Review: Be Buried in the Rain

Be Buried in the Rain by Barbara Michaels
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

“The sun that warmed our stooping backs and withered the weed uprooted— We shall not feel it again. We shall die in darkness, and be buried in the rain.” 

I read this for the TBRChallenge and Halloween Bingo, usually for TBRC, I talk about everything in the story but HB I try not to spoil too much in case a fellow player hasn't read it yet. I guess I'm saying, prepare for some small spoilers and some evading. 

Deadman’s Hollow, the kids called it. Said it was haunted. 

I didn't read the synopsis on the back of this, I saw it on the HB list of Southern Gothic recommends and trust my fellow HB players enough to just pick it up, so I went in with some wrong preconceptions. For some reason, Gothic automatically makes me think set in historical times, this takes place in the late '80s or early '90s (I'm 38, if you're Gen Z and thinking “That is historical!”, bah to you). The mausoleum on the cover also made me think Louisiana but the setting is the Tidewater area of Virginia. I was also ready for the story to have more of a focus on the ghostly or Gothic-y vibe, this was more centered on the characters. Sure, the beginning brings that creepy vibe with a man driving down a dark road at night and almost crashes as he swerves to avoid what later is found to be skeleton remains of an adult holding a baby. However, that moves to the side and we get more of a 'normal' vibe, with a granddaughter coming back to help take care of her granddmother who is laid up because of a stroke. It's a story that uses the characters to drive the story, instead of the story driving the characters. 

He didn’t lust after my maidenhood; he lusted after Maidenwood. (It shows you how young I was, that I could get a grim relish out of that poor pun.) I never really understood why he was convinced that the discovery that would make his career lay hidden under the tangled brush and weedy clay of my family’s land. Like all old houses, Maidenwood had its share of legends; the buried pirate treasure was only one of them. 

The story is told from Julie's point-of-view and she's a med student who gets called back to her ancestral home to help take care of her grandmother. When she was a pre-teen, she lived for four years with her grandmother and cousin Matt, who is now a Senator. Julie doesn't have a lot of memories from that time but it wasn't enjoyable for her. We get a good look at what kind of grandmother Martha was/is through Julie recalling when she brought home her boyfriend Alan, an archaeologist, and Martha prayed on Julie's insecurities (and Alan's, we later learn) of being ugly and not good enough. Alan's pushing desire to excavate Julie's land, it's been settled since pre-colonial and has rumors of a Blackbeard treasure on it, only adds to what Martha says about their relationship and Julie ends up breaking up with him. This shows the kind of power and sway Martha has over Julie and there was a great quote used in the story about how if you give someone a child before they are seven, they are theirs for life. Oof, what a quote to use and it honestly felt like the story was built around this idea. 

With pitiless accuracy she described my failings, physical and emotional. How could I possibly imagine that a man like Alan—handsome, sophisticated, worldly—could be interested in a callow, homely girl like me? Flat-chested, with lusterless stick-straight brown hair, and the Carr features—“so unfortunate on a woman”—and, of course, no charm whatsoever. 

So, Julie's back at Maidenwood and helping out the nurse Shirley there, there is also the Danners, the wife cooks and cleans and the husband is the handyman and also the one who found the bones. Julie has faint memories of them when she was there but Mr. Danner has found Jesus and is taciturn now, to say the least, and Mrs. Danner spends a lot of the time staring into space. There's also Julie's cousin Matt who flits in and out, he's trying to get power of attorney to run the estate, a Judge who is friends with Martha and visits occasionally, and then Alan. Yep, Julie's ex-boyfriend has been given permission to excavate some of the land, not by the house because Martha can't find out as she's violently opposed to the idea, and some of Alan's helpers on the dig. I was impressed with how just about all of the characters got their own, at least, little backgrounds. It at times gave a fuller view but at others was a bit too dissecting to the story. I did come mainly for some ghostly Gothic, so this disappointed at being distracted away could be a me thing. 

Don’t get me wrong. I am not noble—you must have realized that, after reading some of the admissions in these pages. 

There were two times of fourth wall breaking, this always kind of throws me and I thought the first time didn't fit but the second one, because it came at the end of the story, fit better. I just realized I'm not talking about the skeleton bones a lot and that is because of the more to the side they are, they are simultaneously the catalyst of the story and the background. The characterizations, how cousin Matt and the Danners are acting, Martha's deviousness, and Julie's traumatic memories coming back to her are the vehicle that carries the found skeleton thread; it leads to the revelations but isn't obvious about it. There's also some second chance romance between Julie and Alan. Alan's feelings follow the not obvious theme and his caring about Julie is read between the lines, which I'm a big fan of because I think it can sometimes hit harder; gruff people and their deep feelings gets me every time. 

I enjoyed this story, even though it didn't always give me what I picked it up for but more than made up for it with all the little character additives that created such deep characters. I didn't personally like the witch Martha but her characterization was amazing, the ability to have a character control a room with just an eye, whew. The whole Maydon's Hundred (tied into the history and treasure folklore of Julie's home) was a thread that I felt had too much focus. Some threads felt necessary but at the same time, I wanted them clipped. I don't know, while reading I wanted things to move along more but when I was finished with the whole story, I had a greater appreciation for them all. I also want to make sure I mention the dog, Elvis, loved him, lol. If you're looking for a story to sink into characterization, this would be a great pick-up. The last part broke the fourth wall but I really enjoyed the last lines.

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