I wanted to like this book, but I found I could not connect with the characters, and, as a consequence, I wasn't interested in their reactions to a horrible event. ( )

Set in the era of the Great Depression, this books was as much a look into the history of economic depression as it was a mystery. It was a little slow reading, but the four different primary voices gave good insight into life in a coal mining town during the 1920/1930 era ( )

After supper one evening nine-year-old Tess is sitting in her favorite alone place, in the shadows by the well, when the dark figure of a woman appears, kisses her tiny baby on the forehead and throws it in the well. But this isn't a mystery. The baby in the well is really just a device the author uses to allow Tess and her family to think about their lives and the lives of their neighbors, including what a woman might be driven to do out of the desperation of too many mouths to feed in 1931, during the Depression, in an Alabama coal mining town.

The narration alternates among Tess and the other four members of her family, allowing the reader to get inside the head of each character. Dad, Albert, is a coal miner who has suffered injury to every part of his body in mining accidents, but he never complains because he would do anything to give his children a better life. Mom, Leeta, loves her family so much that she often skips her own meals to make sure the children have enough. Big sister, Virgie, is smart and beautiful at age fourteen, and is beginning to realize that her dream is to be able to support herself so she won't be stuck in a young marriage, where she will lose her identity to a husband and a houseful of kids. The only son and third child, Jack, is only seven but already determined to be as strong and unbreakable as his father. He barely knows what's going on in 1931, so most of his narration is his perspective as an adult. It's through adult Jack's eyes that the reader sees the family through the children's coming of age and into the present time.

Throughout the novel, Virgie and Tess search for the identity of the woman at the well, so the baby can rest in peace and Tess's nightmares about him will end. It's during this time of looking closely at others in the community that Tess begins to appreciate her own good fortune in being part of a loving family.

A nice bonus to the novel is its introduction by Fannie Flagg, also a native of Alabama and author of wonderful character-driven southern fiction, who offers well-deserved praise to the author on her debut. ( )

It took me a long time to get into this book, however once I finally did, I enjoyed it. The story was interesting but it was slow-moving. ( )

The Well and the Mine was a surprising read. The synopsis of the story doesn't do it justice. This is more than the story of Tess and Virgie trying to solve the mystery of the dead baby. It is about the town that they live in, the people that lived there (both black and white), the era they lived in, and the way they survived.

One of the best things about The Well and the Mine is that it is from the first person prespective of all the members of the Moore family. In each story the reader gets an view into all five members point of view. Normally this style of writing can be pretty trickly to do but Phillips made it easy to adjust to the shifting character perspectives by labeling the change. Also, when switching from perspective to perspective the themes and timeline stayed the same. The youngest member of the family, Jack, set up the beginning of each chapter by reflecting on his childhood. By presenting each members view point readers got to see not only how the events at the mine affected them at the time but also how they changed their future.

The characters were very well developed. They were all likable and relateable. Some of the characters were reminiscent of characters in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Tess comes of as a lot like Scout, a tomboy that is just enjoying her life until something happens that shakes her would. Albert is a little like Atticus but less scholarly. All of Albert's veiw point were based more of experience. His views on race and how his children were suppose to be raised were passed on personal experince and his beliefs about good or bad. It was interesting how the incident at the well and made him question his own actions and short comings.

One of the most interesting things about the story (personally) was the treatment of race issues in 1931. The children (Tess, Virgie, and Jack) never really deal with race, there is one incident with Jack. Albert is the one that deals with race the most and it is this experince that makes his sections so compelling to read. ( )