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| Sufficient Grace | 
 enlarge | Manufacturer: The Free Press
Category: EBooks
List Price: $11.99
Buy New: $9.59
You Save: $2.40 (20%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  15 reviews
Sales Rank: 10274
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
ASIN: B000GCFXZE
Publication Date: June 19, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
"One quiet spring day, Gracie Hollaman hears voices in her head that tell her to get in her car and leave her entire life behind -- her home, her husband, her daughter, her very identity. Gracie's subsequent journey releases her genius for painting and effects profound changes in the lives of everyone around her. Ultimately, her quest leads her into the home of Mama Toot and Mattie, two strong, accomplished women going through life changes of their own. As the bonds between these women grow stronger, and the family Gracie left behind come to terms with their own loss, both worlds slowly and inevitably collide, revealing a long-buried secret that they share. A spellbinding debut novel, Sufficient Grace explores the power of personal transformation and redemption, and the many ordinary and extraordinary ways they come to pass through faith, love, motherhood, art, even food. Even though we sometimes have to leave behind an old identity in order to discover our soul, this poignant, poetic study of the human condition affirms the enduring importance of relationships and the strength we derive from them. "
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| Customer Reviews: Read 10 more reviews...
 work of art October 3, 2008
Anyone who knows Darnell knows she is a warm and caring person. These characteristics emerge in her beautiful novel of a life with a mother who is mentally ill. Deftly and skillfully, Darnell pulls us into the story and sweeps us along for the ride.
Sufficient Grace September 15, 2008
Absolutely loved this book. It was a surprise as it took a little reading to find just how delightful a read it is ... with a lot of thoughts to ponder. I'm still thinking about it. Best thing I can say about it ... I didn't want it to end.
Intriguing mix of Magic Realism with Southern Spirituality March 16, 2008
Stylistically this is an intriguing mix of Magic Realism with Southern Spirituality. Most importantly, this is a wonderfully written story of family challenges and growth that describes the paradoxically loving breakup of a marriage. Driven by her voices Gracie (a white woman) mysteriously leaves her husband and young adult daughter and begins a new life with two black widows. While the story acknowledges the underlying schizophrenia that propels Gracie it also grants her the freedom to choose the life that she feels she must pursue.
Arnoult has an eloquent writing voice; she skillfully knits together the concealed and mysterious threads of Gracie's life in a way that ultimately gives the reader a deep understanding of her. Gracie's story is balanced by the powerful presence of grandma Toot who "speaks with God" in the more acceptable (non-psychotic) Bible Belt sense. Overall, this is a wonderfully challenging story of families confronted with mental illness, loss of connection by death, illness or even "call of God" and the possibilities of new family connections. An especially strong story line is the tender description of the developing relationship(s) with Toot's (soon to be) young step great grandson. This is a lovely story that will challenge you to expand your concept of family.
 A Word-Painting.... February 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
(taken from full review printed in Roses & Thorns)
If Sufficient Grace were a painting, the color-words would be three-dimensional, bursting off the canvas, wrapping around the reader in an embrace, entering the reader's pores, ears, nose, mouth, eyes, and all the tiny cuts in the skins of our lives--and through this enveloping of Darnell Arnoult's breathtaking creativity, the reader is transformed and changed, just as the characters in Sufficient Grace are. There is no stopping once you've opened Sufficient Grace; there is only the reading, the taking in of the word-colors, the characters, and the experience of love, family, sorrow, forgiveness, trust, and the multi-colored surprising delights that are Sufficient Grace.
Gracie is the stationary object around which the other characters revolve--for Gracie does not change so much as reveal--and the characters around her do the changing. In the beginning, it seems as if Ed is a bit selfish and unaware, but as the novel progresses, Ed strikes out on his own journey of growth. I rooted for Ed to find happiness, strength, and love more than any other character in Sufficient Grace.
My few issues with Sufficient Grace are the "preachifying," and switches in points-of-view. I had to skim through sections that out-and-out preached, such as in Sister Reba's sections with so many AMEN's and preaching that I found it a bit tedious to read. And again, as in Sister Reba's sections, I felt as if too many points of view may have taken away from the novel instead of adding to it. I would have been more than satisfied with Gracie, Ed, Mama Toot, and perhaps even Mattie's points of view as the only voices. At times the switches between characters in the same chapter didn't allow me full immersion in that character's view, so that I would be "bumped" from the story until I found my bearings again; this was distracting until I got into the rhythm of Arnout's style.
Finally, however, the novel is beautifully written, with Arnoult's original and unique phrasing that caused me to stop, re-read, and nod my head, smile, or smooth out the page with my hand as if to touch the words. Arnoult's use of the language, her memorable characters, her love of words and colors and how they taste and feel and look is apparent to this reviewer. I read the book quickly, and with pleasure.
If You Liked Secret Life of Bees... February 18, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I don't often bother to recommend books, partly because I'm lazy and partly because my friends have such diverse preferences in reading material, but I loved this book. Sufficient Grace, by Darnell Arnoult, who was writing in Chapel Hill (now living in Tennessee) is definitely Southern, and a little spiritual, with mental health issues for seasoning. It begins with a woman deciding to paint life-sized Jesuses on the walls of her house and then leave her husband of thirty years. In my opinion it's fuller than Lee Smith (Arnoult's mentor), but not quite Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees. The copy I have has a really good author interview in the back as well.
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