Sudie

By Sara Flanigan

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312775199
• ISBN13: 9780312775193
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: St Martins Pr
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Sudie is a must read story set in the Jim Crow era.

A historical fictional poignant coming of age story is set in the racially segregated South during the 1940s, revolving around a small Georgia town. The narrative is told by Sudie’s best friend, Mary Agnes Clark, an opinionated, uninformed and gossipy 10 year old character (she’s a riot in her storytelling!). She narrates in a Georgian backwoods dialect. She relates the life of the lonely and neglected nine year old Sudie who is largely ignored by her family and has endured hardships, including abuse. Seeking solace from her harsh home life, Sudie ventures into the woods along the railroad tracks, where she discovers and secretly befriends Simpson, an acrimonious black widower who lives and hides in an old abandoned house. Isolated by grief over his lost wife and child, and burdened by the deep seated racism of the era symbolized by the infamous sundown sign warning black people not to stay after dark, Simpson becomes a source of comfort and understanding for Sudie. Simpson finds in Sudie the daughter he never had. In return, she receives the genuine kindness, love and understanding that have been absent from her own life. Their forbidden cross-racial friendship becomes a quiet act of defiance and healing, but it faces the threat of the town’s prejudices and inevitable discovery, leading to heartbreaking consequences that ripple through the community. The novel explores loneliness, prejudice, unlikely bonds, the turning of blind eyes to a pedophile due to his higher societal position, compassion and the innocence of childhood clashing with societal bigotry. It offers a heartfelt portrayal of human connection amidst racism, shedding light on the complexities of relationships in an era plagued by racial discrimination. I highly recommend this little novel as a must read for anyone interested in 1940s rural Georgian history and the Jim Crow period in the South.

painfully honest, profound, a keeper

Sudie is one of the books I recommend to all my friends and then loan out with trepidation. What if they don't give it back? This and Alice (also by Flanigan)are both out of print so my copies can't easily be replaced. Sudie is wonderful, first of all, because its voice is so southern, so trusting and so incredibly authentic. A friendship between a black man and a white child are the perfect contrast to the ugliness of prejudice & abuse. Flanigan is a courageous woman with a voice that needs to speak more often. I keep hoping that her long silence means she is taking her time with another great book. I'd love to hear from the author.

Thought provoking and good story

I feel this book should be required reading, not only in secondary school but in primary school as well. I feel that the current over-emphasis on what nationality One is eroding countries such as Canada and the United States. This book serves to remind us all that what nationality(ies) we are is far less important than common equality among us all. Sudie points out that just because we are different colours, it doesn't mean that one race is bad or good, God just made us different colours like the dirt of the earth. We are all the same and should treat others with respect as human beings, not as ethnic minorities. Sudie and Simpson are excellent examples of what I mean. They were friends because they needed each other's companionship and love. Sudie learns first-hand what 'ethnic' diversification can do, when she pretends to be black in another town, and hated the attitude towards her. She and her friends find tremendous satisfaction in taking down the one remaining sign that states 'niggers' were not to let the sun set on them in Linlow, in the end of the story. Sara Flanigan created a good story