1106 Grand Boulevard [Paperback]

 

 

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1106 GRAND BOULEVARD is a tough book to classify and giving it a rating in numbers of stars is yet more difficult. Usually 5 stars indicates a masterpiece of literature, one of the great novels, one of the books destined to climb to the top of the best selling list, or some other dubious notch on the ladder. But Betty Dravis has written an engrossing book about middle America and the foibles and kinks and bonds of the big family, bound together by secrets and by familial love of the unconditional type, and in doing so she has elected to tell her story in the language appropriate to the family. This novel is not overflowing with metaphors and waxing eloquent: Dravis writes with constrained Midwest vocabulary even as her huge cast of characters travels the continent and eventually the world. Her strict reliance on this style pulls the story along with a credibility sense that keeps it real. It is a feat, a writer's decision, and it works. And as such it deserves 5 stars.

To relate the story in a brief synopsis would be impossible, so rapid fire are the incidents, so changing the characters, so extensive the time from 1933 to 1997. The story begins in Hamilton, Ohio where the address of the title is the home of the Sloane family. The eldest daughter Billie Jean is a bombshell and a hedonist and marries Cal at sixteen only to be abused and eventually shot by him. Pregnant and a disappointment to her family she moves to Arizona where her Aunt Tommie begins her 'education' about managing men. And manage them she does, going through seven marriages and countless boyfriends as she makes her way through life struggling with her perceived lack of her mother's love and respect and her desperate longing for her original love, Cal. Along the way she grows up and relates to her large family of brothers and sisters in meaningful encounters, only to ultimately learn the etiology and lessons of her lifelong reaction to men and her desperate need to feel the love of her mother. The story shifts from secrets to disasters to hopes crushed by deaths to wild nights and incidents that would destroy a lesser heroine than the impossible not to love Billie Jean.

Dravis is able to create characters with a minimum of dialogue and a maximum of response from her heroine's experiences. There is never a dull moment or a gaping hole in the narrative. There are problems with electing to write in the vernacular that I am sure Dravis weighed carefully: phrases like 'Lordy', 'Honey', and repeated familial epithets tend to drone the reader and the use of a drawing of a face at the beginning of each chapter that tends to give the appearance of a running magazine serial instead of a novel. These are quibbles. The task or goal of a storyteller is to capture the attention of the reader and hold the reader 'hostage' until the final page. Dravis is a past master in this. The adventures of Billie Jean Sloane-Taylor-McIvers-Hollings-Parsons-Sinclair-etc... make for a wild ride and a good read. Grady Harp, July 06

Some books grab you with an action-packed opening and hook you right in from the first paragraph. Other books reveal the richness of their story a layer at a time.

Betty Dravis' "1106 Grand Boulevard" does both. Firmly rooted in small-town America, it ranges through nearly fifty years and across the country from Ohio to Arizona, Nevada and California. Sixteen-year-old Billie Jean Sloane takes center stage as she runs screaming from her young husband's jealous rage, headlong into an amazing matrimonial career. Billie Jean's family, already disapproving of her marriage to Cal, shield her from his remorse and entrust her to the care of her Aunt Tommie where she learns a more calculating approach to relationships -- without losing her sometimes naive desire to marry for love.

Fortunate in the love of her large family, Billie Jean is not so fortunate in her marriages. Time after time she marries in haste only to be disappointed in her search for the lasting "love of her life," yet her energy and optimism shine through the author's words. Billie Jean's parents, sisters and brothers circle through her story in a way that made me appreciate the importance in my life of my own family.

This book is fiction based on fact, and how I'd like to meet the author's sister (the "real" Billie Jean) and the rest of the family. What a great bunch! Betty Dravis portrays all of her characters lovingly but doesn't sugar-coat them, and their personalities are never overshadowed by the events of the story. They could be your next-door neighbors.

This book reminded me of "Standing in the Rainbow" by Southern author Fannie Flagg, having a similar span of time, small-town focus, and entrancing, strong-minded woman as a central character. Billie Jean's personality is very different from that of Flagg's Neighbor Dorothy, but both women live their lives with a consistency and honesty that has the ring of truth -- both are people you'd like to know. Both claim the attention of everyone in their sphere and work hard for everything they achieve.

I love a story that somehow comes full circle, referencing and resolving the themes that run through it. This book certainly does that (read it for yourself to find out how!) and it's that resolution that lifts the story, and the telling of it, out of the ordinary. To see the pattern and context in a long, vivid life is a gift, and "1106 Grand Boulevard" gives us that.

If it were a movie -- and it should be, with the lead played by somebody easy to like, Sandra Bullock for instance -- I'd be there with a box of tissues in my lap, expecting some tears and lots of smiles. A great story, interesting characters, costumes and interiors from the thirties through the seventies -- what could be better?

Betty Dravis' beautifully paced book kept me reading late into the night, fingers crossed that the irrepressible Billie Jean would find the true, satisfying love we all yearn for. If you believe in second chances, you will love this book!

I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio (only about 32 miles from Hamilton where much of this story takes place), so when I heard of this book and learned that the house on the cover is the actual childhood home of the author, I decided to take a Sunday drive and look her old home over.

Surprisingly, it looks about the same now as it did in the cover photo. It's large, old, and a little weather-beaten, but still quite charming.

Although the house is about what I expected, this book is not what I expected. I expected a beautiful, smalltown girl with the usual men and family problems, but what I got was much more. This book is not the usual pablum; Billie Jean is a real woman with real problems ... problems generations of women will relate to. I admire Billie Jean's courage in picking herself up time and time again. What a woman! Most modern book heroines would throw their hands in the air and scream HELP if they faced even half the perils BJ faced.

The author's descriptive skills are so good that Billie Jean became alive for me from page one. I couldn't put this book down. You may think it's a typical love story, but think again: This book is a thriller in the best sense of the word. What a plot!!

The family dynamics are real and the part the house plays in the story is amazing. I enjoyed this family saga and Billie's Jean's life, but it left me wondering which part is fiction, which is truth.

The author is to be commended for handling such a complex plot with such skill and dexterity. A smooth, satisfying, exciting reading adventure. I hightly recommend it.

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4.0 out of 5 stars `Without the crooked turns and twists our lives took, we wouldn't be the people we are today.'
This is a story about the life and times of Billie Jean Sloan, about 1106 Grand Boulevard - the place she identified most strongly as home, and about family. Read more

Published 10 months ago by J. Cameron-Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Billie Jean's Quest
Billie Jean Sloane was created for life's dramatic moments. Nothing she does is "beige"...she is washed in vivid colors from Day One. Read more

Published on Nov 16 2008 by Laurel-Rain Snow "Rain"

5.0 out of 5 stars Reviewed for Midwest Book Review
Author Betty Dravis has written an intriguing "faction" as she calls it, eloquently weaving fiction with her own personal history. Read more

Published on Dec 4 2006 by Christy Tillery French

5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic Saga of Pink Lace & Cream? Or... Sage Colored Satin For Y's in the Dream ...
This work is an Original. It's a captivating offering, designed within the format of a novel; and it succeeds luxuriously within the high entertainment of true escape... Read more

Published on Oct 5 2006 by Linda G. Shelnutt

5.0 out of 5 stars A GRAND epic romantic thriller! A GRAND family saga!
Hello everyone,

This is Billie Jean, the star of my sister Betty Dravis's newest book,1106 Grand Boulevard. I read the saga in three readings and hated to have it end ... Read more

Published on May 22 2006 by Billie Jean

5.0 out of 5 stars A man's kind of love story, too. Different, orignal!
I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a man's kind of love story, too. It has romance, excitement, adventure, family love, nostalgia for the old hometown, etc. ... Read more

Published on May 9 2006 by News Nose

5.0 out of 5 stars This book lives up to its hype! A page-turner!
I've been a fan of this author since reading her debut novel, Millennium Babe: The Prophecy in 2001. Read more

Published on May 7 2006 by Flea Catcher

5.0 out of 5 stars NOTE FROM AUTHOR: PRE-REVIEWS FROM BOOK INTRO & COVER ...
EDGE-OF-YOUR-SEAT SUSPENSE!
"Edge-of-your-seat suspense. Dravis grabs the reader up front. A pageturner story that tugs the emotional heart strings. Read more

Published on April 26 2006 by Betty L. Dravis

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