This was a strange, yet compelling read. I picked it up on vacation and read most of it on the beach. That was a month ago (as of writing this), so I have some distance from it, and what sticks with me the most are the characters themselves who have an almost archetypal quality to them like they’re bigger than the story, and yet they are not simplistic; they’re quite specific. Miss Amelia is prideful, reserved, greedy, cruel, and yet she also has a childish innocence when it comes to her tenderness for Cousin Lymon and shame of her brief marriage to Marvin Macy. Cousin Lymon himself is a truly pathetic creature, so much so that he feels like some kind of archetype for a pathetic character. He’s manipulative, selfish, and a liar to boot, and yet somehow, shithead though he is, you still find yourself feeling sorry for him.

This is a Southern Gothic story and, though I think the characters have a quality that transcends the story, I do find that they do feel uniquely southern. I recognized real people from my childhood in these characters, sometimes in an uncanny way. I think that’s the main reason this story has stuck with me, much like the work of Flannery O’Connor. It’s familiar.