The Summer We Got Saved

by Pat Cunningham Devoto

Book Overview

Embracing the conservative and discriminatory belief systems of her Southern hometown, Tab witnesses profound changes in the attitudes of her friends and family throughout the course of a 1960s gubernatorial campaign, which is marked by the establishment of a voting school for church members. By the author of Out of the Night That Covers Me.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0446576964
• ISBN13: 9780446576963
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Warner Books (NY)
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly wonderful

My tastes don't usually run toward the incessant rehashing of the civil rights days. But this novel was a wonderful surprise of refreshing insight. The characters were beautifully developed. I am constantly reading and then forgetting most books. But I don't think I'll forget this book - ever.

A touching look at the era

The title grabbed me. I was in the library and just picked it up expecting something completely different. When I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It was very touching, thought provoking and entertaining. I fell in love with each of the main characters. This was a very interesting look at that era. It was the first time that I read about the civil rights era or voter registration drive from the points of view of (an adult) White southerner, a White (reluctant) teen and Black voter worker. I was truly surprised as to where this story took me. I began to care about the characters. I laughed and cried at parts. I'd love to see more about these characters, perhaps what happened to them in the next 10 years. I'd say that this book can truly be read and appreciated by those who weren't alive during that time period (like me) as well as those who lived it. I'm sure that they may see inaccuracies or may not feel that it "took them there" like I did but I'm sure that they will find it interesting as well. I'd recommend it for YA and adults as well.

GOT TO READ THIS BOOK!!!!

She has done it again. I wondered after her last writting, if I could be as entertained and excited about another book in this series of Southern life at it's best and worst. Indeed Pat Cunningham Devoto has risen to the challange of yet again writting a captivating, moving, historic, comical account of life in the South. I too have wondered about Mautie May many times since she left us in Roy Rodgers. How nice to open a book and find old friends waiting there for you, ready to share what has happened in their lives since you last met. I encourage EVERYONE to purchase this book... Get ready to laugh and cry and enter the world of Ms. Devoto and her sassy Southern style. This will be a book that will stand on it's on for many years to come.

A 5-Star Read!!

Saved . . . yes, but not like I expected. Coming from the South, I expected religious overtones. None of that here. The title is intriguing and tantalizing. The characters learn about themselves as they learn about each other. Their development hinges on the understanding that comes from learning to appreciate viewpoints that differ from their own. We watch them come to the door of maturity and pass through it, realizing they are changing but not quite sure how. The turbulent civil rights period reveals the necessity to reach out to others in unexpected ways. Some of the most poignant descriptions I have ever read have come from the careful and considered description of Maudie dealing with the aftereffects of polio. Ever the realist, Maudie goes on with her life. Yet my heart goes out to her as she does. Tab, on the other hand, establishes herself as the character we all understand because we were all that naive once. We watch her as she comes to realize that everything is not what it seems. These are characters I came to love in Ms. Devoto's first book, My Last Days as Roy Rogers. Then I watched as Tab began to grow up and Maudie struggled with polio in the Out of the Night that Covers Me. Now I get to "live with" these beloved characters once again in this book. You will come to love the characters as I have, but you don't need to read the previous books to care for what happens to Tab, Maudie, and the other unique characters that Ms. Devoto so clearly creates for us. Each of her books stands alone as one of those "gotta see what happens" novels that you stay up to finish.

Unique view of the civil rights era

I fell in love with the characters in Devoto's first novel, "My Last Days as Roy Rogers" and was delighted to find them again in this book but I found more, much more. These are ordinary people caught up in the tidal wave of the civil rights era and through them, we come to see many viewpoints. Not just the familiar martyrs or heroes of that era. Funny, heart-breaking, and true history (I could hardly bear to read through the account of a drug store sit in) More characters emerge, the most memorable being Dominique, brittle, heartbreaking, funny young black girl who forces the reader to see her unique viewpoint, one not often, maybe never, spotlighted in this era. Prepare to learn and love.