Rating: 
Summary: Just Awful- really deserves no stars
Review: I hated this book. It is, from cover-to-cover, chock-full of cliches. The faithful black family retainers; the silly, southern belle best friends; the wacky mother (Lavinia);the conflicted main character (Caroline).
I also found the book a little anti-semitic in that the most vile character in the book is Caroline's Jewish husband who tells her he will come to see her mother "after she's dead". Caroline's brother, who treats his wife and children like second class citizens, however, is given all sorts of excuses for his behavior and given a pass on an affair, all the while Caroline is criticizing her husband for his sexual proclivities. Ridiculous.
I thought Lavinia's illness was a cheap shot plot point to garner the reader's sympathy. I just kept wishing for Lavinia to die already.
I also found that "yanh" southern dialect for "hear" EXTREMELY annoying, as it was on every other page.
It is mystifying to me that so many people gave this book 4 and 5 stars. Evidently a great number of people have never read good literature
Rating: 
Summary: A Tantalizing Journey
Review: I just spent the best hours of smmer I have had with Dorothea Benton Frank's book "Plantation". She is an exquisite writer and I cannot wait to read all of her books. The pages come to life and you feel as though you are right there in the "low Country" with all the characters and that you have lived there and never left. Very intriguing and one I shall not forget.
Rating:
Summary: Her second excellent book!
Review: I loved it! I couldn't put it down but I was sorry when it ended. If she'd had more books out at the time, I would have gone right out and bought them all. Her characters are so easy to get involved in. If you like to laugh and cry over a book, she's your author.
Rating:
Summary: Carolina Girls, You are missing out if you haven't read this
Review: I LOVED this book! Please refer to my review on Frank's other book Sullivan's Island if you want to hear more of what I have to say about her writing. I liked this book better than "Sullivan's Island" but I loved both. This story is amazing. Could NOT put this down and man is hard to get things done with your head stuck in a book but it flew by! I was sooo sad when the book ended because I wanted to read more! The characters are awesome and the images correctly portray the beautiful lands in SC! I totally can relate to traveling to another big city further north, but how those roots in the South and with the family and old friends just keep dragging you back towards home! And Frank, thank you for putting the piece at the end about how to contribute to preserving the ACE Basin! As a young person, I know that eventually I will want to pick out a few charities that I want to give to in my life, but I really wanted to pick something that I'm passionate about...this is definitely one!
Rating:
Summary: This is a MUST read for anyone with a southern soul!
Review: I LOVED this book!!! I haven't read a book that I enjoyed so in such a long time. I found myself alternating between not being able to put this book down and wishing it wouldn't end. The story and it's characters were quirky but believable. I have recommended (strongly!!) that the members of my book club make this their next reading selection. The characters are so memorable and I found myself thinking about them even when I wasn't reading the book. I know they will make for great discussion. I may have been born in the north but I must have a southern soul. Having been to the Charleston area several times it was great fun to be able to relate to many of the places identified in the book. I can't wait to read Ms. Frank's other book, Sullivan's Island!
Rating:
Summary: As good as Sullivan's Island... couldn't put it down
Review: I read Sullivan's Island last year and recommended it to every reader I know. I never thought Frank could maintain her record with her sophomore effort but was delighted to find I was wrong. Frank combines Anne Rivers Siddons' deft portrayal of eccentic Southern families and the ties that bind (or strangle) and Conroy's loving depiction for the Lowcountry and its lyric beauty.. Plantation is a wonderful book and I loved every minute of it. Absorbing but not heavy.
Rating: 
Summary: What a saucy fun book ~~
Review: I read Sullivan's Island last year sometime and when this book came out in paperback, I thought I'd wait and read some more "enlightening books," till my online reading buddies urged me to read this book. So I ordered it to read on a cold wintery day. Only the flu befell me and this was the best book to read in bed ~~ it is easy read. If I had to pick a book in between naps, I would pick this one!I have always been a fan of Southern fiction and this book has propelled itself to the top of the list. It's wonderfully saucy!! The book is written from Caroline's point of view. She escapes Tall Pines to New York ~~ only to come home years later to her mother when in the midst of marital woes. Originally, she escaped from her home and mother because she viewed her mother as this selfish woman when her father died ~~ only to realize that her perceptions of her mother isn't what she thought she was. And she begins to painstakingly restore her relationship with her mother and brother on her journey of self-discovery. This book is a wonderful exploration of a mother-daughter relationship set in the lush low-country of South Carolina. Frank writes with vivid descriptions of Tall Pines and it's proximity to the river ~~ and she injected humor throughout the whole book ~~ that even when you are crying, you are laughing too. It's a wonderful easy read and one that I would recommend for any mother with daughters to read. It may not be the best literary book in the world, but who cares? It's a book that allows you to escape for a short while into the characters' lives. And isn't that what a book is supposed to do once in awhile?
Rating:
Summary: I just loved this book!
Review: I read Sullivan's Island sitting on the beach in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and just loved it. I loved it so much that I looked on Amazon.com to see if Dorothea Benton Frank had written anything else. She had not...disappointed. When I found Plantation also on Amazon.com around Christmas I was excited. I have a stack of books to read, but when this one came, I started right in on it. I was NOT disappointed. The book is wonderful. Ms. Frank has a wonderful way of making you vizualize everything. I seem to be able to see this Planation and all the people in the story. I finished it three days ago, I have recommended it to about 20 people...please Ms. Frank, hurry and write the next GREAT story.
Rating:
Summary: Too Much Filler
Review: I tried, really I did! I picked this book because the of the title and for its length. I wish I could say there was more to it than that. I was severely disappointed with this book. I think after reading the back cover it seemed interesting enough. But when the story goes on and on about nothing really that striking, I kept wondering when it would ever end. The writing was hoping to be humourous, but slightly missing the mark. The foreshading was too obvious, and the characters stereotypical. I think perhaps it would have been an ok read if there wasn't so much filler in between the story. I couldn't make it to the end. And I didn't care enough for wonder what happened with the characters. There are better books out there about family relationships.
Rating:
Summary: Another Winner!
Review: I waited patiently for this book to come out and was not disappointed when it did. Ms. Benton has another great southern novel on her hands with Plantation. I was drawn in from the first chapter. She takes you into the lives of a grand southern dame in Miss Lavinia who tries to come to terms with her daughter Caroline, the southern belle who moved to New York to forget her southern past and her son Trip the boy who found it hard to grow up. By the end of the book these 3 characters have found themselves and where they belong. I enjoyed her first novel "Sullivan's Island" a little better but couldn't put this one down till I finished it either. I am eagerly awaiting her next book.
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