Summary:
A prison was not a place for a family. Yet, it was where Ginny’s family was: her father worked at Greenmount State Penitentiary in Louisiana until he died. Then his murderer was killed. That was the first execution Ginny saw, but it was in no way the last.
In the 1950’s, years later, Ginny returned to be the prison chef at Greenmount. Instead of the mush prisoners usually received, Ginny made steaming hot mashed potatoes, soups and sandwiches that her mother would say the prisoners didn’t deserve. But she needed to do something- something to honor the humanity of these men, these men who were about to be killed. So Ginny prepared their last suppers. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to the inmates. Whatever they asked for, she made. She made it again and again until it was just like his grandmother made it. This was an obsession, a non-negotiable, something she physically needed to do ever since she saw her daddy’s killer die, pleading with God. He said he was innocent. He didn’t get a last meal. He didn’t get a last meal.
When Ginny uncovers information proving her father’s killer may be someone else, she is wracked with guilt and questions. Maybe what’s right isn’t a definite answer. Maybe it seesaws onto wrong, but what does that make it?
Review:
Asterisks will be used to define events referred to vaguely in the review in order to include no spoilers. Do not check the asterisks if you don’t want to know!
The Last Suppers was a unique book, to say the least. At times, it seemed slow moving and I wanted to put it down, but even through the slow movement, Miculencak was able to add many twists and turns. Just when I had settled into a pattern of events, something changed and added a new depth to the novel. It wasn’t constant movement, I will say, but it did have some driving force (even if what that driving force was wasn’t always clear).
Originally, I was unsure what the conflict of this book would be. I thought it might be one of those “I’m struggling with my feelings” books with no outside conflict (not that this isn’t a good topic to write about, but I feel that it cannot be compared to the typical novel, because everything is inside the character’s head. It isn’t my favorite type of book to read, personally, because wallowing in flashbacks and feelings has very little driving force in my experience) but luckily, it was not! I’m not going to give away any of the conflict, but just know, it’s there! It’s coming- maybe not right away with that slow beginning, but it will arrive.
I was very excited about the 1950’s setting before I read the book, but that lead to some disappointment. The setting had very little to do with the book besides some racism and sexism up until one point in the storyline* of who killed Ginny’s father. Some may say that the incorporation of that into the storyline was enough to satisfy their taste of the 1950’s, but I would disagree. I didn’t always feel like I was in a different time period besides the occasional bits and pieces. This, of course, is personal preference. It was purposeful, I’m sure, because Ginny is not the typical woman from the 1950’s, and she was never meant to be that woman.
Although I have been very picky in this review, I did enjoy The Last Suppers. I give it 4 stars out of 5. Most of my complaints were due to the beginning of the novel, but once you get into the story, it is beautifully original with lots of twists and turns. I truly appreciate that Miculencak fully embraced the story. I have noticed that many authors, once having a unique idea for a book, go no further than the original idea. They think having that idea is enough and that writing it will be successful, whether they add additional details into the plot or not. That is one of my least favorite things to happen to a book, and I am so glad that Miculencak went further with her base idea for the novel.
The Last Suppers is like no book I have read before, and I recommend it.
*The part in the storyline that I refer to here is the discovery that her father and Roscoe were in the KKK. That, of course, is historical and does let the readers into a different time period.
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