Velva Jean Learns to Drive: A Novel
by Jennifer Niven
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jennifer NivenEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-07-28
ISBN: 0452289459
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Plume
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780452289451
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of Velva Jean Learns to Drive: A Novel
Book Review: " 'Good luck, Velva Jean. I would say that your light is never in danger of going out.' "
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Velva Jean Learns to Drive: A Novel is "a story of bone memory" according to its author, Jennifer Niven. Her family roots were dug into the Appalachians -- to the point where she could crib a letter from her own great grandfather to advance her plot. Armed with a feisty title character who took first bow in a short story of her mother's, Niven immerses the reader in the mountains of North Carolina and their inimitable folk, conveying ruggedly charming authenticity of place, language, and traditions.
In an honest, homespun voice, Sleepy Gap's Velva Jean Hart tells us her own story, from childhood through late teens in the years 1933-1941. As she sums up, "I was ten years old when I was saved for the first time. I was fifteen when I was saved for the second. But I was eighteen before I was found. All it took was eight years, a panther cat, a tent preacher, a blues singer, a murderer, an old yellow truck, and a road that could take you anywhere." As youngsters, Velva Jean and her beloved older brother, Johnny Clay, cope with losing their mother and father by being little hooligans. But Velva Jean's real driving forces are her singing talent; her complicated, ambivalent relationship with the one who saved her first, Jesus; and the charismatic man she set her sights on at fifteen. Velva Jean wants to be a good wife, but tough breaks intervene in the couple's lives to the point that Velva Jean begins to feel she can't confide to her husband the desires of her heart. And one of those desires is to "live out there" and be a "star of Grand Ole Opry" three hundred miles away in Nashville. Can she have both dreamed-of marriage and her musical aspirations? If not, which will give way?
Filled with vivid characters who live in the hollers, the gaps, and on the mountain tops during the Depression era when massive work projects begin "opening up" the Appalachians, VELVA JEAN LEARNS TO DRIVE beautifully unfolds one coming-of-age tale. While reading it, another recently published book about a struggling young couple came to mind: All the Living: A Novel, by C. E. Morgan. These wonderful novels both wrestle with competing urges and frictions such as wanderlust vs. putting down roots and the compromises of love and marriage vs. fulfilling individual potential. Darkness and light joust with each other in human behavior we all recognize, making the two books studies in morality on several levels (but not to oppressive degrees). Interestingly, the young women in these novels adopt very different "solutions" to their dilemmas of isolation and thwarted ambition.
Highly recommended. 4.5 stars
Summary of Velva Jean Learns to Drive: A Novel
In this spellbinding debut, Velva Jean Hart finds true love-and then risks everything to follow her dreamsSet in Appalachia in the years before World War II, Velva Jean Learns to Drive is a poignant story of a spirited young girl growing up in the gold-mining and moonshining South.
Before she dies, Velva Jean's mother urges her to "live out there in the great wide world". Velva Jean dreams of becoming a big-time singer in Nashville until she falls in love with Harley Bright, a handsome juvenile delinquent turned revival preacher. As their tumultuous love story unfolds, Velva Jean must choose between keeping her hard-won home and pursuing her dream of singing in the Grand Ole Opry.
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