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SYNOPSIS Raising Hell Under the Prayer Tree is a wacky, Southern coming-of-age novel, told from the point-of-view of thirteen-year-old Bobbi Jo Wahl, whose family role models include: Petra, her alcoholic, nymphomaniac mother, her bootlegging Uncle Killer, and her bible-thumping Grandma who prays her own son dead under the prayer tree (thus the title).
Finally, after a string of loser boyfriends, including one who exposes himself to Bobbi Jo and Cindy, Petra stumbles upon the perfect guy, a preacher named Jack. A loving father figure, Jack brings the first stability Bobbi Jo has ever known into her life; he also brings a wonderful (though elderly) babysitter, Miss Olivia, whom Bobbi Jo comes to adore. But the devout Jack won't 'put out' before marriage, and Petra doesn't believe in "buying a car without a test drive." So in a drunken rage, Petra kicks Jack out and Miss Olivia dies soon after.
As the book closes, at the wild white trash wedding between Petra and her rodeo hero, Bobbi Jo is thirteen and counting the days until her little brother is a teenager, too, and old enough to take care of Cindy. As soon as that happens, she's going to run away. Raising Hell Under the Prayer Tree leaves the lead character just at the brink of womanhood. In the face of poverty, neglect and violence, Bobbi Jo is nobody's victim. She's smart, she's resourceful and she's funny. But, most importantly, she has heart. And that will carry Bobbi Jo through. |
As
the book opens, Bobbi Jo (9), her brother, Allan (8) and baby sister,
Cindy (5) witness the final beating that ends their parents' marriage
and plunges their mother, Petra, into a three-year binge of changing
jobs, low-life boyfriends, and brands of cheap wine. Bobbi Jo becomes
the mother, fending off bill collectors, stealing money to feed
her siblings, and becoming sexually active at the age of eleven.
Petra
hits rock bottom and so does Bobbi Jo. Seeking love and comfort
from a much older boyfriend, she finds only brutality. Bruised and
desperate after the boy assaults her, Bobbi Jo turns to her mother.
But this time Petra is under the spell of a tough rodeo bull-rider,
and Bobbi Jo is turned over to the cowboy to be punished for breaking
curfew: more brutality.
