From my review of Part of Me, up today at the Voices of NOLA:
Rose and her younger brother and sister have never been to Louisiana or even known about their Cajun grandfather before their mother is forced to take the children and go home. Everything about Houma seems exotic and strange, especially Antoine Marcel, “the oyster man” who takes them in without a word. Soon enough, scholarly Rose learns that there is not enough money for her to go to school; she has to go to work and help out. Spared from being an oyster shucker by her mother, who takes on that difficult job herself, Rose finds herself instead as the driver for the new community bookmobile. This allows her to meet people in all the surrounding small towns and begins her family’s long association with the library. It is also how Rose meets Luther Harp who eventually becomes her husband.
From Rose the narrative shifts to Merle Henry, her son, who loves trapping with his dog Blue and has a deep affection for his Aunt Pie and her wild unconventional ways. Old Yeller is the book Merle discovers one day, and the one that touches his life the most. (Don’t even get me started on the nightmare that is Old Yeller. I refuse to recommend this book to a single living soul although I will not hold it against Holt for having Merle love it. I am going to give you a big spoiler here though and tell you that Old Yeller is not duplicated in Merle’s story, and it has a happy ending for both boy and dog.)
Merle grows up and marries a local girl but finds himself struggling to find his way in New Orleans, or anyplace that isn’t the woods he knew so well around his family home. His daughter Annabeth does not know how to fit in either, and as father and daughter bond over afternoon soap operas, she discovers a new author, Carson McCullers, and her coming of age classic, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Annabeth finds herself reaching out to another lost soul who enjoys good books, but her new friend is the center of school gossip, and Annabeth must find a way to be brave, which brings about a wholly uncharacteristic but wonderful moment in the story.
