Strange but interesting book. ( )

I got lost many times in this book, there are many characters,some real, some not real but they had a story to tell of racism, cruelity, and family history. I was interested in Ella McGee's tale. I would have loved a book on her that started with her mother's pregnancy and covering all parts of her life, being exposed to hidden family secrets. Then I would have liked a separate story about her mother's from beginning to end. That would have been all neat and tidy but the author weaves a web of stories that are difficult to connect. You learn one story and then another and it seems unrelated but a couple of times at the end of the story a weak strain connects to the body of another story and you think "Aha!. That is what happened.

Reading this book reminded me of going to the wake of one from my father'family. I knew my cousins, aunts and uncles but peoples told tales of people I had never had heard of before. Long detailed tales, I was young and curious but I could not connect them with anyone who I know. And now, unfortunately, I have no memory about the stories or how to connect them to my family. It is like a window quickly opened and filled with many interesting object and then. Then suddently shut. That is what this book reminds me of.

There were times of beauty and times of the immeasurable cruelity of slavery but many stories were too terrible to pass and they became the lost family historu.

I bought this several years ago and recently decided to read it. It is worth reading but it will not come easily. ( )

Fascinating stories intertwine in this novel that covers several generations of North Georgians. Census instructions and other excerpts from historic documents ground issues of race and identity for the fictional characters whose family tree blends white, Cherokee, and African American branches. Complex and never preachy, Glow brings depth to our understanding o the regions history. ( )

Enter to win a copy of Glow at my blog until 3/25: http://readeroffictions.blogspot.com/2012/03/q-with-jessica-maria-tuccelli-givea... No follow necessary to enter.

Ordinarily, I write my own summaries of books, but try as I might, I could not manage to sum Glow up in a paragraph. This novel, though not especially long, is dense and complex. There hardly is a plot, but a whole lot happens. Nothing is stated explicitly; it's left to the reader to suss out the meaning.

Glow did not especially grab me, but, despite that, I can still appreciate the artistry of the book. Jessica Maria Tuccelli displays evident talent both in the unique construction of a narrative and in the writing of disparate characters.

Tuccelli tells the story using multiple points of view, a very effective narrative style, but a very dangerous one as well. Only authors talented enough to write easily distinguishable characters by voice alone can pull it off. Tuccelli does so with ease. Each of the assortment of characters that narrate their perspective have very particular methods of speaking that clearly distinguish them. Most all of them speak in their own particular dialect, all quite distinct even though they all live in the same small town. One character's brief section seems more like poetry than prose, and, though unclear, conveys perfectly the confusion and tragedy of a little girl's death.

In Glow, Tuccelli tackles a number of serious issues, most importantly that of racism. The characters in the story come from an array of backgrounds, but are mostly black and Indian (as in Native American). The story spans all the way from before the Civil War era to 1941, from the era of slavery to the fight for civil rights.

When I first started reading Glow, I tried to read it like I do most books, quickly, devouring. This was, I realized later, a mistake. By reading so fast, I became confused about some of the action and the relationships between moments. When I began reading more slowly, giving myself more time to mull over what was going on and to really savor Tuccelli's talent, my joy of the book most certainly increased.

If you like beautifully-written historical fiction that will really make you think, try Glow. ( )

This book is BRILLIANT! Clever, sensitive overview of race and family relations in one small county in the American South over 150 years. A personal story which nevertheless paints a wide picture and creates a vivid atmosphere. I hope to read more by this author. ( )