I wanted to like this book or at least read it all the way through but I was so disgusted and distracted by the overuse of the N word I couldn’t get on board with our main character or the story. Yes it was culturally relevant for the time but that doesn’t make it pleasant or even palatable to read. DNF.

I am so glad I didn’t trust the reviews I read before starting this book. This book was so beautiful.

I marked this book as being read-forfun because I read it as an easy read. I lived in Jackson MS and Pearl MS in the 1980s. Spot on for older women's series and women's history. War time history. Southern experience of both white and significant view of blacks through a women learning to thint differently from the way she knew to think of Black Americans. She learned to care for, to lobby for her daughter. Then she educated her and set her free. What a journey across the USand our micro societies. She saw backwoods Hattiesburg area, Texas hospitality and loud personalities (I am one.), and burgeoning LA, and some back and forths. Just stif I am largely familiar with. One more thing: I lived in a South Texas town had had difficulty giving up the old Jim Crow ways, so I rememeber blacks and browns searching and finding their beautiful selves.

This novel begins set in the deep south, which is always fertile territory for a novel. Brett Lott, the author, makes the most of such an atmosphere, and he couples his description with a powerful first person narration--that of Jewel. Through Jewel, a caring mother, much is conveyed, including a mother's sensitivity, immense devotion to her children, and unwavering spirit. Lott does an admirable job of getting inside the head of the female gender, along with giving the reader inferences into character motivation. The novel provides a sense of empathy throughout. The strength of women is demonstrated.
Jewel's life prior to motherhood is also presented. The way the author handles a death scene of her father is powerful. And subsequently,the main plot of Jewel giving birth to a mentally challenged child is heart rendering. And the mother's struggle with God's hand in it all is interesting. This is a book that mothers could love and laud (even though it was written by a man), and it gave me a broader perspective and appreciation for all dedicated mothers.

Molasses, that's what reading this book resembled. I believe Brett Lott captured this mid 20th century southern mothers point of view remarkably. I read other reviews where readers didn't understand why the kids were so congenial and never jealous of their mothers time with Brenda Kay, but I choose to think Jewel raised her children right and they responded with understanding how much time she needed to give her youngest.
My question was with Jewels marriage and how she coerced Leston at every turn to do things her way after the diagnosis of Brenda Kay. During the early years after Brenda Kay's birth, I understand the need for navigating a certain path. Yet Jewel continued to point out that Leston was a good provider and father for the family; he even came around after the move to California and worked his way up in his career. So why did she have to have it her way for so long and declare war when they moved back home? It seemed to me Leston wanted to retire and enjoy old age with his wife and youngest child, and Jewel was having none of that. I have children, but also have a marriage...sometimes the marriage has to be put first, kids can adapt. Certainly Brenda Kay could.
That was the only part of the book which troubled me, otherwise it was a little sweet, a little bitter, and slooooowwww....like molasses.

Some books might not have the most coherent plot or the best writing but you just can't put them down. Something about them keeps you reading and wanting more. Then there are books that you want to like, that are about interesting subjects and have decent writing but you have to make yourself read them. Jewel is one of the latter. I can't say what I didn't like but reading it was a chore. Not so much that I couldn't finish it, but it did take me a while.

It's an Oprah book of the month and that might be part of the problem. Very sappy in an unsatisfying way. About a woman who just isn't someone I care about or want to learn more about. It wasn't a bad book, it just was meh.

Although the pace was a bit slow, I thought it was well-crafted. I especially liked the depiction of a marriage when the partners have opposing wants and there is no room for compromise. It is a universal subject that, I think, all partnerships experience at least once. I also liked following the growth of the character of Jewel, not only for her personally but also seeing it through the perspective of American society when it, too, was experiencing a tremendous change during the post-WWII years and into the Civil Rights era. Certainly worth reading and has room for much discussion in a book club setting.

This is a ferocious book. It takes you by the throat and shakes you. As others have written, it's amazing how author Lott so accurately and empathetically writes in the female voice. But there's a shift in that voice after Jewel graduates from the Mississippi Industrial Institute for Girls which costs the rest of the narrative its depth. Lott's technique of mixing Jewel's reflections on growing up with her current life is very effective. But once her past catches up with the present, the watchful insightfulness that marked those memories weakens significantly. Perhaps it's accurate; mothers of five children, one with Down's Syndrome, don't have much time for insightfulness. But I missed it. The narrative lost its poetry.

All the way up until about 3/4 through this book I planned to give it four stars. Then the ending dragged. Not only that, it became repetitive. I felt like I could skip several pages and still be reading basically the same thing.

It's like most Oprah books with a strong female lead character. I loved how the book spanned the entire lifetime of Jewel. It really gave a great perspective of who she was.

I wasn't real crazy about Mississippi being the main villain in the book but considering the time period it make sense. That being said, If you hate the "N-Word" this book may not be for you.

3 1/2 stars. The story follows the life of Jewel, a Mississippi woman whose 6th child, born later in life, is a Down syndrome child. Jewel gives all to raise Brenda Kay, at great expense to herself and the rest of her family. I was bothered by overuse of the n word. Even though it was what was used at the time, there was much too much of it. Interesting read, Jewel was not always likable but was understandable. Seeing everything through her eyes, some of the other characters didn't have as much depth as they could have. A good read, but not one that makes me want to run out and get more books by this author.

This was definitely a thoughtful read - not fast paced or exciting - but issue and character driven. You meet Jewel as she discovers she is pregnant with her 6th child in rural Mississippi in 1943. Immediately you realize that the baby is not normal in some aspect and once the baby, Brenda Kay, is diagnosed with Down's Syndrome, it is evident that the lives of Jewel, her other five children and her husband are forever changed. This is a mother's journey of reflection of her past life, her present dilemma of how to improve Brenda Kay's fate and her endless future of daily tasks which consume her life even into old age. But over the years she becomes her daughter's strongest advocate. She is willing, able and determined to journey anywhere and at anytime to find the best possible education/training/life for her daughter.

Read this one when you wish to be challenged and want to learn more about families who openly accept, indeed embrace, a mentally challenged child. I thought the characters were strong and the story felt real to me.

So many layers in this book!
With the first person narrative the author brings the reader into the story immediately. And Jewel is so brutally honest that this reader didn't want to let her go. She moves between two distinctly different cultures while attempting to raise a child that most people at that time would institutionalize and forget. On all levels it is a love story with all the challenges life can throw in the way.

On a personal note: The story begins in the backwoods of Mississippi in the early 40's. The language and the descriptions of relationships were sometimes difficult to accept and I had to remind myself that that's the way it was.