The Redneck Riviera

Cote, Richard N.

2.19

16 ratings by Goodreads

ISBN 10: 1929175175 ISBN 13: 9781929175178

Publisher: Corinthian Books, 2001

What will a mother do to save a teenage daughter hell-bent on making the same mistakes her mother made as a teenager? That's the challenge for Dolly Devereaux, a thirty-six year-old divorced mother from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Dolly has spent twenty years fighting tooth and nail to break free from the grasping tentacles of her poor, rural origins and work her way into the middle class. But can Dolly save April, her rebellious 18-year-old daughter, from the neglect of her indulgent, absentee father, and seduction by a local gang leader and drug dealer? Dolly's dilemma: she'll have to do a lot better than her own mother did when Dolly was April's age. This powerful, emotional, and insightful story weaves its way through the secret worlds of teenagers and the lives of the parents and grandparents who try to guide and nurture them. It explores the unbreakable bonds of love that bind together three generations of Southern women struggling to escape the chains of ! their troubled family history. The tale is set against the backdrop of tourist-crazy Myrtle Beach, the epicenter of The Redneck Riviera. There, three women clash and ultimately forge the intensely loving, supportive family none of them were born into.

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From the Publisher:

This compelling story of the depths of a grandmother and a mother's love for an out-of-control teenage daughter revolves around a single theme: that the mother-daughter bond is so important that it sould be nurtured, preserved, or repaired at any cost. This book is dedicated to every mother who is willing to risk everything -- even her own life -- to save a loved one who is headed down the path of self-destruction.

From the Author:

Question: Your previous book, Mary's World, is a critically-acclaimed and highly popular true story of a high-born nineteenth-century slave-owner's wife in Charleston 150 years ago. The Redneck Riviera is the contemporary story of a South Carolina woman from impoverished, rural origins who fights to keep her daughter from being sucked into the world of gangs and drugs. As a writer, why did you choose to make such a radical leap between subjects and genres?

Answer: Oddly enough, it wasn't much of a leap for me. Both books deal with the lives of women who have to rise to the challenges dropped into their life by fate. In the case of Mary's World, the woman was real: Mary Pringle, a rich rice planter's wife in Charleston, S.C.. Her challenge was the Civil War, which exploded in her face in 1861. In the case of The Redneck Riviera, the woman is fictional: Dolly Devereaux, a struggling single mother in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Her challenge is that her daughter, 18, is out of control and as her mother, Dolly is the only one who can help her. Although they may look radically different on the surface, both books are about strong women who have had bombs dropped onto their lives and have to find ways to cope. That’s the thread!

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