October Suite: A Novel

by Maxine Clair

Book Overview

"The air cools to crisp, carries sound farther. Last pears ripen and fall, ferment on the ground; the aroma of their wine mixes with the pungency of leaf smoke from nowhere and everywhere. At... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375760954
• ISBN13: 9780375760952
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

Try this book!

This was a wonderful and heartbreaking story of family loyalty and hardship. It was emotional without being sappy. It was one of those "quiet" books that will stay with you for a long time. I highly recommend, and since I agree with the reviewers who said it started out slowly - stick with it... it's well worth it.

Beautiful story

I picked this book up because I was in the mood to read a new novel, and it just happened to be there. I had never heard of this book or Maxine Clair, but was more than pleasantly pleased. I am a 27 year old white girl, but found that I could relate to both October and Vergie and even to some of the male characters. I laughed, cried and was uplifted by this immacutate story. Ms. Clair is a gifted author who turns the reader into more than just an observer to the story. She writes you into it. I was so thrilled to find such a wonderful story that connects the reader to the characters in such a powerful, cross cultural/generational manner. Thank you Maxine Clair. You have renewed my love for reading.

Here's one for your reading list

They call October Suite a literary novel. All I know is that I enjoyed this story. It was written so vividly descriptive and lyrically that I felt as if I could see the scenes unfolding in front of me. Imagine you are a "colored" teacher in the 1950's in Kansas. You are held to a high standard and your every move is being scrutinzed. Then, imagine you meet a man only to find out he's married. He gives you the line of leaving his wife. Then imagine you find yourself pregnant and alone. You have to return to Ohio to your family to have a baby. You can't not bond with him and you give him to your sister. Imagine, a little later you decide you want him back, but you made a promise. What do you do? Once you pick up October Suite, you will see how Ms October Brown copes with her decisions. You will also find how events of her life early on effects her life later. I found this book to be a interesting story in a time period that has always interested me. It's a slow read, but one you will want to savor because the story is so good.

If you liked Rattlebone, this is something different

I read "Rattlebone" in 1995 and have been waiting for six years for Maxine Clair's next novel. "October Suite" was well worth the wait. It is not hyperbole to for me to say that this is the best novel I have read in years. Since I started armature writing myself, I have had problems entering a book in any emotional sense. "October Suite" changed this. The story does not really fill in a blank part of Irene's (the main character from "Rattlebone") life. Rather it takes one robust but minor character and tangentially tells the story of her life and struggles. This struggle is partially revealed in "Rattlebone" but takes on a full life in "October Suite".This is in many ways a modern epic. It has a tragic hero in October Brown, fighting to regain her life from a youthful indiscretion that cost more than she could have foreseen. It has villains. James is the archetype of evil married men who destroy the lives of young women to satisfy his needs. Vergie, perhaps the character in any book that I have hated the most, is driven by a Nixonian paranoia to keep the hero in misery but finds redemption at the end. In all, the characters become the family down the street that always seems to have a new challenge. We do not know everything about them--just enough to feel for them.The book only has two weaknesses as I see it. First there is a major contradiction with "Rattlebone". Second, some parts of the book do not really make sense outside of context of Dr. Clair's previous book. This is not to discourage those who have not read that book yet, since after reading "October Suite" they undoubtedly will want to read it.

GREAT READ

I LOVED this novel and read it in three days! For the literary gurus, there is an incredible use of language, you feel as though you are October Brown herself and are lost in each of her emotions. For everyone else - ditto! I cried each time October cried and spent the entire book guessing what the outcome would be.