Review: Great supporting cast!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 30, 2014
I loved being pulled into Wiley's world. I live in the MS, but I didn't grow up there, so it was interesting to learn about swimming holes and four-wheelers and crazy relatives who are allowed to shoot off their mouths. I found his romance with Jackson meh. Even Wiley comments at the end of the novel that his story is more about the love between father and son, not two lovers. Jackson was just too cardboard compared to the others in the novel. Noah and Pawpaw were my favorite characters. Noah taught me a lot about his disabilities. Wilgus did a fantastic job of portraying Noah as real person rather than just a stand-in for his disability or a save-the-cat opportunity for the other characters. Pawpaw was so incredibly offensive, but I found myself laughing at his vitriol when I realized that he said most of what he did for effect. I also came to like Wiley's mother and Kayla's mother. Brother Billy confused me - I'm not sure how someone goes from punching the crap out of someone for being gay to showing up at a gay rights rally in just a few weeks. I loved the scenes of Food World. Wiley brought so much humor to his job while still showing how hard it was to have a minimum wage existence. Shaking the Sugar Tree is the kind of novel that defies all the false calls for diversity in literature. It is out there - here is a great story about a gay man raising a deaf son and living on minimum wage in a community that is not welcoming to people who don't conform.  If you like stories that shake you up and teach you something new, you should read this novel.