Sins of the Seventh Sister: A Novel Based on a True Story of the Gothic South

by Huston C. Curtiss

Book Overview

Filled with fascinating characters that leap off the page, this beautifully written memoir of the gothic South is similar to the works of Eudora Welty or Flannery O'Connor in its ability to both... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 140004538X
• ISBN13: 9781400045389
• Release Date: April 2003
• Publisher: Crown
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.2" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

500 Stars & more, miss this book and you've lost it all

I've spent most of the day reading this fabulous (and I mean that literally for once) book which is wondrously readable; it ain't just finest kind, it's beyond that. Mega superb, blast off your socks! Rumor has it the book was originally written as a memoir; wow, that really knocks off socks! Memoir, novel, whatever, it's finest kind of reading bar none. I am talking the kind of reading that holds you glued to the chair and your fingers flipping pages. There's such a conflagration of action and compassion in this book, the reader doesn't know where to turn, except for MORE of the book. Horse lovers will love this book, as will farm lovers; historians will have a veritable ball; students of political science will be enthralled; religious enthusiasts will have grist; as will cooks who love to cook and can; weavers and seamtresses who adore their art; orchard (especially apple) aficionados will be thrilled. I swear, everything in this book is up someone's/everyone's alley at least thrice or more. Finest kind, indeed.

THE BOOK THAT MADE ME LOVE BOOKS

I was at the book store, five minuets to closing, and i saw the title of this book and grabbed it in hopes that i did not choose a bad book. I have read books before, but never really got into them. After i started reading this book i could not put it down. The stories were wonderful, and the fun never stops, there were sad parts, funny parts, the whole book was great. it's the book that triggered me to read more often. I JUST finished it, and will read it again, i have my family reading it, i'll give it to my kids when they are old enough. My uncle lives where it took place, and i'm going to look for where the farm was and all the land marks, and the graves of the Curtiss family, if you read the book they talk alot about the graves. It's the best book i think i shall ever read. Highly recommend it.

Great Book, But "Booklist" Has It Wrong

This was a great Southern gothic read, audacious, full of the murder and mayhem that the description promises. What I've found most intriguing is the fact that Curtiss changed many, but not all, details about the people and events described, because now I'm curious to know what parts are real, and for those for which he took creative license, what the real details were. Figuring out the real story would be one great mystery to solve!One thing I know for sure: Booklist's review is dead wrong on one account: it states that Stanely became the famous opera singer Stella Roman. Not true. Curtiss said in an interview with Wild Child Publishing that Stanley's real female name was NOT Stella, and that in real life she became a country-western singer. I could only imagine how they came to that conclusion.Now, if I could only figure out the rest....

An amazing book!

I am so speachless! I just finished the book today, and when I choose this book I knew I would end up loving it. I always depend on the first paragraph in a book to hook me, but the cover did it alone. I would love to meet Hughie and Stella, what a conversation! This book is so full of amazing history, I cried, I laughed. I am proud to add this to my bookshelf.

High praise for Sins of the 7th Sister

I came across an incredible review by Kevin Allman for this book in last Sunday's Washington Post Book World. It described the book as "exceedingly readable, literarily suspect and highly entertaining in a scrape-your-jaw-off-your-shoes style" and went onto say that "Sins of the 7th Sister is like an extended visit from an eccentric uncle who unrolls all the best family stories like a fascinating patchwork quilt; no matter how many tales he relates and how far they stretch credulity, you always wish he would tell just one more. Like his celebrated mama, Huston Curtiss is too much pork for just one fork." Since the review was so great I decided to take a chance; I bought the book and read it in one day. The review was on the spot! This was an amazing read. I would highly recommend it to anyone, but especially to the more discerning reader.