Books Tasted - Everything bookly (and a few other things)

Saving Grace is another novel by Lee Smith, and like On Agate Hill, it is set in the south (primarily North Carolina). Florida Grace Shepherd is raised in a semi-nomadic family whose patriarch is a snake-handling preacher. Her childhood is defined by her father's erratic behavior and charismatic personality, and by her defiance and compliance with her family's lifestyle. After she is finally abandoned by her father, she flees to a man and a family the opposite of her own father and family - with the exception of also having strong religious convictions. At the age of 17, she marries a 42-year-old somber, stoic, and depressed minister and lives with him and his widowed sister.

Grace is always moving between extremes - from her father's charismatic but manic household, to a safe but stifling and guilt-ridden marriage, and then escaping to a hedonistic but ultimately empty life with her lover.

This novel is compelling and a good read, but Grace is not the easiest character to like. When she's old enough to take control of her life, she makes choices that are hard to empathize with and manages to hurt many people in her life. The ending is ambiguous and leaves you to make your own conclusions about Grace's future.  Overall, this novel is hard to put down once you start it, and I would recommend it.