How did each of the four siblings grow and change throughout the course of the book in your view? Was there one sibling whose story or struggles particularly resonated with you?

How did each of the four siblings grow and change throughout the course of the book in your view? Was there one sibling whose story or struggles particularly resonated with you?

I think Tokey's story was the saddest. She didn't seem close to any of her family. Then she reads that her mother doesn't think she is King's daughter. It's no wonder that she had an eating disorder.

I'm not sure how it ends for her. She joined her siblings in razing the house and that seemed to make her feel closer to them, but I'm not sure that was reciprocated as each of them had their own issues and seemed uninterested in hers or in really connecting with her.

It seemed sad that she was taking control of her life by traveling - alone. For someone who was always lonely, that doesn't seem to bode well.

The four siblings were stuck in patterns which they developed throughout childhood and young adulthood. Junior was living under other people's (his father, his wife) expectations. With his loss of Simon, he breaks free from this. Mance falls back on being the "bad" boy to get ahead even though his first criminal offense was something set up by Uncle Shad. He moves forward at the end of the book. CeCe rebelled against the Diggs and its small town prejudices. She wanted more and better and that lead to her embezzling money from her law firm. She has known that she was wrong but finally gets a chance to correct her mistake. Finally Tokey has always believed that she deserves to be in a small world, her addictive eating certainly speaks to her lack of self worth. She too, grows at the end, by traveling on her own.

I resonated with the stories of the women. I think without their mother to guide them, they did not grow up knowing their strengths and having self-confidence.

Each of them began to recognize who they were at the core and began to accept themselves and took steps to improve their future. There were significant others in each of their lives with Simon, Lisha, Ellis and Jessie. As the mother of a gay son, I can appreciate Junior's struggles.

I felt the most sympathy for Tokey. She started in the family alone, and ended up alone. I can see why she had an eating disorder. I'm surprised that she didn't have more issues. The author focused only on that. Did she have friends? Was she a good teacher? Did she like the town? Did she have much of a relationship with KIng? Very one sided person.

I empathized with Junior most, as I can only imagine how difficult it would be to be a gay black man in a small town in the south.

I loved following the growth of the four siblings. After losing Simon, Junior learned to stop being who others expected him to be and just be himself. Mance learned to leave behind his life of violence. Cece has to accept the consequences of her actions but does learn that all she was truly seeking was waiting for her right there at home. I think Tokey was left hanging somewhat. But she did learn to communicate better with her family and realized she was the one who brought them together for family discussions. It was her situation that resonated the most with me.