My Neighbors, Goodlife, Mississippi Stories by Eileen Saint Lauren (Author) is a novel I received in exchange for this review. Inside this post is my affiliate links. If you click on the links and make a purchase I will make a small percentage from the items you purchase.
My Neighbors, Goodlife, Mississippi Stories novel contains 11 short stories written by Myra Book a recurring character in Saint Laurens work. I like how the Autho has the characters speaking truth. I ended up having to have David read this story with me because each of the stories portrays a grotesque character or a horrifical and bizarre act of revenge, in the name of God, and twisted love. Making this book a type of horror story or physiological novel.
My Neighbors Goodlife, Mississippi Stories by Eillen Saint Lauren novel has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. Suspense, dram and so much more is what you will find in this novel for adults. I can see David sitting down to read the book with Charlie because they enjoy this type of story which is created for adults.
About the book: Eileen Saint Lauren (Author)
Eileen Saint Lauren’s “My Neighbors, Goodlife, Mississippi” is a collection of eleven stories written by Mary “Myra” Boone, a recurring character in Saint Lauren’s work. Saint Lauren has her characters speak guiding truth with the purest of voices by way of magical realism, the supernatural, sophisticated suspense, and the sublime. Each of the stories portrays a grotesque character or a horrific and bizarre act of revenge in the name of God and twisted love. Such repulsive events and grotesque people are the tours de force found in “My Neighbors, Goodlife, Mississippi.” Much of the intrigue concern the victims, both Black and White, of the oppressive and often inhumane social climate of the fifties and early sixties of Goodlife, Mississippi. Knowingly and unknowingly, they seek retribution to exact some kind of justice for a severe injustice perpetrated upon them.
The stories in “My Neighbors, Goodlife, Mississippi” are too close to the truth of the era to be comfortable and seen through the eyes of Myra Boone, they become life-shaping events.
Eileen Saint Lauren often takes the reader to a supernatural place–holy and unholy–that provokes the questions: Is this Heaven or Hell? Whatever the reader deems true will suffice because ironically “My Neighbors, Goodlife, Mississippi” is a mixture of both. Saint Lauren’s themes, even, are delicately reinforced in brief but profound originality such as the statement of Ambrose Twain, a wise, guiding ethereal spirit to Myra who says, “Without love, all becomes hell-even eternity.” And perhaps that is the overarching theme that unites all of her work.
Meet the Author: Eileen Saint Lauren
EILEEN SAINT LAUREN was born in Hattiesburg and raised in a once two red-light town, Petal, Mississippi. She is an award-winning photo journalist and news and feature writer who worked early in her career as a commentator for Nebraska Public Radio and at Smith College Museum. After graduating from Jones College in Ellisville, Mississippi, with an Associate of Arts degree majoring in Journalism, she continued her education at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree majoring in English.
She then continued on with her education in creative writing at The Washington Center, Newman University’s, Milton Center, Duke University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was blind for three years due to back-to-back retina detachments in midlife. Although she did not regain her full sight, she is functional though visually disadvantaged. Her hobbies are gourmet cooking, designing chandeliers, and creating flower arrangements. She lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Saint Lauren is also the author of “Southern Light, Oxford, Mississippi,” a bestselling novel nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and “My Neighbors, Goodlife, Mississippi Stories,” also a bestseller. Her first novel, “Goodlife, Mississippi” was a finalist in the14th Annual International Book Awards 2023 and a finalist in the American Legacy Book Awards 2024. “Goodlife, Mississippi” was sold in 10 Countries.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
