I wish I had saved this one for the beach. I can think of no better book to read as I sit on the edge of the shore with a warm breeze blowing and my feet in cool water. What a fabulous read! Although, I did have a snow day from school and tiny snowflakes falling outside as I read and couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I guess that's a good second. But, the moral here is that this book is so fabulous you will want to read it all in one sitting, so don't even open the cover until you can carve out a day in your schedule to devour this book!
The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion tells the story of Sarah Jane (better known as Sookie), from Alabama, and her crazy family. I began this book yesterday as I waited for Emily to have spacers put in and found myself covering my mouth to prevent uproarious laughter from escaping in the waiting room. Now, at a certain point, the book takes on a more sweet and tender tone, but the first 75 pages or so are wonderfully funny and they leave you thinking that all families have a bit of crazy in them (and how glad you are that Sarah Jane's mother Lenore ISN'T your mother!).
There is an interesting plot twist (which I will not divulge here) that begins to interweave the stories of Sookie's family and the family of Stanislaw Jurdabralinski, a Polish immigrant who settled in Pulaski, Wisconsin with his wife and family of four daughters and one son. The back and forth chapters are so detailed and so clearly told by the characters that they are easy to follow and never once become burdensome to the readers. The story of the Jurdabrakinski family begins in the late 1930's and takes us through the end of WW2 and then eventually goes on to present time. It is an amazing story and a magnificent tribute to the female pilots who served the US during WW2. I am glad for these women that part of their story has unfolded on the pages of this book. They make me proud of them and to be an American woman--a woman for whom anything is really possible.
There is a lot of history that unfolds on these pages, but it is never heavy and it's never dull. And the antics of Sookie and her family keep you smiling, if not outright laughing. This is a book that will stick with you--I can close my eyes and see and hear the characters. It's a bit "Steel Magnolias" and a bit "A League of Their Own," but all entirely new and fresh.
I feel as though I learned something from this book and am walking away from this novel with a new appreciation for all of the women who worked so hard, and in some cases died fighting, during WW2. Today, I am prouder than ever to be a women: an American woman.
Read this one. It's not to be missed!
:) Dodie
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