The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God, a novel by Timothy Schaffert
[Unbridled Books]
“Achy-breaky dysfunction drives a messy, funny family drama in this small-town Nebraska tale, told in a winning faux-naïve style … film, along with music, plays a wonderful incidental role throughout … Deft, sweet and surprising.”
— Publishers Weekly
Hud and Tuesday are living, breathing, squirming examples of the refrain that breaking up is hard to do. And not only is the marriage of the divorced duo asunder, their teenage son Gatling has broken away to follow the rhythms of an itinerant gospel rock band made of four fundamentalist, but less-than-angelic, beauties called The Daughters of God. The erstwhile couple’s eight-year-old daughter Nina is the one generous helping of sugar in their bittersweet lives. And Hud toys with the notion of kidnapping the child, hoping that she will act as the magnet that will draw his splintered family back together.
The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God is a funny and heart-strumming tale about a night club piano player enamored with country music, old movies and a family he just cannot get a grip on. With a one-of-a-kind point-of-view, Timothy Schaffert’s novel looks out on loves lost and found again and lives tangled and sorted out. He has composed a tale of everyday tragedy as real and frustrating as any cataclysmic world event. And he has written a story of hope as palpable as sunshine.
— Janet Singleton
“Schaffert breathes life into his characters with a delicate touch, lending a poignant dignity to even the oddest misfit. The result is life boiled down to its heartiest essence. … Hud Smith is a less-than-successful man who writes mournful country songs and drinks more than he should. Since his divorce, he lives above the shoe repair shop on the square in a fading Nebraska town. Hud struggles to maintain a relationship with his ex-wife Tuesday and dreams of romantic reconciliations. He feeds those dreams with memories of life before the breakup, trying to reprise the ingredients that made their odd pairing work: nights out at the drive-in movie dressed as their favorite leading man and lady; waiting to be discovered by the likes of Sam Shepard or Lisa Marie Presley; rainy Sundays spent lazing about their dilapidated house while he croons their favorite songs. Every dream he ever had has fallen through, but despite his dreary life, Hud faces every day with hope and humor. He plays piano and sings at a nearby Ramada, fending off lonely women who find his music appealing, living for the day his family will be restored. … The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God is often humorous, yes, but thanks to Schaffert's story telling style it is not a cruel parody of life's rejects. These are lives made up of large and small failures, joys, and negotiations. And Schaffert makes them shine.”
— Laurel Johnson, Midwest Book Review
Read an excerpt here.
REVIEW BLURBS
“… any of Mr. Schaffert’s characters is a country song waiting to happen. … With one tip of the hat (through Hud) to Larry McMurtry, another that ought to go to Richard Russo, Mr. Schaffert creates a comically mopey little burg full of whimsical dreams.”
-- Janet Maslin, New York Times
“Nebraskan’s second novel impresses with its strong, eccentric characters and author’s obvious warmth for them.”
--Kansas City Star, from the list of the Star’s 100 Noteworthy Books of 2005
“Laced with hope and an aching sweetness, [The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God] is as whimsical and smile-inducing as its title. Readers will fall for Hud, his family, and the one-off inhabitants of the quirky little town from page one owing to Schaffert's homey yet elegant and precise prose. The only reason to put the book down is to make it last. Highly recommended...”
-- Library Journal (starred review)
“Schaffert has wit and a lovely writing style.”
--Entertainment Weekly
“…heart-rending…an honest story with just a touch of honky-tonk.”
--Iris Blasi, BookPage
“Schaffert’s novel is about art and all the things it can make us do and desire. The three most complicated characters here--Hud, Tuesday and their old friend Ozzie--are artists, and their suffering is pure. ... Despite all the trouble they cause--mostly for each other--the characters are motivated by love. It’s often stupid and dangerous, but it’s love nonetheless.”
--Pete Coco, Time Out Chicago
“If director David Lynch were to write a novel about a marriage on the rocks, it would look a lot like Daughters of God. And if Schaffert needs anybody to direct the movie, Lynch would be the man.”
-- Detroit Free Press
“This loopy, relaxed tale traces [Hud’s] zigzag, three-steps-forward-and-two-steps-back path toward reconciliation with his wife and kids, and ingratiates itself, along with the hero, into our hearts. … Schaffert has a talent for creating characters for whom one develops an almost immediate soft spot. I caught myself wanting this dysfunctional bunch to get back together, God knows why.”
-- Mike Clark, The Durango [Colorado] Herald
“… poignant… This splendid new book echoes the wacky humor of Schaffert’s first book— The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters — and yet both treat seriously the complexity of family ties that persist against all odds.”
-- Carolyn Johnsen, Lincoln Journal Star
“…the characters are disarmingly wacky and charming. … Crazy? Yes. Fun? Definitely.”
-- Susan O'Bryan, Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Mississippi)
“… what makes this novel so delightful is Hud’s hopeful attitude as he works to regain his fragmented family, both children benefiting from their parents’ sometimes misguided love. Every heartache is tempered with tenderness, every mistake with forgiveness.”
-- Luan Gaines, Curled Up With a Good Book