Reviewed by Roberta
TITLE: Shaking the Sugar Tree
AUTHOR: Nick Wilgus
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 304 pages
BLURB:
Wise-cracking Wiley Cantrell is loud and roaringly outrageous—and he needs to be to keep his deeply religious neighbors and family in the Deep South at bay. A failed writer on food stamps, Wiley works a minimum wage job and barely manages to keep himself and his deaf son, Noah, more than a stone’s throw away from Dumpster-diving.
Noah was a meth baby and has the birth defects to prove it. He sees how lonely his father is and tries to help him find a boyfriend while Wiley struggles to help Noah have a relationship with his incarcerated mother, who believes the best way to feed a child is with a slingshot. No wonder Noah becomes Wiley’s biggest supporter when Boston nurse Jackson Ledbetter walks past Wiley’s cash register and sets his sugar tree on fire.
Jackson falls like a wet mule wearing concrete boots for Wiley’s sense of humor. And while Wiley represents much of the best of the South, Jackson is hiding a secret that could threaten this new family in the making.
When North meets South, the cultural misunderstandings are many, but so are the laughs, and the tears, but, as they say down in Dixie, it’s all good.
REVIEW: So, this story sounded so very intriguing to me when I read the blurb. I wanted to see what the author could possibly do that would make this story amazing.
What you do get is the story of Wiley Cantrell. A young man all of 32 years old and he’s the father of Noah. He works part-time as a cashier at a supermarket. He’s also a writer who has written a couple of books. He’s trying to live his life as authentic as possible while he’s living in the south.
Jackson Ledbetter is Wiley’s romantic interest. He’s from Boston and a recent transplant to Tupelo, Mississippi. He’s a Pediatric nurse and he’s openly gay. He’s a good guy. He’s got this great empathetic strength to him. He’s kind and generous. He’s ok with Wiley and Noah. He’s actually pretty darn wonderful.
Noah is another character in this story. Noah is Wiley’s son from a brief relationship with Kayla, a childhood friend. He was born a meth baby. Some of those symptoms are that he’s deaf and has other medical issues. Noah is a great kid. He’s just this sweet soul that calls to you. You want to hold him in your arms and never let anyone hurt him again.
The other secondary characters are pretty intense. My favorite character is Papaw. That guy was AMAZINGLY FUNNY!! I always laughed when he came on the page. Wiley said it best, “ we let our crazy on the porch to entertain”. He was one of the best parts of this book. The other characters were very much a product of where they were. Wiley’s family is just a ball of something. They are in turns unsupportive and then a change of heart.
I found Wiley to be in turns a whiney, self-absorbed kid and yet, very responsible when it came to Noah. When he broke-up with Jackson for a few days and slept with someone else, he wasn’t very upset or shamed about his actions. I couldn’t understand that reaction. He did have a bad turn of luck that has been going on for a bit now, but really at what point do you stop being so all in your head?
I personally felt that this story had it’s moments of laughter, love and sadness. It was harsh, the belief systems that was shown. The anger, hatred and bigotry that was shown, was awful. It hurt my heart to read and to know that this still exists in this day and age.
One part that really bothered me was when Wiley found out that Jackson was taking drugs. Now, I totally get why he freaked out, I mean, hello…Noah was a meth baby. I get it. What I didn’t get is that he just dumped Jackson and the next thing you know is that Jackson isn’t taking drugs anymore and it was just glossed over. WTH?? How can you gloss over something that big?
Overall, I liked the book. I thought I’d like it more, but there were some inconsistencies that just didn’t add up for me and that took the pleasure out of the book for me.
RATING: 
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