I read the first chapter of Alisa’s copy of Savannah from Savannah by Denise Hildreth, and I checked it out of the library to see if it was any good.
You guys. It was not good.
For one thing, the first chapter set up a conflict with her mother that . . . never really happened. The way she talked about her mother and the way her mother acted were not completely in line, so Savannah came off as a big whiner. The newspaper job that Savannah got, well, I’m no newspaper expert, but would she really get a job and then be expected to turn in a story the very next day? That seemed off to me, like it was pure plot contrivance. (Maybe Carla Jean can tell us if newspaper work is really like that.) Additionally, the book was too long. It took way too long to get to the point (and the point was . . . not so much). And that’s not even mentioning the way Savannah used “Southern” phrases, acted like she wanted to be all on her own and then borrowed Daddy’s credit card for a flight, and just generally was . . . unlikeable.
But, you know, none of that was what made me emotionally give up on the book (I was too far in to quit, but I was only reading to finish). On the back of the book, it says that Denise Hildreth is married to (Christian) recording artist Jonathan Pierce. About a third of the way through the book (maybe a little earlier), our main character, Savannah, was running and listening to Jonathan Pierce’s CD. Haha, very funny. I rolled my eyes a little bit. And then she did it again:
I used the twenty-five-minute drive from the Savannah airport to listen to my Jonathan Pierce CD. He was a cutie, that one. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was married. But a guy like that wouldn’t want a newspaper writer from Savannah who was doing her first story on a rigged beauty pageant.
Seriously? Seriously? That? Is lame. Who let that happen? Who thought that was cute? It wasn’t cute. At all. If I wrote a book and was like, “Woo, that hot teacher Mike!” you guys would think that was ridiculous, not cute.
Unfortunately, I found this book to be a disappointment. I give it a thumbs down. (But I probably wouldn’t have written about it except for the Jonathan Pierce thing. Seriously? A cutie? *sigh*)
(Sorry Alisa.)
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17 Comments
I need clarification. Did she have to turn in her first story the day after she accepted the offer, or on her first day of actual work?
Please inform.
The second day of work. She started Monday, turned her story (a human interest piece) in on Tuesday, and it ran on Wednesday.
I think for something strictly factual I would have bought it, but I would have thought that human interest kinds of things would require more research (in fact, hers did and she screwed it up).
Hehe. I actually really liked this book…but now that you mentioned some of those issues, I see where you’re coming from. It was cheap, anyway – $2.99 (yay discount Christian bookstores!). I didn’t catch the Jonathan Pierce thing though – that is HILARIOUS. And definitely ridiculous.
(The Mike comment was from me.)
*not reading past the first line in this entry becasue I have yet to read the book, other book catch my interst more but I just might resell it back to Ed McKays*
100 percent completely plausible. There are many cases in which she would have more time for a feature story than that, but there are also many cases in which she would not.
This is Kari . . . thanks for the insider information.
It still bugs me about the job, but I think that has to do a lot with the way she got the job (implausible and not nearly as endearing as the author thinks), which made the rest of it not ring as true, even if it really could be.
How did she get the job?
Also, knowing the little bit I do about the Savannah Morning News, I don’t think they would be the type of paper to rush her into writing a full feature story in one day.
She walked in, told the editor-in-chief off, he liked her “spirit,” read her samples, and gave her a job.
Is that how you got your job?
mmmmmmmmmm not so much.
And the Savannah paper hasn’t had an opening for a reporter in ages, anyway. 
I know these things!
Somebody died! That’s why there was an opening! hehe.
But not in REAL life.
And that’s what matters, right?
(Also, did she have an appointment with the editor beforehand? Because otherwise, she would not have been able to get to him past the secretary and quite possibly security.)
Oh, no. There was something about why the secretary wasn’t there, but I . . . don’t remember it. But she definitely didn’t have an appointment.
I think the secretary was in the office with him, and he was yelling at her, hence her telling him off. Is that right?
And THANK YOU Kari, because I’ve been torn about that book. I hated it, but I thought it might have just been me. The funny thing is that I bought it as an attempt to branch out from christian fiction, so I got it at half price books in the secular section. And it turned out to not only be christian fiction novel, but a very poorly written one.
And yeah, the Jonathan Pierce comments… they made me laugh in a “Oh wow, you are sad” kind of way. That was one of the main turn offs for me as well.
I also did not feel connected to the storyline at all. I thought the whole beauty pageant thing was stupid. I didn’t think it made for a great story at all, and the whole time she was writing it I just thought it was stupid. And yeah, it seemed very unrealistic that the story was due the same week she started.
So yeah, I wanted to like the book. But I very much didn’t. And I’m happy to see that my book discernment lines up with yours, Kari. It makes me feel like a good book critic
I don’t think that was the secretary, because there was that young secretary at the end who hated Savannah . . . but I’m not sure who the lady was that he was yelling at. At the beginning I had the impression she was a secretary, but then she didn’t turn up again.
(And you can tell I didn’t like the beauty pageant stuff, since I didn’t even mention it at all. hehe.)
Yeah, there’s no way. I mean, at the second paper I worked at, that could have happened because it was SO dinky that people could walk right around the front desk and straight up to any reporter or editor at any time. But in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham both, you have to go through security to get to the reporters and editors. It’s that way at many other papers I’ve interviewed at, as well. So I totally don’t buy it.
(I’m just helping contribute to the hatred.)
I was just perusing today and came across the first “hate” responses I’ve received. I have to admit, I read all the way down! It was completely entrancing. Must say I’ve heard both positive and negative on the “Jonathan Pierce” quotes. Got such a kick out of all of them I even made reference to them in the third Savannah book, refering to it as “shameless cross marketing! (I know can you believe it, they actually let me do three of those pitiful puppies!)
In all honesty, I’m just glad I prompted some sort of discussion. Hope you’ll give me another try. My new book comes out in February-”Flies on the Butter”- and no Savannah reference what so ever!
But I did research- no security at the Savannah Morning News-did interviews there- toured the facility and it was then-in their old facility as normal as it comes. Everything was plausible-just obviously not palatable! Here’s to having a website where we can all voice our thoughts!
Thanks for yours…..
Denise