About the book:
Beverly Underwood and her arch enemy, Lula Dean, live in the tiny town of Troy, Georgia, where they were born and raised. Now Beverly is on the school board, and Lula has become a local celebrity by embarking on mission to rid the public libraries of all inappropriate books—none of which she’s actually read. To replace the “pornographic” books she’s challenged at the local public library, Lula starts her own lending library in front of her home: a cute wooden hutch with glass doors and neat rows of the worthy literature that she’s sure the town’s readers need.
But Beverly’s daughter Lindsay sneaks in by night and secretly fills Lula Dean’s little free library with banned books wrapped in “wholesome” dust jackets. The Girl’s Guide to the Revolution is wrapped in the cover of The Southern Belle’s Guide to Etiquette. A jacket that belongs to Our Confederate Heroes ends up on Beloved. One by one, neighbors who borrow books from Lula Dean’s library find their lives changed in unexpected ways. Finally, one of Lula Dean’s enemies discovers the library and decides to turn the tables on her, just as Lula and Beverly are running against each other to replace the town’s disgraced mayor.
That’s when all the townspeople who’ve been borrowing from Lula’s library begin to reveal themselves. It’s a diverse and surprising bunch—including the local postman, the prom queen, housewives, a farmer, and the former DA—all of whom have been changed by what they’ve read. When Lindsay is forced to own up to what she’s done, the showdown that’s been brewing between Beverly and Lula will roil the whole town…and change it forever.
This was just an honest to God funny book. I read it in an evening and laughed out loud in places.
Lula Dean is a lonely woman who feels betrayed by a life that doesn’t fit her idea of morality. She was your stereotypical mean girl in high school who hasn’t grown up or matured at all. Always searching for relevance and attention, she grasps onto the issue of banned books. She sets up a little library full of what she believes are “good” books.
Soon though, her little free library is hacked and the wholesome books replaced with banned ones. What follows is both hysterical and captivating.
The townspeople choose books from Lula’s library for different reasons and, instead, soon find that they have discovered books that speak to them, teach, and enlighten.
Some of the themes are mature, with profanity. We see racism, anti-semitism, book banning, and anti LGBTQ+ sentiment.
The book can be read as a simple story or a fantastic satire with parallels to what we are seeing in our country today.
The social commentary often seems high-handed, some of the characterizations are shallow, and many are clichéd and stereotypically Southern.
But, I loved it. I loved the boy who discovered the book Gender Queer and how it helped him understand his brother. Or the boy who found Are you there God, It’s me Margaret? and how it helped him learn about what girls and women and cleared up misunderstandings about what he’d inadvertently heard about menstruation. I loved the girl who discovered The Girl’s to Revolution (which unfortunately doesn’t exist) and how it charged her sense of right and wrong.
I found it clichéd, but still thought-provoking. It shows the importance of books and libraries.
And the ending is perfect. Absolutely perfect.
Read 10/25
* * * * *
5/5 Stars
