Making Waves is a novel that focuses on the themes of disappointment and repressed desires. The childlike Donnette, a beautician, and her husband Tim live in a small town in Zion County, Alabama. After Tim's recent accident that has left him crippled, Donnette becomes the only breadwinner in the family, since her aunt has left her an old house and a beauty shop, which Donnette names Making Waves. Tim used to be the town's football hero and its pride and joy, but the accident has disappointed the townsfolk and has done away with Tim's dreams of becoming a national football star.
Taylor Dupree, who had been Tim's best friend until the accident and ran away from town after it, returns to Zion County. Taylor wants to make amends for leaving the site of the accident that left Tim crippled. Taylor's road to redemption and Tim's efforts to regain his confidence and self-respect clash with the misunderstandings of the town's people. Tim, who once gave up art for football, paints a sign for Donnette's beauty shop, and from then on, he starts recovering emotionally. Donnette, already bewildered in the middle of all the gossip and commotion, finds out a shocking truth between these two men at the end.

gaining insight into small town understanding and gossip and the psychological give and take between all characters

the four different viewpoints that the story was told from, and the sometimes tragic and sometimes very funny twists and turns that the plot took.

read every book Cassandra King writes.

Cassandra King is from Alabama, and she is a former English and creative writing teacher who has essays and stories in various publications. At this date, she has four novels in print: Same Sweet Girls, The Sunday Wife, Making Waves, and Queen of Broken Hearts. She lives in South Carolina with her husband Pat Conroy, who is another favorite author of mine.

the story moves the reader without resorting to melodrama and cheap tricks, and also, touches a taboo subject quite delicately. The book is humorous, tragic, and easily readable. It is well worth the time of any reader for its eccentric characters and colorful dialogue.

The characters in this book shine, even the scheming, gossiping, and manipulative small-town women. The revelation at the end surprised me, and I surmise a few puritans may be shocked by it. Still, the book is entertaining and offers some good reading.

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Created Dec 02, 2008 at 4:45pm • Submit your own review...