Book Review: The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues

Book Description:

From the author of the best-selling The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat, The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues, an exuberant and poignant new audiobook of passions, family, and forgiveness.

When a late-life love affair blooms between Mr. Forrest Payne, the owner of the Pink Slipper Gentleman's Club, and Miss Beatrice Jordan, famous for stationing herself at the edge of the club's parking lot and yelling warnings of eternal damnation at the departing patrons, their wedding summons a legend to town. Mr. El Walker, the great guitar bluesman, comes home to give a command performance in Plainview, Indiana, a place he'd sworn - and for good reason - he'd never set foot in again. 

But El is not the only Plainview native with a hurdle to overcome. A wildly philandering husband struggles at last to prove his faithfulness to the wife he's always loved. And among those in this tightly knit community who show up every Sunday after church for lunch at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat are the lifelong friends known locally as "The Supremes" - Clarice, facing down her longing for, chance at, and fear of a great career; Barbara Jean, grappling at last with the loss of a mother whose life humiliated both of them; and Odette, reaching toward her husband through an anger of his that she does not understand. 

Edward Kelsey Moore's lively cast of characters, each of who has surmounted serious trouble and come into love, need not learn how to survive but how, fully, to live. And they do, every one of them, serenaded by the bittersweet and unforgettable blues song El Walker plays, born of his own great loss and love.                                                                                                                                   

                                                                                                                          ----Fantastic Fiction

My Review:

From the author of the bestselling The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, we are captivated with Odette, Clarice (accomplished pianist), and Barbara Jean, high school pals since the 1960s.  I so enjoyed the The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, and was anxious to revisit the small southern town of Plainview, Indiana in the sequel to this novel, (The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues) of passions, family, and forgiveness.

Spoiler Alert...

A religious, theological pole dancer in a strip club on Sundays! Hilarious! Veronica’s ugly piglike grandson, also hilarious! Minnie McIntyre, the mystic, fortune teller whom receives messages from a dead spirit guide, too funny. Beatrice’s holy views between churches, saints and sinners (Baptist vs Unitarian) had me aghast. The bloodhound in drag was beyond words. 

Moore does an excellent job telling his story and weaving the characters into a dramatic crescendo. I love this book as well as the first one. I laughed, felt sad, empathy and surprised. The story touches on alcoholism, abuse, infidelity, fear, anxiety and more. It is so well put together and flows flawlessly. I look forward to more from Edward Kelsey Moore!

About the Author:

Mr. Moore received a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University at Bloomington, and a Master of Music degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His teachers included renowned cellists János Starker and Bernard Greenhouse (a founding member of the Beaux Arts Trio). For more than three decades Edward Kelsey Moore was a professional musician, performing with acclaimed midwestern orchestras including: Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Philharmonic and the Joffrey Ballet Orchestra. He has played on many classical music recordings, and has toured nationally and internationally.

For many years Mr. Moore was also a popular professor of music, training and nurturing a new generation of cello players.

After decades as a working musician, and as he approached his fortieth birthday, Edward Kelsey Moore began focusing his artistic abilities on writing. Over the years that followed Mr. Moore's short fiction received publication in many literary magazines including Indiana Review, African American Review and Inkwell. In 2002 his short story, Grandma and the Elusive Fifth Crucifix, won a local contest and was dramatized and broadcast on National Public Radio. During these years Edward Kelsey Moore also wrote short essays, including Piaf and Roadkill, which received an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. Mr. Moore has written essays on music, and about his life, which were commissioned by Minnesota Public Radio. Starting in 2018, and continuing this year, Edward Kelsey Moore has been honored to be included in the Novel Conversations Speakers Program, part of Indiana Humanities. 

 

The Supremes At Earl's All-You-Can-Eat  was Edward Kelsey Moore's debut novel, published when he was fifty-two years old. It won a First Novelist Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and landed on the New York Times Best Seller List. The book has been published in nine languages and also became a best seller in its French translation.  The novel continues to be a popular choice for book clubs across the U.S. and has launched lively conversations among discussion groups of every ethnicity.

 The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat has also been adapted for film and is currently in development at Searchlight Pictures.

Website: edwaedkelseymoore.com