The Long Desperate Road: A Novel Based on a True Story

Willie Cordell
iUniverse (2008)
ISBN 9780595498499
Reviewed by Angela Henley for Reader Views (7/09)


Willie Cordell writes with an authentic voice.  She tells the tales of her life struggles, triumphs, and adventures through a series of vignettes that she calls chapters.  There are well over 100 chapters in the book index and at first glance this appears to be overdone or overwhelming.   Upon opening the book and starting Willie’s journey you soon find that “The Long Desperate Road”  really is just a series of short stories that weave together to illustrate a lifetime of events.  Each story is a standalone story that you could read independently and understand without the connection to the others, but when the reader reads them all the connection is what allows the reader to fall in love with the characters that just happen to be “real!”   

The stories are set in the 40s and 50s and chronicle the lives of two women, a mother and daughter.  The daughter is also the author of the book, Willie Cordell.  It is a biographical and autobiographical memoir.

The reader is able to relate too many of the short stories and events that Willie tells in the book.  She writes her stories so that you can imagine them as if they were your own. The stories are punctuated with details such as “pin curls made from bobby pins” that helps the reader to imagine and put a mental picture to the words she writes.   Each short story evokes a feeling, a laugh, a sigh, a tear, or a minute of madness. 

The cast of women, strong Southern women, in the story found a place in my heart. Finding love for themselves, their significant others and their offspring in the book unraveled a lifetime of struggle.  Each character is introduced with care and given life. Family members, neighbors and employers each played a significant role in the daily lives of the families and so did the occasional visitors.  From the escaped convicts to the social workers to the simple acquaintances that are written carefully about, each individual seemed to make a lasting impact on the families even though their presence was long gone. I found that this book had the same qualities.  It became clear that this is not only true in the pages of this book, but related to my own life chapters as well.

The story itself conjures up images in the readers mind from two generations of Southern women.  It is complemented with a few photographs from the lives of the families which makes it even more gripping and intriguing.  I found a new family in “The Long Desperate Road” by Willie Cordell, one that I grew attached to while turning the pages.   I was sorry for the story to end, as a book with such authenticity is a rare find.   Women of all ages and backgrounds will be able to relate to the familiar settings of life and will laugh or cry as the characters travel on their ‘Long and Desperate’ roads.

Make comment on weblog