H
ave you ever had a romantic relationship end when both partners have
moved on? Yet, you still harbor a
nugget of desire for the “one that got away”?
You know you should let go, but... Or have you
ever encountered a situation when everyone
says you should leave it alone? Although every
bone in your body is saying for you to let the
experts handle it, you just can’t help but stick
your nose in the middle of it. Both situations
face Caren Gray, the lead character in Attica
Locke’s second novel, The Cutting Season.
Before I continue, some of you may be saying
to yourselves, “Attica Locke, that name looks
familiar”. She is one of the writers for the popular TV series, Empire. Now that I have that
out of the way, back to the book.
Caren is the general manager of Belle
Vie, a sprawling antebellum plantation
museum where the past and the present
coexist uneasily. At Belle Vie, one can host a
wedding, hold meetings or schedule tours to
experience what life was like on a plantation
for both the owners and the slaves. It comes
complete with live actors portraying the various members of the plantation system. (In
case I wasn’t plain enough, this museum includes
Whites playing the roles of owners and Blacks
playing the role of slaves.) Belle Vie is the setting for Caren’s double dilemma. Her former
boyfriend is engaged to another woman and
has sent strong hints he wants to take full custody of their young daughter. (Now you know
as well as I do that there is no way that Caren is
going to let some other woman raise her daughter, right?) Even though it’s been several years
since their breakup, Caren has mixed feelings
about her ex’s upcoming marriage. Not help-
ing things is the fact he and the “new woman”
want Caren’s daughter to not only attend the
marriage, but play a part in the ceremony. The
second dilemma Caren faces is the possible
repercussion of a murder that occurred on
the grounds of Belle Vie. She might have been
able to let the authorities handle the investigation, but she found out her young daughter
may have some secret information about the
crime.
Two dilemmas, no easy solutions.
What’s a woman to do? How can she come to
terms with the impending marriage of the man
she once loved and maybe still does? How can
she protect her daughter from the relentless
police investigators who suspect that Caren is
not telling them everything?
The Cutting Season is the second novel
I’ve read by Attica Locke. I think I’ve figured
out this extremely talented writer. Locke’s
writing is quietly seductive. She has this amazing talent to draw in the reader by dropping
subtle hints about where her novel is headed.
In this novel, why does she start off talking
about an employee who calls in sick? Later,
why does she have Caren inspecting the Belle
Vie campus only to be spooked by one of
the actual slave cabins? That’s Locke for you!
She sneaks in facts and people in her stories
and then ties everything together as the plot
unfolds. It is that unique talent that makes this
book and her previous novel great books to
pick up and read. How does Caren deal with
both of her dilemmas? Now what kind of book
review would I be if I revealed the answer to
that question? I can say this though, if you
read The Cutting Season, you will not be disappointed.
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