Nicloe Seitz's The Spirit of Sweetgrass ~ Reviewed

The Spirit of Sweetgrass
By Nicloe Seitz
Published by Integrity/Thomas Nelson
ISBN-10: 1591455065

Essie Mae Laveau Jenkins is a 78-year-old sweetgrass basket weaver who sits on the side of Hwy 17 in the company of her dead husband, Daddy Jim. Inspired by her Auntie Leona, Essie Mae finally discovers her calling in life and weaves powerful "love baskets," praying fervently over them to affect the lives of those who visit her roadside stand. When she's faced with losing her home and her stand and being put in a nursing home, Daddy Jim talks her into coming on up to Heaven to meet sweet Jesus – something she's always wanted to do. Once there, she still has work to do. Now Essie Mae, who once felt powerless and invisible, must find the strength within her to keep her South Carolina family from falling apart.

The Spirit of Sweetgrass is a beautiful tribute to southern traditions and lifestyle as well as a disappearing art. The history and Gullah details Seitz incorporates in the story make it a must read for anyone fascinated with Lowcountry culture.

Nicole Seitz writes beautifully, weaving and crafting this saga not unlike the baskets so diligently and painstakingly woven by her protagonist's loving fingers.

Those who expect a specific genre basket hook on which to hang The Spirit of Sweetgrass will find a touch of sweet romance with women's fiction depth, chock full of history and fantasy. This story stretches beyond one genre and seeps into other categories. If forced to choose, I'd call it literary because of Nicole's style. I got caught up is Essie Mae's life from the beginning, and though there were a couple of chapters that dragged a bit for me, the end satisfied.

Jesus is mentioned throughout, but those who only read clear "how to be saved" Christian fiction aren't likely to feel comfortable reading The Spirit of Sweetgrass.
Nicole has managed to bust open the God box, maybe replacing it with a woven basket so He bursts out all over. Heaven sequences are thoughtful, speculative and may frustrate theologians. Serious jot-and-tittle Christian fiction readers may want to avoid reading this book, especially if they tend to read with a microscope. Voodoo and ghosts are tossed into the mix now and again, too.

If you love to ask God questions and like to ponder heaven, or if you curl up with lazy, literary fiction, quirky characters, cultural details and stories that wrap around your thoughts and your heart, I think you'll enjoy The Spirit of Sweetgrass.

Reviewed byKelly Klepfer

Nicole Seitz's Trouble the Water ~ Reviewed

Trouble the Water

Nicole Seitz

Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 11, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1595544003

Book Copy:

Set in the South Carolina Sea Islands, Nicole Seitz's second novel follows the stories of two sisters. One is seeking to recreate her life yet again and learns to truly live from a group of Gullah nannies she meets on the island. The other thinks she's got it all together until her sister's imminent death from cancer causes her to re-examine her own life and seek the healing and rebirth her troubled sister managed to find on St. Anne's Island.

"This is another thing I know for a fact: a woman can't be an island, not really. No, it's the touching we do in other people's lives that matters when all is said and done. The silly things we do for ourselves--shiny new cars and jobs and money--they don't mean a hill of beans. Honor taught me that. My soul sisters on this island taught me that. And this is the story of true sisterhood. It's the story of Honor, come and gone, and how one flawed woman worked miracles in this mixed-up world."

Review:

Nicole Seitz is an artist. Literary fiction lovers might want to check into her further.

Through a group of Gullah women, Seitz reveals the fascinating spirit, superstitions and cultural richness as she revisits the Lowcountry once again. Though Trouble the Water is not a sequel to Spirit of Sweetgrass Seitz revisits settings that are obviously as fascinating to her as to her readers.

This is the type of novel I love to curl up with and savor. Seitz brought three first-person point of view characters to life as they relived sorrow and shame, choices and consequences. Honor, Alice, Duchess and The Nannies live and breath through Seitz's words. And what stories they tell.

This is not an easy read. Christian fiction, yes, traditional, no. Seitz writes with realism including sin and consequences, hypocrisy and the damage done through it. There is no salvation prayer at the end and very subtle gospel sharing, so those who expect a strong gospel message within their Christian fiction may be disappointed. In addition, the superstitions and beliefs of the characters may stomp on some toes. However, those who are hungry for honest, transparent stories about tragedy and sorrow, and hope and restoration need to look further into Seitz's novels.

Reviewed by: Kelly Klepfer