The Sausage Maker's Daughters

Reviewer: Kristen
Author: A.G.S Johnson
 Pages: 400
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 8 out of 10

Summary (via Goodreads): The sausage maker's youngest daughter is heading for the fight of her battle-scarred life. It's the era of the counterculture and Vietnam. But twenty-four-year-old Kip Czermanksi is nowhere near her home in California. She's in a jail cell in her hometown in Wisconsin awaiting a court appearance in the mysterious death of her ex-lover, who happened to be her brother-in-law. Given her father is the small town's leading citizen; Kip isn't overly worried, at first. But the personal grudge the DA holds for all the Czermanskis is about to find a foil Kip. What follows is a wild ride through Kip's present predicament and her past. She'll come to regret leaving her life in LA, regardless of the good reason for which she returned, when family dynamics and sibling rivalries, magnified by her counterculture attitudes and feminist beliefs, lay Kip's life bare before the courtroom. Distrusting her legal team, her rebellious history well known, things both personal and legal spiral out-of-control. It doesn't look good for Kip Czermanski


My Thoughts: I know, I know.. you aren't suppose to judge a book by its cover... or title. But, admittingly I judged a little. The more and more I read the book, my judgments faded. Quickly. I really, really enjoyed this book. It was intriguing, and Kip was such a complex character. She's strong yet weak, relatable yet unrelatable. Not just her, but the characters were so well described, so well explained that I really began to love them and hate them. These are some of the best written characters that I have yet come across. The courtroom was a bit hard for me to follow, but I don't blame AGS Johnson for that. I usually just avoid courtrooms and jail cells. If you don't mind that sort of stuff, it definitely is not a strike against it. The small town atmosphere, and the families dysfunction added to the story in a way that wasn't flashy but completely opposite. For some reason, it just compelled me. 


Final Thoughts: This book is wonderful, and the whole plot and story-line is original and compelling. Beyond a shadow of the doubt, check this book out!