Booky Ramblings of a Neurotic Mom Book Review of Whistling Past the Graveyard

From the very first page to the very last word, this book was FANTASTIC! It was so hard to put it down! Told through the eyes of 9 year old Starla, we see the world when the colour of a persons skin determined the way they are treated. Starla, being a white girl, had grown up used to people with black skin being treated below white people, but we soon come to realise Starla has more determination, fight and spirit than that of many adults. She shows us that even a 9 year old child can see right from wrong and that skin colour should mean nothing.

Growing up with her Mamie raising her, her daddy out on an oil rig working, and her mamma away in Nashville living like a superstar, it is not very hard to see why Starla wants to leave, and after her Mamie threatens to send her away, she embarks on an adventure to make it to Nashville to find her mamma. The trip to find her is far from smooth sailing, but somehow, by the end, Starla is more loving and loved by the end.

Whistling Past The Graveyard was so well written, with characters to love, characters to hate…

The character of Starla is amazing. Susan Crandall somehow always manages to make us remember this is just a 9 year old little girl, but makes her completely relatable for an adult to read. She is a little firecracker and I loved reading her story. Whistling Past The Graveyard isn’t some ‘happy ever after’ story, it is a tale of divide, hardships and is real and gritty. The book brought out a whole range of emotions while reading, I managed to laugh out loud, I cried, I got angry…it’s the kind of book I love to read, it sucks you in, you feel like you are right there in the story with them characters. At the same time it isn’t too ‘hardcore’. I recently read a book from a similar time as this one was set and found myself struggling with the language and old fashioned words I had no clue what they meant, but Susan Crandall managed to make me understand it all, and the language was not confusing or difficult to pick up.

Whistling Past The Graveyard was so well written, with characters to love, characters to hate, and a real good story that flows the whole way through cover to cover.