A young girl whose innocence is stolen from her makes a series of decisions that affect not only her but, future generations. This is the simple premis of the book. The story and characters are memorable. Unfortunately, the story and characters is side-tracked with meaningless and pointless description and elements. Ms. Scott's book would have been excellent were it not for her ramblings. ( )

The story of Sally Werner and her various incarnations is told by her granddaughter and namesake. Most of the story is told in Sally’s words and follows Sally from the age of 16 until her death.

One of the great pleasures of reading is discovering a new voice. Joanna Scott’s work is new to me but she’s certainly not a beginning writer. While most of Sally’s story is told in a straight forward manner, Scott is not afraid to mix things up a bit. She’ll combine narrative, internal thoughts, comprehension of the situation and snatches of conversation for some passages. In less skillful hands those passages could be a mess. Scott knows when to hold back.

Some books are easy reads that don’t require much attention and can be finished in an afternoon. When I read a book I often compare it to a loaf of bread or a meal trying to think of how to describe it. Follow Me is like a long lunch with many flavors incorporated into the dishes. It requires thoughtful attention and it’s so delicious you can’t help but get through it quickly. Some of Scott’s descriptions made me laugh because they are so unique. For example, “Uncle Mason’s whittling knife made a sound that reminded her of her younger brothers when they slurped soup.”

Follow Me is currently in the top 5 books I’ve read this year. It was an absolute pleasure (except for the sorrowful passages) from beginning to end. Thank you, Miriam, of the Hachette Book Group for introducing me to Joanna Scott. ( )

This story swept me away into Sally’s life and mind. The story flowed like the river that ties the characters of this saga. The writing engulfed me. This story is one that I will never forget and am deeply grateful to JoAnna Scott for writing.

Scott is the author of nine books. Of these nine books, one was a finalist for the Pulitizer Prize and two were finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award. If these books are anything like Follow Me, I can certainly understand why. In my never-to-be-humble opinion, this book should be nominated, as well.

Follow Me is an epic tale of women and the hard choices that they are often faced with. This is the heartbreaking story of what happens to families when adversity infiltrates them. This is a memoir of love that was never meant to be lost, but was stolen from the lovers. This is a woman’s search for redemption for a life that she couldn’t possibly replace with other choices; the outcomes were destined and unavoidable. This is a tragic song of a man who lost what should have been his. All of this is told by a granddaughter who pieces together the remnants of fantasy with the pieces truth searching to be found.

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale:”

Is there any doubt, whatsover, that I am going to rate this book a 10 OUT OF 10? Of course, not! I deserves it! I only wish our bookclub read hardcovers, because this will make A GREAT BOOK CLUB discussion. ( )

I’ve been trying to figure out how to review Joanna Scott’s novel, Follow Me for the longest time. I was supposed to participate in the blog tour, way back when, and I completely bailed. At the time, I blamed my inability to get into this book on the fact that I had pneumonia and felt like snail slime. But I did read a couple other books when I was sick and enjoyed them. I decided to pull the book of the shelf and look through it this morning prior to (finally) writing my review. I place little post-it tabs throughout books I read. An interesting phrase may be noted, a word I don’t know, just something that caught my eye. I guess my feelings about Follow Me can be summed up with a couple of paragraphs I marked in the book and the note I made to myself on the post-it.

Both post-its say the same thing…..”WTF???” Apparently I was a bit, shall we say, bemused by the writing style. (Note to self…avoid all forms of novels described as “lyrical” by wiser, smarter and classier fellow bloggers…)

Yup, sorry, I hated it. Didn’t get past page 184. And that took me a week. Don’t get me wrong. I really wanted to like it. And I tried. I could even see my Grandma in Sally. I hoped I’d figure out that my grandma, like Sally, started out as a relatively happy girl and the crap in her life made her into such a bitter, cantankerous old biddy. And maybe Sally and Grandma were a lot alike. I’ll never know because the author’s stream of consciousness description’s that just went on and on drove me nuts. And no…it wasn’t just the pain pills and cough syrup talkin’ either! I re-read a couple of pages today, and nope, still can’t read it!

I think it’s probably a pretty good book, but I’m just possibly too shallow for it. So, I’m sorry, Joanna. I think you’re a perfectly lovely person, but this former farm girl is just too uncultured and borderline Redneck to appreciate it! ( )

FOLLOW ME
Joanna Scott, Little, Brown, 2009, $24.99/C$27.99, hb, 400pp, 9780316051651
When you layer a family saga with secrets and betrayal with a story containing a host of entangled relationships written by an author who expertly engages your attention till the end, why wouldn’t you want to read Follow Me?
The story begins in 1946 when Sally Werner, a naïve and recalcitrant farmer’s daughter from Pennsylvania heads out with her cousin Daniel one afternoon. She realizes too late that her motorcycle ride with Daniel and subsequent actions have left her pregnant. Unwilling to face the daily barrage of religious ramblings or the feelings of guilt caused by her parents’ pious gaze, she abandons her son and runs away. When looking for someplace to settle, Sally falls in love with a boy named Mole. After Mole is killed in a car accident, Sally learns she is pregnant. Her daughter, Penny Mole, grows up to become a successful lawyer and lives with her own daughter Sally, whose father left without provocation before her birth.
Sally’s granddaughter and namesake is keeper of the secrets and chronicler of her muddled multi-generational heritage of deceit and deception. Scott crafts a cadence of consequences as the pieces are joined, but always some part is missing, making the truth difficult to visualize.
Scott’s writing is pure magic. The plot she creates is like a tailor whose sharp needle weaves an intricate pattern of lines and keeps you guessing until the entire picture is uncovered. Follow Me is a celebration of life you will not want to end.
Wisteria Leigh ( )