Last March, we ran a contest in our Bookends email newsletter and Algonquin gave the winning book group a free set of copies of Hillary Jordan's novel Mudbound. Here's the review from the book club that won:

All our book club members really enjoyed Mudbound, and we thank you for the opportunity to win the free copies! It provided much food for thought as we read it - and engendered some lively discussion when we got together.

Some of the aspects we enjoyed most included Ms. Jordan's well-developed, well-defined characters and her depiction of time and place. The title, also, is wonderfully chosen, because even though we don't learn right away that it is their farm's name, images of how the characters are 'mudbound' hit us from the outset. Think of Jamie and Henry caked in mud while digging Pappy's grave in the opening pages - and especially Laura's first lines. (""When I think of the farm, I think of mud. ... encrusting the children's knees and hair ... sucking at my feet like a greedy newborn on the breast ... There was no defeating it .... I dreamed in brown.") That image remained with us through the book.

We all felt that the author's method of alternating narration among the characters works well, as the characters have strong, unique voices. As readers, we get "inside" the heads of each character (except Pappy, of course...). The non-linear approach she used has the potential for becoming too confusing and taking away from the story, but we agreed it worked very well here.

Speaking of Pappy, he is a character we all loved to hate. In particular, we enjoyed the fact that, because he is being buried at the beginning, we were able to enjoy a certain sense of satisfaction, as he becomes increasingly vile, knowing that he is going to get his comeuppance.

We loved the insight the authors provides to life (including race relations and class relations) in the Mississippi Delta at that time. One case that affected us all deeply was how Ronsel struggled with being treated so poorly in his "home" country after having experienced a war hero's welcome in Europe.

We also found the relationship between Laura and Florence very revealing. For example, Laura wants a female friend, but Florence can't even eat at the same table with her. Yet both women share the fate of being trapped in their roles: even Laura has to wait on Pappy while he sits around being foul. Jamie and Ronsel, on the other hand, have a very different relationship because they have both been out of the world (and, of course, because they are men). 

This is a wonderful book, and we thank you for sharing it with us!

--the book club with no name
Santa Cruz, CA

Mudbound (Paperback)

By Hillary Jordan

$13.95

ISBN-13: 9781565126770
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 03/01/2009

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