|
Malcolm Campbell
, March 01, 2014
(view all comments by Malcolm Campbell)
Rhett DeVane ("Cathead Crazy") brings her trademark sparkling prose and deep insights into human nature to this story of the darkness and light in the lives of Abby, Loiscell, Sheila and "Choo-choo."
The lives of these kindred spirits play out in the Florida Panhandle between Chattahoochee, a small town with a main street dominated by a mental institution, and Tallahassee, the state capital, 44 miles away. Most of the festering family secrets, declining health, estrangement and physical abuse live and breathe in Chattahoochee for Abby, Loiscell, Sheila and Choo-choo. Tallahassee is for shopping, fine dining, cancer treatments and a prospective appointment with a hit man.
Suicide and humor seamlessly merge through DeVane's inventive plot, fully realized characters, knowledge of Southern life and customs, and sense of place. The light in "Suicide Supper Club" comes from the great love and esteem the four women have for each other and the ways they find for coping with the Florida heat and the crap. When it comes to Chattahoochee and Tallahassee and the people who live there, Rhett DeVane gets it right.
|