The Fortune (Blackwater #5)
Published May 1st 1983 by Avon Books, Paperback 172 pages
Under Elinor's guidance, the Caskey family prospered after the war, not knowing that a dark infernal force was growing in their midst. And Frances, Elinor's favorite daughter, never understood her strange yearning for the Perdido River....until the day her babies were born.
Elinor presided over the secret birth, the triumph of her life. And the blood red water of the Perdido continued to claim its own- both human and demons - some in grisly death, some in exquisite surrender.
User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Aaahhh yeah! Part 5 of the Blackwater saga has got the goods. At first it seems obnoxious how wonderful everything is going for the Caskeys, but by the end it feels like McDowell is building a castle just so he can tear it down in the finale. I hope that's the direction it's heading. If this is a happily-ever-after story I will be disappointed.
Rushing on to the last book now. Got to find out how this thing ends!! Blackwater is the weirdest, least conventional novel I've ever encountered. So far, it's not exactly good in any logical sense of the term, but somehow I'm completely hooked. The characters aren't even that great. They're fully realized and fleshed out, but still very ordinary. Having the eerie characters live amongst them is definitely working to creating a subtle tension. But that's confusing too! Should I be scared? It seems like I shouldn't be--then it very much seems like I should. Guess I'll find out soon!
Rating: really liked it
This was the fifth book in the Blackwater series and it's just as good as the first.
Somehow this has morphed out of being a horror story,(if it ever was), into something altogether different. Now, it's more of a southern soap opera with a creepy twist and I love it.
I highly recommend this series to everyone because it has a little bit of everything. I'm sorry that it has taken me so long to read it. I am remedying that by moving right along to the final story. I will be sad to see the Caskeys go.
Rating: really liked it
The fifth installment in the Caskey saga slips into the realm of family drama, lulling readers into what is surely a false sense of security as the shadows slip offstage....but only momentarily.
Surely just a brief respite before what is sure to be an epic Southern Gothic finale.
Rating: really liked it
The Fortune is book 6 in McDowell's BLACKWATER series. This episode--while having all the unsettling happenings as its predessessors--gave of the "Southern Gothic" soap opera vibe more than any other. There were so many unexpected changes in this particular book, that I think it's my favorite next to Book 1: THE FLOOD.
I haven't been so invested in the lives of fictional characters, as I am with the Caskey family in quite some time! Since this isn't a stand-alone novel, the only thing I can say at this point is that if you enjoy Southern Gothic-style books, pick up this entire series.
Now, on to the last book....
Highly recommended!
Rating: really liked it
this one was hard to put down. I read most of it in one sitting. on to the last book. it will be hard to say goodbye to this family.
Rating: really liked it
Blackwater Saga V:
The Fortune ...
The Fortune is the fifth volume in McDowell's Blackwater Saga and it continues the story of the Caskey clan...
With Miriam and Billy handling the Mill and the Caskey's finances, they all have amassed a substantial fortune. The Caskey's are now the leading landholders and millionaires in Perdido and the surrounding areas.
On the personal side of the things, Frances, Sister & Malcolm are the hot topics of discussion. Francis and Elinor have always been 'different' but up until now, the story only really alluded to their connections to the Perdido river. This volume though really shows you just how different they are. I can tell we're coming down to the big finale (
The Rain) but McDowell is so good at keeping you on your toes, I have no idea how it's all going to play out. I can't wait to find out though! : )
Rating: really liked it
In which the Caskey clan become obscenely rich. With the reveal that an ocean of oil awaits to be exploited beneath a swamp they happen to own, our favorite cast of child-thieving--but mostly good-natured!--southerners deal with more upheavals in the family structure as the elders grow senile, their children take control of their parents' huge network of business interests and keep alive old grudges, and at least one of a pair of twins is welcomed to the Caskey bosom. More than any of the previous installments, the mysterious nature of the now three generations of lake creature ladies is explored, offering an engrossing imagining of an efficient and peaceful upheaval of gender roles so that the women take the seats that suit them best--those at the head of the table.
Rating: really liked it
The Fortune is the 5th book in the continuing saga of the Caskey family. Elinor with her great mysterious foresight predicts that there is oil under the swampland that is owned by the family. Miriam is out to make her own fortune. She starts buying all the swampland that surrounds the family farm. Miriam and Billy go to different oil companies, trying to persuade them to drill on Caskey land. Elinor's favorite daughter Frances, has twin girls. One is name Lilah, who is more like her father and the other ones name is Nerita. Nerita is more like her mother and her grandmother. Sister wills herself to become an invalid, so that her husband Early will never return. Queenie Strickland's long lost son Malcom, was discovered in a small town diner by Miriam. Miriam drag Malcom back to Perdido to rejoin the family. With only book 6 left(The Flood), I hate to see this series come to an end. I highly recommend The Blackwater series.
Rating: really liked it
"The Fortune" is the fifth book of six in Michael McDowell's Southern Gothic saga "Blackwater".
This installment is about the Caskey family post-WWII. The financial posturing of the previous few decades has started to bear fruit and the Caskeys grow wealthier than they have ever been.
With the final book in the series still to read and the climax of the series still to come, there is just a fear that everything that has gone so well for so long is about to change.
5 STARS
Rating: really liked it
The Fortune sees the Caskeys increasing their fortune evermore, building the house of cards even higher. Michael McDowell has given these characters so much good fortune, so much happiness, I must admit I am eagerly awaiting to see how it all goes to shit in the final volume of this saga. Not saying I want bad fortune to befall these characters; I love them dearly, and I’ll miss them when all this is over, but my horror-loving heart loves when things go bad—something this book is unfortunately lacking. But you can’t help rooting for those Caskeys anyway!
Like
The Levee, this volume feels like McDowell is building, building—and biding his time. But I gave this five stars because McDowell’s writing shines, and his exploration of Perdido in the post-War years is fascinating. The sense of time and place only improves with each volume, and by this time I’m totally involved, pretty much unwilling to leave. Will I reread
Blackwater? You betcha.
I’m off to read
Rain!
Rating: really liked it
This is so good. Can't wait for the ending.
Rating: really liked it
I would not want to be a kid in this family. They get passed around like a cold. Jeez!!!
Rating: really liked it
A liiiiiittle disappointed to announce the penultimate book in the series is further setting pieces up for what I can only assume will be an insane finale. The books beforehand were slow burns for sure, but this one is especially paced at a deliberate speed. It’s almost all business, and next to zero horror. The cover bandies “A monstrous death” and I’m struggling to remember if anyone died other than a brief mention of someone going missing.
All that to say, I was enthralled the entire time. The fact that the majority of the characters are living in a fantasy world of riches beyond imagination only makes my gut twist and turn imagining what is around the corner. Something’s gotta happen with these ghosts, after all, and if McDowell did indeed pull off what I think he might, this is a story for the ages.
It’s also quite sad to see the purest character of the saga slowly become cold and cruel as they give in to the call of their nature. And it’s exciting to finally see the birth of an actual monster. Not just a character who is able to transform, but an out-and-out beast living in the rivers beside Perdido.
The one thing I can’t bring myself to reconcile is that the main thrust of this book is built on a decision that seems very out of character for the matriarch. Given Elinor’s true identity, her relationship with the environment surrounding the town, and her past behavior toward the building of the levee, it seems wildly inappropriate for her to be the driving force behind convincing her family to drill for oil and destroy the swamp. But maybe McDowell will give greater insight for it than “it’ll make us even richer”.
I cannot wait to dig into the final book this coming weekend and see what fate befalls the Caskeys.
Rating: really liked it
The Caskeys strike it rich.
This fifth volume has the Caskey clan amassing stupid amounts of money after large oil reserves are found on their increasingly large land holdings. Elinor's daughter Frances gets married and has twins....of a sort. Frances finds herself drawn more and more to the Perdido and swimming in it daily, often forgetting herself (or discovering herself) in the process.
The storytelling here has been described as "leisurely" and that's accurate. There isn't much tension in this volume and while the Casky clan continues to roll along, there's little sense of what, if anything, the tale is building toward. While this volume does have a definite, and somewhat tragic, conclusion--it's probably the least specifically "horror" volume of the series so far.
Rating: really liked it
Money!!
World: The world building is fantastic here as we see more of the hidden depths of the supernatural. The time period with the development of America post war was also a pretty nice setting.
Story: Wonderful family drama with loses, returns and new additions. The pacing is great and the drama fantastic. The slow pacing of the story really makes the stuff underneath the surface come up and with Frances and Elinor, awesome.
Characters: Frances is perfect here with her really coming into herself. We've had little bits and pieces from the past about the river and here we get a heap load of stuff. Awesome.
Really compelling.
Onward to the next book!
