Magnolia Song--a saga of the new south by Bob Towery

Bob Towery

Author, Illustrator

Magnolia Song--a saga of the new south

Magnolia Song is the explosive saga of two Memphis families whose intertwined fates spiral out of control over four generations of heartbreak and renewal. By day, Gator Bates bumps along as the spoiled son of a self-made real estate tycoon; by night, he spins wild slapstick fables to entertain his drunken pals at the exclusive Collegiate Club. Gator lives (mostly) on the scrub pine acreage in northwest Mississippi on which his father and uncle once ran a commercial reptile exhibition. The fields of marijuana he cultivates there, along with a bull alligator and a complement of rare snakes, make the ranch a magnet for mayhem. After Gator’s adopted son initiates an affair with his under-age stepdaughter, Gator embarks on a mission to rescue the dissolute heir from a salt flat in south Texas where he is staked to the ground under the eyes of circling buzzards. The attempted rescue uncovers a string of revelations of incest and murder perpetrated in the shadow of a scheme that has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars belonging to the Aryan Brotherhood. It’s a rollicking gallop of a novel, a stampede over rough terrain, where the absurd leavens a yeasty mix of sin, sacrifice, and redemption, imbuing the least of the characters with an irrepressible dignity.

Reviews

Independent Review

“The first comparison that came to mind when I read Magnolia Song was Balzac. We almost never see novels of whole societies anymore, but this is one on a grand scale. The full complexity of the new South isn’t well understood, even by the people who live there—it’s too new, too big. Yet here it is, widescreen.More than breadth, Magnolia Song has depth. Its interweaving stories are all rooted in a philosophic consciousness of history, particularly in its treatment of race relations. On that delicate subject this novel embodies both a cool distance and a compassionate intimacy. When hatred appears, as it must, it hits with a jolt.As for plain old story, this is one of those novels that grabs you and doesn’t let go.” — Thomas McNamee

McNamee is the author of The Grizzly Bear, The Return of the Wolf to Yellowstone, and a historical novel set in Memphis, A Story of Deep Delight. He has also published biographies of notable culinary figures Craig Claiborne and Alice Waters. For his book The Inner Life of Cats he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Independent Review

“It’s not often that a tale this breathtaking manages to sweep up in its headlong trajectory such a gallery of complex, authentic, and utterly mad characters. Nor is it often that such a swift, page-turning narrative can touch such depths and achieve such wisdom along the way. In J. Robert Towery’s Magnolia Song, the South is a carnival of comedy, danger, and heartbreak. The book is a flat-out wonder.” — Steve Stern

Stern is the author of The Wedding Jester, The North of God, The Frozen Rabbi, The Book of Mischief, The Pinch, and The Angel of Forgetfulness. He has been the recipient of an O. Henry Award, five Pushcart Prizes, the Edward Lewis Wallant Award, the National Jewish Book Award, and fellowships from the Fulbright and Guggenhem foundations.

Independent Review

“A ruckus of a novel, filled with characters that are charming, sad, funny and mysterious — sometimes at the exact same time. If there were a soundtrack to Magnolia Song, it’d be loud and happy and ever-so-slightly insane.” — Eric Barnes
Barnes is publisher of The Memphis Daily News, CEO of the Daily Memphian, and author of The City Where We Once Lived

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