Book Review

Title: The Dry Grass of August
Author: Anna Jean Mayhew
# of pages: 279
Genre: Literary Fiction

 
Literary Fiction is a term for more serious fiction. I had to Google it to figure out why the author called her book “Literary Fiction”. I would have called it “Historical Fiction”, but after researching “Literary Fiction,” it is definitely not Historical Fiction. Calling this book ‘Historical Fiction’ would be a disservice to the author.
 
Literary Fiction focuses more on the character(s) than the plot. ‘The Dry Grass of August’ tells a story set in the early 1950s during the time of segregation. The Watts’ family of six, four children (Stell, Jubie, Puddin’, and Davie) and the parents, reside in Charlotte, NC. They have a maid, Mary, referred to in the book as “their girl”.
 
The story is told through the eyes of the second oldest daughter, Jubie. The reader will experience segregation and the cruel treatment of the black people during this time period. Mary could not eat in restaurants or sleep in the same motel room as her white family, despite her being the “rock” for her white family.
 
Readers will become very involved in this book. Stell is the typical 16 year old. She is into looking nice and impressing the boys. Jubie is 13 and is very close to the maid, Mary. Puddin’ and Davie are the younger children. The reader will read about infidelity (yep – it existed back then, too!), dishonest business procedures (Mr. Watts had his own business), murder, abuse in the family, etc. There are a lot of characters in this book and each has his/her own distinct personality. This is a hard book to put down, because you get hooked right away.