the poor poor. As Missy gets older, she begins to question certain aspects of the life she's living, and discovers unsettling aspects of society like the Klu Klux Klan, and the tragic world of show horses. Missy's coming of age story is fraught with death, inequality, and conversely, love and magic.
The style:
The South Of Everything was an interesting read. When I first began reading it I was unsure. The style is very southern from the word go – not over-the-top by any means, more incredibly authentic feeling, but this isn't something I'm used to so I was a bit wrong-footed. The story is written in the first person from Missy Sara's perspective, and the magic realism certainly doesn't pussy-foot around and starts straight away, and that also shook me up a bit. It was interesting because in the beginning Missy is a young girl, so the magic realism could pass as imagination, but combined with that was the plethora of southern names and relationships to keep a track of. I like that Gonzalez certainly wasn't dumbing the story down for the reader... I've had this particular name/relationship confusion with Rushdie, so she's in good company there. My confusion continued until probably just under half way, when I started to relax into the swing of things and suddenly everything clicked. I'm not sure if this was due to my initial unfamiliarity wearing off or something in the writing style falling into place, or a combination of the two.
Furthermore, I found the writing in the beginning – when Missy is quite young – to have a distant, once-upon-a-time quality. Obviously the story is written in memoir style, but I felt as though the author was looking back to a distant past which didn't make me feel close to the characters. Hence my sympathy took a little while to kick in. During this time period, Missy didn't understand much about what was going on around her – which is certainly realistic for a little kid – but it confused me about what was actually happening.
HOWEVER. I persisted, and it was worth it. Once Missy got a bit older, the style of narrative became a bit more immediate, Missy started to develop a comprehension about her surroundings she could portray to the reader, and the beautiful writing style really took shape. Suddenly I was seeing everything, smelling everything – I was there. As I said, it could have been the fact that I finally found the surroundings familiar because I'd read myself into familiarity, or it could just be that Gonzalez really found her stride towards the middle. But I'm so glad I persevered, because by the end I was hooked. And every now and again Gonzalez pulled out the perfect sentence that transported me to exactly where I should have been, like magic. Most authors can't manage one perfect sentence per novel, and Gonzalez had at least three. Also, I found the religious aspect of the story fascinating. I'm not religious, but the way religion was realised in the story was different to the many religious educations I've had about Christianity. Totally worth it as a reading and learning experience, I feel richer for having read this book.
Who is this book for?
Maybe people who are at least acquainted with the South would find it easier from the outset, but I recommend this story for anyone who likes memoirs. It's a beauty.
If you like this book, you would also like...
I was recommended this book on the strength of like Rebecca Wells, but I wouldn't necessarily compare the two, although she's certainly a winner on the Southern literature aspect, and potentially more accessible to novice readers.
December 14, 2016
South of Everything was a coming of age novel set just outside of Memphis, Tennessee in the 1940's and 50's, so racial relations played a large role in the book and was told from a child/teenager's perspective. Missy Sara was wise beyond her years and color-blind to race thanks to her family's servant and grandfather's friend, Old Thomas, an African American and very spiritual man, who helped guide Missy Sara through her life. I enjoyed having this topic as an undercurrent throughout the entire book, but sometimes I had a hard time telling who was white and who was another race because that didn't bother Missy Sara so much, so she normally didn't describe people in that way. Missy Sara also has many spiritual/religious moments and visions in the book (sort of a magical realism kind of thing), but they are pretty far out, and I couldn't tell if everyone could see them happening or not, so that made them really strange. I did enjoy that most of them were spiritual and not necessarily leaning towards any religion; the book wasn't trying to convert anyone, which I really appreciate. The beginning of the book was also a lot of setting the scene, and the time passed in a strange way (I didn't knew how old Missy Sara was in a lot of scenes and missed when suddenly it was the next summer or something), so sometimes I couldn't really see where the book was going. The second half of the book was more driven by a plot and when time passed, it was marked very well. I really enjoyed the characters of Reddaddy and Old Thomas, and would recommend this book to younger girls and people interested in the country during this time period and those who enjoy mystical realism and coming of age novels. I received this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
October 16, 2016
What a story. An excellent read with a soft spiritual message.
January 26, 2016
Well written. A story that helps open the eyes of the reader to the way things were in south after WWII.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews