Hot Fudge Sundae Blues

The voice of Layla, the Mississippi-born narrator of this audiobook, features not a drawl, but a sweetness and earnest innocence that captivate the listener from the opening line. Liz Morton infuses the young speaker with an eager-to-please purity and clarity, maintaining a balance between Layla's open personality and the cruelties of the world. Throughout the dramatic events that unfold in her life, Layla blends optimism with wisdom to overcome, or at least accept, the pain she encounters. Morton's reading of the central character is an ideal performance of that role--she captures the contrasts that exist between a child's world and the world at large. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

June 20, 2005
Layla Jay, the endearing young narrator of Marshall's third novel (following Right as Rain
), fakes salvation at the age of 13 to impress a boy at church. Religious themes play a large role in this coming-of-age tale set in the early 1960s, but the story actually revolves around a different kind of faith—a faith in people and in family, despite all their flaws. Layla Jay leads a relatively happy life in her small Mississippi town, but when her flakey alcoholic mother marries a hypocritical revivalist preacher, their home is thrown into chaos, and Layla Jay comes to realize that God answers prayers in perplexing and often painful ways. In the scattered, melodramatic first half of the book, disasters befall Layla Jay and her family one after another: her grandmother dies, her mother survives a near-fatal car accident, and Layla Jay escapes her stepfather's attempt to rape her only when her mother finishes him off with a 7-Up bottle. The second half of the novel then deepens into an exploration of the consequences of deceit and the nature of familial love. Throughout, Marshall propels the story with all-too-human characters whose faults are enormous and whose mistakes are almost inexcusable, but who are never beyond forgiveness. Agent, Lisa Bankoff. 7-city author tour.