So Far Back

Rating:
Summary: SUPERIOR LITERATURE!
Review: Even if you are from the north - or a transplant to the south from the north as I am this book is a MUST READ. I live near Charleston but travel to Columbia and Savannah also - and this depiction of the push/pull between the races is an amazing truth. Ms. Durban has become the skin of southern life and takes you back to the origin of today's feelings between the old white and black feelings. There is an understanding in her writing that tears the heart and opens the valve of communication for today. Please read this book - if you read no other this summer. You will be rewarded for the time spent and will "crave" more.

Rating:
Summary: great story of charleston
Review: I really enjoyed this read. I've read a lot about charleston, been there several times and had one of my most memorable(!) ghost experiences there ! This ghost story was to me utterly believable, and i loved the history of the two families intertwined over 200 years. The tourists usually see the beauty of charleston, the historic district, the antiques, the culture, the flowers, etc. This author reminds us that there was a not so beautiful side of life in this city, whether one was black or white. She brings to life the horrors of slavery and lynchings, as well as the killer climate with its heat and dampness, hurricanes and storms, poisonous snakes, the epidemics of diseases like yellow fever that struck year after year when there was no cure or treatment, and the deaths of many, including children and babies, from causes such as kitchen accidents, ulcers, and other then-unknown reasons. This gives the book a balance and makes it realistic. The main character learns to look a little deeper, and so will you. And i'm cheering for Diana--read the book and find out why.

Rating:
Summary: An old Charleston family.
Review: What continues to bind two old Charleston families, one black and one white together after so many years? This is the basis for Pam Durban's book So Far Back which I recently read. And while I looked forward to this book and am a lover of historical fiction, I found this book limited in describing the present and certainly the past.
At 60, Louisa Hilliard is the last descendant of a once proud Charleston family. In her mothers stately home there are still day workers who are descendants of a local black family who have worked for the Hilliard family for almost a century. When Louisa's mother dies and Charleston is hit by a terrible storm and then flood, Louisa is forced to clean out the ancestral home. Going through years of family memorabilia, Louisa chances upon a diary left by the slave Diana. Louisa curious to know about her ancestors reads Diana's diary she learns much about her family's history which before this had been a well guarded secret. In addition, she learns that Diana was not a typical slave, had a mind of her own, was severely punished for her behavior and eventually ran away from the house, possibly from the South all together. As Louisa continues to read, suddenly objects are missing and then moved to other parts of the house and Louisa wonders if Diana has returned to the house as a ghost. The more Louisa reads, the more she becomes aware of how her own life is entwined and deeply entangled in her family's haunted history. While this book was well written I didn't find it particularly interesting. It was a story which began slowly and never really took off anywhere. The characters never were more than names on a page and and overall I found this to be a disappointing read.