Sweet Home Alabama

The Splendor Falls


Written by: Rosemary Clement-Moore

Released: January 11, 2011 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Summary: Sylvie Davis is a ballerina who can't dance; she lost everything important to her in one missed step.

Uprooting her from her Manhattan apartment, and shipping her to Alabama is her mother's solution for Sylvie's unhappiness. But life might not be any more simple down south. As it turns out, her family has a lot more history than Sylvie ever knew. More unnerving, though, are the two guys that she can't stop thinking about.

Then Sylvie starts seeing things. A girl down by the lake. A man peering into the window. And a graveyard with an oddly placed headstone. Sylvie's lost nearly everything—is she starting to lose her mind as well?

I’m not sure how to go about reviewing this book. I really enjoyed reading it, but there’s just something about it that makes me not know how to go about writing this.

There are two parts to this story when you get right down to it. There’s the ghost mystery bit and the supernatural bit. The entire book slowly builds up to the ghost part and just when it climaxes there are still questions left unanswered until the very end – but when the last bits of the puzzle are made known, it’s just like that. There’s no real explanation other than ‘slam bam thank you ma’am – that’s all folks – the end’. It was a little weird. And as for the supernatural bit outside of the ghost part, well, it happened all of a sudden and then was the main focus taking over for the ghost part.

I don’t know if that’s straight enough of an explanation, but it’s the best I could write it all down.

Basically, it was a weird little book that I enjoyed reading even though it had me scratching my head (figuratively) while reading it – especially at the very end.

Sylvie as a character was alright, but I feel that she, like the ending, was rushed. Maybe it’s just that everything seemed to happen at the end that she was swept along with it. And her love triangle was just a little awkward, especially at the end.

I guess when it all comes down to it is that the ending overpowered the entire book and not necessarily in a good way. It was just weird.

I would recommend that you read this book yourself if you’re able to since it’s one of those books that really needs to be read and the reader make their own conclusion. As a book, it was alright though with a rushed ending and a weird combination of story lines. I’m going to have to give it a 6/10.

Oh, and I don’t get the title. Could someone explain it to me if they understand how it ties into the story. Please? But the cover is gorgeous.