Sweet Jiminy by Kristin Gore
Hyperion • $23.99 • ISBN 9781401322892
April 19, 2011
In November, we told you about Kristin Gore’s Sweet Jiminy—a departure from her comedies about life in D.C. politics (a subject for which she was uniquely situated to poke fun at, given her experiences as Al Gore’s daughter). Now, in just a couple weeks, you’ll be able to read the novel for yourself.
The story is about a girl who quits law school and returns to her grandmother Willa’s farm, where she promptly falls for the nephew of her grandmother’s housekeeper. Jiminy is white, and the boy—Bo—is black. In the small Southern town, this relationship is not greeted with everyone’s blessings. Another thread is Jiminy’s desire to get to the bottom of a decades-old mystery, of the murder of the housekeeper’s daughter.
Sweet Jiminy gets off to a quick start as the major characters are introduced. And there’s plenty of foreshadowing, like when Jiminy’s grandmother alludes to the quiet town’s dark past . . .
Willa watched her granddaughter out of the corner of her eye as she made a careful turn off the interstate onto the access road that led to town. Jiminy had stopped crying a few miles back and was now staring straight ahead with a distant, pensive expression. Willa worried that something must have gone terribly wrong for her to come running to Fayeville, of all places. And so suddenly, away from so many more alluring plans. They hadn’t seen each other in years, so for Jiminy to spontaneously visit was already strange. For her to seem so fragile was downright alarming.
Still, Willa hadn’t pressed Jiminy to explain herself. She knew better than most that some things just didn’t want to be talked about. In addition to its many charms and eccentricities, her tiny corner of the world was riddled with sad secrets. Had her granddaughter sensed that? Was that why she’d come—because she’d needed a place of solace to keep her own unhappy counsel?
Did you read Gore’s Sammy’s Hill and Sammy’s House? Are you interested in Sweet Jiminy?
What are you reading today?
I was selected to get this book as an “early reviewer” through my Library Thing membership. I never put the name together with the family! I can’t wait to read get it and start reading!
Funny!
I always wonder if the children of famous people get sick of the comments about mom and dad — but it is pretty amazing that there’s so much talent in that family! Happy reading.