Chasing Sophea

by Gabrielle Pina

Book Overview

"Poignant and gripping . . . a heartfelt portrayal of a family's shameful secrets and the power of unconditional love." -Tracy Price-Thompson, author of A Woman's Worth People don't usually name... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345476190
• ISBN13: 9780345476197
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: One World
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Caught me and would not let go

The basis of this story is written well in other reviews so I will not be redundant. Let me approach this from another avenue..I am a therapist first and formeost because I find people fascinating, and this book was wonderfully full of fascinating people. I enjoyed the colour, the tastes and the music of this book. I have not read her other book, but I certainly plan to. Being a therapist I tend to read between the lines at times, and this lyrical story did not diappoint me. I am not black, and I am not originally American, so as I often peek into other cultures, I was drawn to this book-I was not disappointed. I loved this book and plan to refer it to others. Thank you Gabrielle Pina.

An entertaining read

Chasing Sophea tells the story of a wealthy southern African American family that made its money through five generations of operating funeral homes. Dahlia, the main character, is married to a wonderful man, has a daughter and a great career. However, her life begins to unravel as she starts having nightmares, the details of which she can never remember after she wakes up. Her nightmares and her unpredictable behavior prompt her husband to insist that she see a psychologist. Reluctantly she agrees to do so. As the story unfolds we learn that the Culpepper family has had a long history of dysfunction. Hansome Lucius, Dahlia's father, was raised by his grandparents as if he was their son after his own parents went away to Paris, France, and never returned. Although his young wife is beautiful, Lucius acts as if she does not exist and imerses himself into the funeral home business as if his life depended on it. Aunt "Baby" Lucius's Aunt is a healer and clairvoyant who is in love with the albino, Percival, the Culpepper's gravedigger for more than thirty years. All the characters have secret demons. Dahlia herself was involved in an extremely traumatic event at the age of 11 which has caused her to block out the past as a coping mechanism. Through the efforts of her husband and her Aunt "Baby" Dahlia is eventually forced to deal with her past. The author frequently uses flashback techniques and switches between time, place and charcters with very little warning, which may be confusing to some readers. some of the charcters were sketchy and could have been more fully developed. Apart from that, this book was a quick and entertaining read.

So good!

I enjoyed Bliss but Chasing Sophea was even better! I really appreciate Ms. Pina's ability to connect her readers to such full and colorful characters through the use of such full and colorful language. By the time I got half way through the book, I couldn't put it down. I felt excited and anxious, sad and worried, and through all of that, I laughed...out loud....a lot. That was fun!

A Sure Literary Mind Twister!

Are you ready for a hypnotic read? Some things are better left unsaid...it's a recurring theme throughout Pina's latest release, Chasing Sophea, but quite the opposite, this gifted author says it all and much more! I loved Pina's first novel, Bliss, and couldn't' wait for Chasing Sophea. As expected, she didn't disappoint her fans, as Chasing Sophea is quite the gripping page-turner, which will leave you addicted to its pages! In Chasing Sophea, Pina pulls the reader into a fascinating world of a prominent, southern, funeral parlor owning family that is forced to confront a series of deep, hidden secrets involving severe mental illness, love, betrayal, and suspense. A young writer, with a hearty old soul, Pina's depiction of southern folklore is well captured and expressed vividly through her characters, which immediately emotionally connect her readers, as each is that familiar family member. In Chasing Sophea you'll meet Aunt Baby, the obvious rock of the Culpepper family, blessed with the "gift of healing." It's up to her to save one of her very own from self destructing, while also preserving the Culpepper name. There's also Percival Tweed, the mysterious, suspicious, but also rather comforting, wise albino who knows all ands sees all, and lives on the Culpepper property. Others are: Dahlia, a successful businesswoman, with a dream husband and daughter, but who routinely encounters spells leaving her lost and confused about her present and past. Lucious Culpepper -Dahlia's proud, handsome, emotionally subdued father who has long buried the seeds of the past, but is suddenly forced to face it at full speed and deal with self-feeding demons of his own. Phoebe - a longtime friend and foe of Dahlia, who frequently weaves her way in and out of her life for self-fulfilling purposes. I didn't want to put Chasing Sophea down, and found myself missing and constantly thinking about the characters whenever I did. Pina is a masterful storyteller, who also cleverly intersperses inspirational lessons in her novels for her readers. If you're a keen reader like me, you'll definitely see them and get it! Her writing style reminds me so much of my favorites, J. California Cooper and Octavia Butler. Chasing Sophea is a literary mind twister at best! I'm already looking forward to Pina's next book!

Suspenseful Family Drama!

Twenty-five years ago, a mentally ill Reva Culpepper took her three children for an afternoon drive on the cusp of a deadly tornado aptly named Sophea. Eleven-year old, Dahlia, the oldest daughter, would awaken from a coma three weeks later with a self-induced coping mechanism that will wreck havoc in her adult life. The Culpepper dynasty is forever changed after that fateful event. Luscious Culpepper, a good-looking Creole and successful mortician, forbids mention of his wife, Reva, and the accident. He covers his pain by entering a loveless marriage to a smitten teenager half his age (and seven years older than Dahlia) and throws himself into his work. For years, Dahlia suffers in silence, moves from Dallas to Pasadena immediately after college, marries, and rarely mentions her family again. Seven years into her marriage with Michael, Dahlia's world begins to shatter. She experiences memory and time loss, migraines, and frightening nightmares which eventually lead her to therapy at her husband's insistence. It is here where the past and present collide and the novel gains momentum. Pina pens a very suspenseful novel that keeps reader turning pages to see how things will play out. Although it appears as if Dahlia and Phoebe's relationship is the center of the story, I found myself more mesmerized with the other eccentric family members. The roots and childhood antics of the supporting characters proved to be born in mystery and a bit of supernatural lore: Aunt Baby Doll's adopted son Dante (who was left as a charred infant on the Culpepper doorstep), the albino Percival Tweed, the grounds caretaker, who instinctually knows how many graves to dig on any given day before the bodies arrive, and even Aunt Baby Doll herself, a half Choctaw Indian beauty who can heal anyone except her great-niece, Dahlia. The author does a wonderful job of tying all the loose ends together and describing how each character played a significant role on that fateful day when Reva ventured into the storm with her children. This is a great sophomoric effort - a wonderful, albeit sometimes sad melodrama filled with haunting symbolism, familial dysfunction, suppressed secrets, and emotional baggage. Fans of her debut, Bliss, will not be disappointed. Reviewed by Phyllis APOOO BookClub Nubian Circle Book Club