The Majesties by Tiffany Tsao

Reviewed by Christy

            Estella and Gwendolyn are part of a very large and very rich Chinese-Indonesian family. The two sisters have always been close and each other’s best friends. So when Gwendolyn finds herself in a coma, unable to regain consciousness but still fully aware, she is devastated and confused. She is the only survivor of Estella’s poisoning of their entire family (as well as a significant number of family friends) at their grandfather’s birthday celebration.

            The entire novel consists of Gwendolyn rifling through her memories and trying to figure out what could push Estella so far over the edge. Tsao writes a compelling narrative. Gwendolyn jumps around in time quite a bit, and it can be disorienting. But I think it works well with a mystery as she slowly reveals more information. It also seemed realistic given her circumstances. The story of the family’s climb to power and wealth is rich and layered, as are Estella and Gwendolyn as characters. Tsao’s writing is mostly straight forward with poetic dashes thrown in here and there. I enjoyed my time reading her book – for the most part.

            The ending, however, is where it almost all collapses for me. I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone but it includes a trope that is, in my opinion, very overdone and one of my least favorites. It’s particularly disappointing because I do think the story is strong and with a few tweaks of the ending, it would be a solid 4 or 5 star read. There didn’t need to be a gimmick. As it is, it was only an unexceptional 3 star read for me. If you’re a reader who doesn’t let an unsatisfying ending negatively influence your reading experience, you might like it more.

** I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. **

The Path Was Steep: A Memoir of Appalachian Coal Camps During the Great Depression by Suzanne Pickett

Reviewed by Kristin

One side of my family is deeply rooted in the coal towns of eastern Kentucky. Even though my grandparents and great-grandparents left their familiar hills and hollows for the larger cities of Cincinnati and Marion, Ohio, I still grew up hearing some of the tales of how different, and often how difficult, life was in Appalachia. One thing that has stuck with me is my grandma saying that sure they (as children during the Depression) didn’t realize they were poor, because everyone around them was poor.

Suzanne Pickett’s book appealed to me because I wanted to read a firsthand account of living through the Depression in the kind of place my ancestors would have recognized. Born in Alabama in 1908, Pickett was intimately familiar with coal mining life as the daughter and wife of miners. Her husband David was an ambitious man who was always looking for a better job, whether it was near their families in Alabama or way up north in West Virginia. The family travelled back and forth in a 1926 Studebaker, quickly dubbed “Thunderbolt” as its engine operated at an ever increasing roar.

Two daughters, Sharon and Davene, rounded out Suzanne and David’s family. Amid all the homemaking, Suzanne managed to create a career for herself as a newspaper columnist. She wrote of nature, family, and faith. She was devoted to her extended family as well as homesick for her native Alabama and longed to visit as often as they could. Travel in the 1930s presented much more of a challenge before the advent of interstate highways. As I paged through the book, I was almost holding my breath as the family careened around mountainous curves in “Thunderbolt.”

Suzanne’s storytelling makes this Appalachian history comes to life. Reading this helped me to understand more about life, or I should probably say survival, during the Great Depression. The housing conditions, the transportation options, the scarcity and abundance of food in varying seasons—these are all things that my grandparents and great-grandparents would have experienced.

Suzanne must have had a natural knack for words, as she was not highly educated, but has told her story beautifully in this memoir. From love of family to striking coal miners, Suzanne writes vividly in this tale that portrays a unique place and time in our nation’s history.