Fiction Review    

Cassie Claiborne, teenage pool hustler, is one of the more memorable characters in recent fiction. The conflicts in her life are inherent in her very D.N.A..

Her father, Jimmy, is what Joni Mitchell called, "a rambler and a gambler and a sweet talking ladies' man." Her mother, Laura, had dreams of marrying into New Orleans' society and living a radically different life. Nostalgic and unrepentant, Laura can't imagine her life without Jimmy and her children, yet the distances in her marriage have carried over into her relationships with her daughters. Laura relies on Cassie, as the oldest, to take care of practical matters while she nurtures Belle's academic brilliance and agoraphobia.

When Jimmy leaves his wife and daughters, after years spent arguing about the shoulda, coulda, wouldas of marriage, Cassie sets out to unravel the myth of her parents' life together. The truths she finds are hard won and liberating.

Something Rising (Light and Swift) is a coming of age story about the powerful effect of redemption. It's hard not to wish for an immediate follow-up novel about Cassie.

As she's proven with her memoir, A Girl Named Zippy, and her first novel, The Solace of Leaving Early, Haven Kimmel is a writer who's work is worthy of any reader's time.    

Pam Kingsbury

Southern Scribe Reviews

 

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