The Christian Manifesto Book Review of Whistling Past the Graveyard

Author Susan Crandall had a voice whispering in her ear. She was at work on a novel but nine-and-a-half-year-old Starla Claudelle would not leave her be until she set her half-finished work aside and listened to the voice from the early 1960’s. Starla had an incredible story to tell. This story, Whistling Past the Graveyard ranks in the world of classic books in my opinion. To me, that is a rare find in the year 2013. This book goes on a shelf of powerful stories such as The Grapes of Wrath and To Kill a Mockingbird in my library of favorites.

Starla is a sassy young girl who is trying to survive living with her grandmother. Mamie cares for her while her father works on an oil rig in Texas. Her mother abandoned her when she was three to pursue a singing career. Starla, who believes her mother is going to be famous, builds an image of a woman who was simply waiting for that day when fame would allow her to come back to get her and her Daddy.

This is a book to watch. I predict it will be an award winning book before the year is over.

Starla can’t do anything right for her grandmother. Mamie was always hollering at her, sometimes smacked her in the mouth. She wouldn’t even listen when the youngster tried to tell her things. Starla got downright sassy and red hot angry when Mamie said things about her Mama. Daddy always told her to take big breaths and watch her temper. He doesn’t know how really bad it is living with his mother because he’s away at work all of the time. Mamie has even decided to call her Jane, her middle name now. Her name is Starla. Mama gave it to her when she was born. The final straw is when she gets put on restriction by her Mamie when trying to help another child. She goes out anyway and does something which she fears will get her charged with “assault with batteries” which causes Starla to make a decision that will change her life. She runs away. She is going to find her Mama in Nashville so she can live with her.

Susan Crandall has created the character of a young girl living in 1963 Mississippi. The voice and actions of the character is spot on for the time period. Having been a small child then, I recognize things in the storyline that are very familiar and realistic. There is a mixture of stubbornness, bruised heart and bravado about Starla Jane. I couldn’t help but pity her and cheer her on. Her story is heartbreaking and at times laugh-out-loud funny. The story is told from her point of view which makes it quite entertaining.

A second, richly dimensional character is introduced when Starla runs away from town on the Fourth of July. Eula stops and offers the young girl a ride. The “nice colored lady” has a little white infant boy with her. Soon, the three become traveling companions on an unforgettable journey. Things get mighty interesting and dangerously intense. I loved Starla’s character. Eula is so much more than the quiet little lady she appears to be at the start of the story. Eula is a wonderful character. She emerges as someone far different that I first imagined her to be. There are other strong characters throughout the intricately woven plot.

There is so much wrapped up in the package of this book. The burgeoning U.S. Civil Rights movement, race relationships, spousal and child abuse, all give a powerful impact to the plot of the book. This is a volatile period in the country and we see it through the eyes of this precocious white child through the summer and fall of 1963. Life changing things were taking place for the people across the nation. A flame was slowly being fanned to life in this one child also. The author opened my imagination to the kind of person Starla could be later in her life. I could easily see her being a Civil Rights activist when she reached adulthood. She has a will that things will be different and as she imagines, she simply determines it – at nine years old. What would she be like as an adult?

This is a book to watch. I predict it will be an award winning book before the year is over. This is one of those books that offer a set of characters who stay with the reader for a very long time. It is an incredible story.