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Calling Me Home 9781447227557 Books

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Calling Me Home 9781447227557 Books

This review can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm ([...])

Note: My sincere thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with a complimentary e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Thoughts: I read this book a couple of weeks ago while I was vacationing in Florida and I have to tell you -- this was a very hard book to put down. It's heart-warming story of forbidden love and an unlikely friendship that has great main characters and an emotional ending that ensures that this book will stay with me for a long time.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was Ms Kibler's debut novel. Not every author is able to write a story that flows back and forth between two different eras without a few bumps in the storyline but Ms Kibler does so fluently and flawlessly. It's interesting to note that Ms Kibler got the idea to write this book after she discovered that her grandmother had fallen in love with a black man in her youth. At that time the hope of having an interracial relationship was almost infeasible and that is how this story was born.

But it's the relationship and bond between thirty-something Dorrie, a black single mother of two, and eighty-nine year old Isabelle, an elderly white woman in Texas, that made these two characters stand out for me. They are sadly, even in modern times, viewed as an unlikely pair which causes some small minded people to look at them with suspicion.

It's through Dorrie and Isabelle's narratives, which were so engaging, that the story really comes to life. Isabelle's flashbacks to the 1930's and 1940's helps the reader to gain more insight into what life was like back then for both Whites and Blacks in Kentucky and how even though Blacks had rights they still were far from being treated as equals or even respectfully by their white peers.

I'd love to think that we've come a very long way from racial discrimination but after reading about how people responded to Isabelle and Dorrie in a local restaurant it made me wonder and made me, quite frankly, sad that we may have not come as far as we think we have. Personally, I felt that Dorrie and Isabelle's friendship was believable, they had a deep connection and it never felt forced for the sake of making a good read. It's authentic and I felt their connection strongly.

I also enjoyed seeing Isabelle at different ages (as a spunky, opinionated 89 year old as well as a teenage girl and young woman) and seeing what happened in her life to make her into the 89 year old woman we first meet. Sometimes it's good to remind ourselves (as I do/did with my own grandparents) that the older generation has not always been old. That they had a long life before their hair turned grey and if we just listen we could learn a thing or two from their experience. This is one of the things about this book that I loved. How Isabelle's life story was the catalyst to help Dorrie deal with and come to terms with the issues she was facing in her life. A passing down of knowledge from one generation to the next.

But I digress ...

Now let's talk about the ending (without divulging any info), shall we? I loved it. It shocked me so much that I had to read it THREE times because I just couldn't believe how wonderfully the author sprung this truth on me. I actually sucked in my breath, whispered "No!" and proceeded to get a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. A wonderful ending to a great book.

Calling Me Home is a beautiful story that successfully deals with many topics. It's a historical fiction read that deals with interracial marriage, civil rights, parenting and women's rights. But mostly it's about forbidden love and a friendship that, sadly, society still doesn't whole-heartedly support.

It's a story about the importance of handing down wisdom from older generations to the new.

It's a story that focuses on what ties people together instead of the differences (race, gender, generation) we allow to push us apart.

I highly recommend this book.

My Rating:4.5/5 stars


Tags : Calling Me Home on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.,Calling Me Home,Macmillan,1447227557

Calling Me Home 9781447227557 Books Reviews

It's hard to believe that this is the author's debut novel, since it is so well-written and such a beautifully crafted story. It deals in a unique way with race relations over a 70 year span. An elderly white woman has developed a rapport with her hairdresser, a younger black woman. She asks the woman to drive her to a funeral several hundred miles away. The younger woman is struggling with some personal problems and sees the trip as an opportunity to get away from her difficulties for a while. This unlikely couple sets out on their journey, during which they each divulge more about themselves than either had previously known about the other. The chapters of the novel alternate between the two characters as they disclose more intimate details of their lives. The older lady reminisces about significant events in her youth which have a connection with the funeral she will attend while the younger woman suffers anxiety and indecision over her current situation. The identity of the deceased is not identified until the end of the journey, which builds suspense as the reader wonders how her remarkable story will end. Hearing the incredible confessions of her older friend gives the black woman courage to face her personal dilemma. No reader could fail to be moved by this poignant novel.
I've been looking for an author like this. If you read this and you know of other authors who write like Julia Kibler, please let me know. On , you could probably reach me by asking a question. On Goodreads, I think you can just comment and it will get to me.

This novel was character driven, heartfelt, wholesome, and with just the right amount of description. Kibler relied heavily on character interaction and conversation to bring out the complications of love, family relations, and race relations. I loved the way, in the accounts of both generations, she wisely painted how two close friends, without race issues in their hearts, misunderstand that there were. It's relevant to today where, when we are not vocal, but remain kindly silent, we are sometimes misunderstood and are opening accused of thinking like others who are "like" us.

This is a story of forbidden love. Isabelle, a young, white woman, falls in love with a black man in the forties, in the south, for all the right reasons. He's intelligent, engaged with the world, humble, kind, hard-working, sensitive, protective, and loyal. His qualities are unmatched by any white suitors acceptable to her family.

Isabelle asks Dorrie, her black hair dresser, to take her to Cincinnati to a funeral. During their trip, Kibler switches between the present in Dorrie's first person point of view and Isabelle's heartbreaking past, also in first person. By mobile phone, Dorrie, a single mom, deals with a crisis with her two teenagers and tries to trust her new love interest to help her. As Isabelle relates the prejudices of the past, the two women are forced to interact with the prejudices of today at restaurants and hotels.

Everything is eventually tied up beautifully, all questions answered. Love that!

It's just so, so good.
This review can also be found on my blog, The Baking Bookworm ([...])

Note My sincere thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for providing me with a complimentary e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

My Thoughts I read this book a couple of weeks ago while I was vacationing in Florida and I have to tell you -- this was a very hard book to put down. It's heart-warming story of forbidden love and an unlikely friendship that has great main characters and an emotional ending that ensures that this book will stay with me for a long time.

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was Ms Kibler's debut novel. Not every author is able to write a story that flows back and forth between two different eras without a few bumps in the storyline but Ms Kibler does so fluently and flawlessly. It's interesting to note that Ms Kibler got the idea to write this book after she discovered that her grandmother had fallen in love with a black man in her youth. At that time the hope of having an interracial relationship was almost infeasible and that is how this story was born.

But it's the relationship and bond between thirty-something Dorrie, a black single mother of two, and eighty-nine year old Isabelle, an elderly white woman in Texas, that made these two characters stand out for me. They are sadly, even in modern times, viewed as an unlikely pair which causes some small minded people to look at them with suspicion.

It's through Dorrie and Isabelle's narratives, which were so engaging, that the story really comes to life. Isabelle's flashbacks to the 1930's and 1940's helps the reader to gain more insight into what life was like back then for both Whites and Blacks in Kentucky and how even though Blacks had rights they still were far from being treated as equals or even respectfully by their white peers.

I'd love to think that we've come a very long way from racial discrimination but after reading about how people responded to Isabelle and Dorrie in a local restaurant it made me wonder and made me, quite frankly, sad that we may have not come as far as we think we have. Personally, I felt that Dorrie and Isabelle's friendship was believable, they had a deep connection and it never felt forced for the sake of making a good read. It's authentic and I felt their connection strongly.

I also enjoyed seeing Isabelle at different ages (as a spunky, opinionated 89 year old as well as a teenage girl and young woman) and seeing what happened in her life to make her into the 89 year old woman we first meet. Sometimes it's good to remind ourselves (as I do/did with my own grandparents) that the older generation has not always been old. That they had a long life before their hair turned grey and if we just listen we could learn a thing or two from their experience. This is one of the things about this book that I loved. How Isabelle's life story was the catalyst to help Dorrie deal with and come to terms with the issues she was facing in her life. A passing down of knowledge from one generation to the next.

But I digress ...

Now let's talk about the ending (without divulging any info), shall we? I loved it. It shocked me so much that I had to read it THREE times because I just couldn't believe how wonderfully the author sprung this truth on me. I actually sucked in my breath, whispered "No!" and proceeded to get a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. A wonderful ending to a great book.

Calling Me Home is a beautiful story that successfully deals with many topics. It's a historical fiction read that deals with interracial marriage, civil rights, parenting and women's rights. But mostly it's about forbidden love and a friendship that, sadly, society still doesn't whole-heartedly support.

It's a story about the importance of handing down wisdom from older generations to the new.

It's a story that focuses on what ties people together instead of the differences (race, gender, generation) we allow to push us apart.

I highly recommend this book.

My Rating4.5/5 stars