Abandoned by Booklikes

I remember reading "Gap Creek" several years ago. I would recommend for anyone that has not read this novel to not continue on with this review since there are details that are included which would spoil you on the preceding work.

When I read "Gap Creek" several years ago and was instantly transported into Julie's world. I remember crying at certain points in the novel and hoping for Julie's sake that the rest of her life would not be filled with as much sorrow as it had been to that point.

This sequel, "The Road from Gap Creek" picks up the tale of the Richards family told through the eyes of Julie and Hank's daughter, Annie.

I want to say first that I really loved the writing in this novel. Mr. Morgan seems to have the dialect down for pre-War World II South Carolina. I usually cannot stand to see patois in books but in this novel I honestly never noticed it or when I did it did not hamper my ability to read the novel.

That said I really didn't enjoy this novel as much as I did "Gap Creek" due to the chronology of the story and how we really don't get to revisit Julie except through the eyes of her daughter.

Mr. Morgan chose to tell the novel out of order. We have Annie starting towards the end in providing significant details on her family. Then we jump back, jump to the middle, go back to the beginning, jump forward, etc. Since it was told out of order that way I really did not feel as affected as I should have with some of the storylines in this novel. It could be because Mr. Morgan chose to let us know the outcome of several important storylines right away so as a reader I was less invested when we have Annie going back in time and providing details on things such as her brother when we find out fairly early what his fate will be.

Also though I did enjoy Annie's "voice" in this novel I still missed Juile. We really don't get to see except for a few select passages how she is affected by things. Due to Annie being more focused on being an actress, boys, her brother, etc. we only really get a few peeks into the lives of her parents which made me sad. I really wanted to know how about the years immediately after Hank and Julie left Gap Creek and if she was happy that she had other children that grew up and lived.

Please note that I received this novel via the Amazon Vine Program.