What readers think of Sweeping Up Glass, plus links to write your own review.

This compelling book is full of complex characters whose lives all touch and dramatically change one another as the story unfolds. Although a little slow to get started, the development of the characters require this leisurely pace and add to the drama of the story. Full of interlocking themes of love for humans, animals, and the land, and hate in all its guises and complexities, it offers a very multi-faceted look at the human condition, its challenges and joys, and the ultimate battle between good and evil. While the themes aren't new, the story is compelling, surprising, and enjoyable.

I LOVED Sweeping Up Glass. I read over half of it the day I received it. It's reminiscient of To Kill A Mockingbird, but its story certainly stands alone. I loved the character of Olivia ... and there wasn't a false note throughout the entire book, nor was it predictable.

The book elicited such emotions from me ... fear, anxiety, happiness, and sadness. I will be recommending Sweeping Up Glass to everyone...I can't say enough good things about it. It's a wonderful, wonderful book.

I enjoyed the book. I read it while I was on vacation, (accompanied by one husband, six children and six grandchildren). But I found it to be an interesting "discussion" of a period of time we know about but may not have been aware of at the time. As a child growing up in California my parents were the ones that got us through the Depression. It was interesting to read how other parts of the country survived the period. I look forward to reading other books by this author.

Carolyn Wall's debut novel is told in the simple, rural language of a poor mountain town in Depression-era Kentucky. The beginning of the book started slow but soon I was sucked in to the powerful narrative. It 's a heartfelt story filled with quirky, unforgettable characters and their loves, family secrets, and transformations.

Olivia Harker Cross is the center of this suspenseful story. She is proud, head strong and a survivor. the title refers to the shattered lives that need cleaning up. Olivia lives with her beloved grandson, Will'm in the small grocery store they run. When her daughter returns to reclaim Will'm, trouble intensifies and Olivia fights to save the life she's built. I grew to care about the unusual cast of characters. I kept reading anxious to know how their lives unfolded.

Themes of love, loss, betrayal, bigotry, death, and forgiveness give this book surprising depth and intensity. The ending was not what I expected which made me all the more impressed.

I found this book to be a very easy read, easy to follow, and well written. The author kept my attention making me feel very much part of the story with her description of the area of Kentucky where the story took place. The suspense at the end in particular made me not want to put the book down.

This book would be an especially good book for summer reading, on vacations or just to pass a rainy weekend. The story would be appealing to the young adult/older teen however, the sexual descriptions in the last chapter may be objectionable to some.

I love great narratives and characters that ignite passion and a plot that is dappled with factual fiction and this book has all that...however, it comes up short. I do think that it was delivered hastily and could have...should have... delved deeper into its own story...Instead of leaving me wanting more it has left me wanting to know more and knowing that it can't happen...kinda like waking in the middle of a great dream.

In the backwoods of Kentucky, Olivia Harker Cross struggles to raise her grandson while living with her cantankerous mother and maintaining the family grocery business. Everything’s fine in this unconventional family until poachers start killing the Alaskan silver wolves brought to Kentucky by Olivia’s grandfather. As Olivia investigates the poachers, she uncovers decades-old secrets and must protect her family from the resulting dangers.

The story unfolds from the first-person point of view as Olivia narrates current events and mixes in memories from her childhood. Olivia’s unique voice is the center of gravity for this novel; it’s a constant and compelling force:

"All in all, I have a crazy ma'am who owns a hundred dusty Bibles, a leggy boy with a too-soft heart, and no man to bed down with. And an Alaskan silver dying on my kitchen floor."

As engaging as it is, Olivia’s voice cannot compensate for this novel’s awkward plotting. The action in the final third of the book feels contrived, loaded with convenient coincidences and overly dramatic scenes. This final section, which reads like a thriller, is out of character with the pacing and style of the first two-thirds of the book. As I mentioned in a prior post, Sweeping Up Glass has the best first chapter I’ve read recently. Although the rest of the book didn’t live up to the initial promise of the first chapter, Sweeping Up Glass is an enjoyable and worthwhile read, particularly for those who like reading mysteries.

The voice of Olivia Harker Cross draws the reader in the struggles of the depression as well as the horrors of prejudice and segregation. The plot line is certainly broad and wide in scope as life is. I felt that the conclusion was somewhat forced and rushed. Even so, the book is an excellent read and provides a plethora of themes for thought and discussion. I would heartily recommend it to others adults as well as teens.