" Halfway through this novel I was prepared to give it five stars, mostly because of that inimitable JCO style that could make laundry spinning in a dryer sound riveting. The first half ;of the story is set in upstate New York, with interesting, working-class characters and a fast-paced plot. The characters are fully explored, especially the two mothers, Persia Courtney and Minnie Fairchild. The former is an alcoholic floozy, and the latter a hard-working but beaten-down product of our nation's racial divide. Considering how fascinating the mothers are, their children are bores. Iris Courtney is a spacey, self-centered young woman with a victim mentality, which is perhaps intentional, for later in the story, presumably at a point where she is finally getting her head together, going to college, and building a future for herself, she becomes the victim of a violent sexual assault. Minnie Fairchild's son, while more interesting than Iris, is filled with resignation and unresolved guilt over the crime that takes place early in the novel. Once the children are grown and go their separate ways, which takes place around two-thirds of the way into the novel, the plot begins to unravel, until it fizzles out completely in a long, drawn-out conclusion that seems to have little or nothing to do with the beginning. I've been a JCO fan for decades and have read both hits and misses. This one is a 'miss' for me, not worthy of the same author who wrote the masterpieces 'Blonde', 'Black Water', and 'We Were the Mulvaneys'. "
— Sondra, 2/16/2014