Lookaway, Lookaway

July 1, 2013
North Carolina native Barnhardt’s frothy, satirical latest (after Show World) is Southern gothic at its most decadent and dysfunctional. With each chapter dedicated to a different character—one more self-indulgent and flawed than the last—the sprawling saga of an esteemed clan’s fall from grace and fortune spools out in fits and starts. Some members are more emotionally complex (and therefore more entertaining to read about) than others. The sections devoted to the four flailing Johnston kids—including spoiled college co-ed Jerilyn’s drivel about her sorority-pledging shenanigans (think wanton lewd behavior including a tired sex-with-a-sheep joke)—delve into too much repetitive, perhaps excessive, detail. But the adults pick up the slack, chiefly Gaston—a bestselling author of Civil War–themed potboilers, who has a potty mouth, gobs of cash, and a weakness for hard liquor and prostitutes, and his sister, Jerene, the unflappable matriarch and “distillation of rich-white-lady force who could eat her social inferiors for hors d’oeuvres.” (Her hilarious one-liners are standouts.) As the scandals pile up, including a raucous Christmas dinner showdown, and a hoot of a finale that’s pure shock and awe, this mess of a family has nowhere left to go but up—well, not if they can help it. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency.

It's a hot time in modern-day Dixie as the Jarvis-Johnston clan sins and steals their way through Charlotte, North Carolina, society. Scott Shepherd impresses the listener with his depiction of male characters, especially the self-congratulatory yet defeated Gaston Jarvis, who made a mint penning Civil War novels. Shepherd's vocalization of Charlotte's gay community keeps the listener laughing. Perhaps it's inevitable that his voice does not register well in the female range. Nonetheless, his performance does what no printed page can, eloquently immersing the listener in the harsh truths that Barnhardt's characters must face. To paraphrase the despised Jarvis matriarch, Jeanette, no one who has money got it honestly. J.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

Starred review from October 1, 2013

Barnhardt's (Gospel) latest novel is a tour de force, chronicling a majestic Southern family's rise and fall. The Johnston and Jarvis family saga spans several decades and is stunning in its honesty, cleverness, and dark humor. Jerene Jarvis Johnston strives to uphold her affluent Southern roots and traditions in Charlotte, NC, but as the 21st century progresses and society changes, she finds it harder to maintain the facade. Her four children lead vastly different lives from what she had envisioned for them, she's constantly cleaning up her good-for-nothing alcoholic brother's messes, her mother doesn't have the decency to die and stop being a thorn in their side, and to top it all off her saintly husband, Duke, has some skeletons in his closet. Narrated brilliantly by North Carolina native Scott Shepherd, who gives all of the characters distinctive voices with perfect inflections and tones. VERDICT This engaging, inventive romp into the rise and fall of an eclectic Southern family is a must listen for fans of Southern literature and dark family sagas.--Erin Cataldi, Franklin Coll., IN

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