Saving Grace

I will be taking a workshop with Lee Smith and wanted to read her books. Turns out I read two. Saving Grace and Black Mountain Breakdown. Lee's ability to create a complex heroine whom one cannot help love despite the flaws is remarkable. Her ability to describe places and situations makes me feel as if I were there. Her style is spare and polished and to the reader, unnoticeable, which is a hallmark of great writing. The story is paramount and never gives way to the craft. Kudos to Lee Smith.The reason I'm giving 4 stars rather than 5 is the ending. I will not give you spoilers, but I felt I wanted more from the ending. Nonetheless, I would recommend Saving Grace to anyone as terrific read.-Wix Simon@WixSimonAuthor of "A Lost Gun"

Born in 1944 in Grundy, Virginia, Lee Smith has published 12 novels and four collections of short stories. Published in 1995, her novel, Saving Grace, is the story of Florida Grace "Gracie" Shepherd's tortuous pilgrimage, a young woman torn between the works of the flesh and the fruit of the spirit.Gracie's father, the Rev. Virgil Shepherd, is a charismatic preacher at the Jesus Name Church of God who takes up serpents--timber rattlesnakes, copperheads, and moccasins--as a "sign" of God's miraculous presence. A plaster saint, scalawag, and compulsive womanizer, Virgil alternates between the passionate preaching of God's Word and periodic backslidings with hussies.Confused by her father's hypocrisies and by the tragic death of her mother, Fannie Flowers Shepherd, Gracie is seduced by her half-brother, Lamar; marries a dour "saint," Travis Word, a man 25 years her senior, by whom she has two children; and. deserting her husband, has a torrid affair with a married man, handyman Randy Newhouse.A feisty gal who has too much animal nature, Gracie suffers from a lack of contraint and is unable to control her emotions. Although indulging in trashy behavior, she is a person searching for hard ground in a world of shifting sands. One pulls for Gracie, that this lost soul might be saved, that she might find light in a world of darkness.In a note following the end of the novel, Lee Smith records, in her own personal voice, a most revealing comment: "In a way my writing is a lifelong search for belief." Although she claims that "Saving Grace is a work of the imagination entirely," one cannot help wonder if the author has experienced in her own pilgrimage a similar soul-wrenching conflict of unbelief and faith as does her fictional protaganist.Saving Grace is a powerful tale of Gracie's struggle to free herself from her father's rigid fundamentalism and find emotional stability in a world full of devilish temptations. The conclusion of the novel is ambiguous: Will Gracie yield to her mother's suicidal despair or finally find peace of soul?

I read this in one sitting. It was my first book of Lee Smith's and I'll definitely try another.The Positive: the subject matter is so fascinating and bizarre, you can't help but turn the pages, and Smith can obviously spin a good yarn. Her protagonist, Grace, is both witness and confessor to her family's unraveling, and to Smith's credit the story is never maudlin. She does a good job of understatement, allowing the reader to see events through Grace's, not society's, eyes. What would ordinarily seem horrific, seems reasonable with Grace allowed to mitigate the narrative.The negative: Well into the book, between Grace's marriage to Travis and the introduction of Randy, I wondered if a chapter was missing. The contrast is so jarring, it was like listening to a different voice. With more compelling motivation, this transition might have worked, but as is, seemed to come out of left field. If the author had taken more time, slowed down a little bit, I think she would have pulled this off.A smaller beef was the entrance/exit of the "sinister" Lamar. While his character exposed a weakness of Grace, and her father----it fell short of promise and did little to drive the plot. Things were going to end badly regardless of this boy. And how much better would this story have been if Lamar had replaced Randy? Or if he'd been the one to expose her adultery?Looking forward to reading this author's other books.

Lee Smith is now officially one of my favorite authors. This is the 3rd book of her's that I have read and absolutely loved. I read it in one day because I couldn't put it down. The story was complex and the main character, Florida Grace, was flawed, not always likeable, but endearing nonetheless. However, I don't choose books based on this. It's more about the storyline. The ending was at first frustrating, but then it came to me that I get to decide what becomes of Florida Grace. This is a book that makes you say, "Wow" after you read it. I loved it and can't wait to read the next Lee Smith book that is waiting for me at the door, "The Last Girls."

It was very yellowed, but readable.

Saving Grace by Lee Smith is about the life of Grace Shepherd, the daughter of a snake handling Holiness preacher. Because of the poverty in which she grew up and the disappointments in her life, Grace has a hard time believing in Jesus. The setting of the novel is Appalachia, and Smith realistically portrays the dialect and customs of the region. I enjoyed the book and plan to read more of Lee Smith's works.

Advised book was in good condition. But I considered it poor or below average. Pages bent. Cover very worn.

Well done for character and description, but I hate open endings. Love Lee Smith and will read her again soon.