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Reviewed by:
  • Ashes to Asheville by Sarah Dooley
  • Deborah Stevenson
Dooley, Sarah Ashes to Asheville. Putnam, 2017 [256p]
Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-399-16504-7 $16.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-698-17402-3 $10.99
Reviewed from galleys         Ad Gr. 5-7

Fella’s been living with her starchy grandmother, Mrs. Madison, since the death of her beloved Mama Lacy; now her older sister, Zany, who’s still living with their Mama Shannon, is on a mission and Fella’s sucked into it like it or not. The girls have snatched Mama Lacy’s cremation urn and plan to drive from their West Virginia home to Asheville, NC, where the family happily lived for years until Mama Lacy got sick, to scatter her ashes. The trip turns into a saga of its own involving a desperate teenaged thief, a spot of mild car thievery/unsanctioned borrowing, an elderly poodle, and the sisters’ grief and rage not just at their mother’s death but at the subsequent fission of the family. The book’s 2003 setting accentuates the family strains, since the lack of legal marriage between her lesbian parents is what leads to Fella’s separation from Mama Shannon, the woman who helped raise her, after Mama Lacy dies; Asheville also serves as contrast to West Virginia in its acceptance of the family. Fella’s complicated feelings about her family, including her grandmother, are thoughtfully explored, but the fighting, especially between the sisters, is so relentless and predominant that it often drowns out other emotions. In addition, there’s contrivance in the colorful details and a heavy hand with the sentimentality in the portrait of the family and in the conclusion. However, it’s an affectionate look at a part of the country not usually spotlighted, and it’s a warm tale of family possibilities after bereavement. [End Page 306]

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