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5.0 out of 5 stars
Not Sick of Sharyn, Sep 18 2002
While lying in bed last weekend, moaning under the weight of a killer headache, I tossed aside the book I had been reading because it required too much concentration. The constant brow-furrowing and synapse-firing was exacerbating my mal-du-tete, so I sought something lighter. Something funny. Something that wouldn't hurt my enfeebled head. I found it in Sharyn McCrumb's "Sick of Shadows", a novel of characters in which the mystery is incidental. Each character is original, fun and lively, with quirks that may have seemed quirkier years ago when this book was written, but now seem as normal as any American family. The main character is Elizabeth McPherson, recent college graduate, who goes on to figure in many more of McCrumb's novels (McCrumb seems to have fallen in love with her Appalachian cycle, so Ms. McPherson's fate is uncertain, at best). Her mad cousin, Eileen, is about to be married and has invited Elizabeth to be a bridesmaid. Cousin Geoffrey is a Shakespeare-spouting layabout, Cousin Alban is a history buff who built a castle on his property and Charles is a hippie physicist. McCrumb gives Elizabeth a wry matter-of-fact delivery that occasionally made me laugh out loud, and her favorite device is revealing her impressions of the family in frequent letters to her brother, Bill, who is unable to attend the wedding. The murder, when it finally happens, is shocking and sad, yet McCrumb doesn't allow it to weigh the book down with sorrow. All in all, "Sick of Shadows" was just what I needed to get me through a miserable day. Of course, I was cheating, as I had read it years ago and was only now rereading it, so I knew it would be perfect, but that shouldn't steer you away from this book or the series. I plan to reread them all.
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