Review of The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred
So I've seen this book around. On blogs, on Amazon, wherever. Its been on my TBR list for like ever and for one reason or another has never been read... Until this weekend. It was on sale, I left the book I was currently reading in my desk at work so I was like what the hell? Let me tell you, impulsiveness was my friend this past Saturday. There's spoilers here, I'm sorry, I know. Deal with it.
So it begins when Alix is 8 and Nick is 10. He is the son of the salvage yard owner (also the town drunk) and basically written off by the whole town as a lost cause because of who his dad is (fuck this town) and Alix is the granddaughter of a former Judge (who goes by Judge btdubs) therefore a very respected member of the community.
They meet and Alix sees a huge gash on his back from where his dad beats him and she immediately jumps in and fixes his boo boo and right then and there at 8 years old, she is a better person than almost the entire town. Nick is also playing daddy to a little girl that lives down the street, this 10 year old boy is taking care of this 8 year old girl, Lindsey. Because no one else takes care of her. And again this town of assholes mostly ignores this, bless their hearts.
Shit gets pretty real, real soon too. after an unfortunate incident Mr. Anderson (Nick's dad) that leaves Nick beaten, bloody and nearly unconscious in Alix's barn, her family takes him under their wing.
The story goes from when they are kids and moves into where they are teenagers and eventually on to adulthood. I would love to sit here and chapter by chapter tell you what happens and why I love it so much. But I can't and I shouldn't, because my words wont do this book justice. You need to read it, enjoy it, cry a little (a lot in my case), and after that come back and we'll talk about why we loved and how much we hate the politics of small towns and their hypocritical ways, bless their hearts.
-Court