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really liked it
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A Hunger in the Heart: Kaye Park Hinckley's Novel of Love, Forgiveness and Redemption I am grateful to Kaye Park Hinckley having been gracious enough t A Hunger in the Heart: Kaye Park Hinckley's Novel of Love, Forgiveness and Redemption I am grateful to Kaye Park Hinckley having been gracious enough to have provided me a copy of her novel for review. Kaye is a member of "On the Southern Literary Trail," a group I founded and moderate. She has also generously offered copies of her novel for our group's June Author Giveaway. MEMORIES In the Summer of 1959 we packed up our 1958 Oldsmobile. It was my family's first air-conditioned car. It was a little square unit that sat under the dash that blew cool air through little round vents. [image] With my grandparents in front and my mother and I in the backseat, we headed to the land of dreams, Florida. [image] It was my first vacation. It was magic. I was seven. I learned that there were such things as mermaids. [image] I picked my first orange from a tree in a grove. It was the best orange juice I ever tasted. [image] The scariest place I ever saw was an alligator farm. They were everywhere in concrete ponds. They would look at you and open their jaws wide, showing those rows of tremendous teeth. I hung on to the rails around the gator pits. I would have hated to have ended my vacation as a snack. [image] I suppose it was the beginning of a loss of innocence. It happens in degrees. In this case, the little box air-conditioner froze up on a regular basis. My grandfather would turn it off and let it defrost. The hot air would blast through the windows. Afternoon thunderstorms caused us to roll up the windows and we would sweat until the magic box emitted a weak stream of cool air for a short time. I have long ceased to believe in mermaids. However, I still am fascinated by Alligator Farms. I do keep my car's air conditioning system fully maintained. The Novel Kaye Park Hinckley brings that era of Florida alive vividly. It certainly brought childhood memories alive for me after many years, but A Hunger in the Heart is not a simple story of a Florida that was less metropolitan and more Southern. As you read this beautifully written novel you may well find yourself finding similarities with the writing of Flannery O'Connor. Kay Hinckley does not wear her theology on her sleeve anymore than O'Connor did. However, Ms. Hinckley is a member of the Catholic Church. Just as you will find moments of grace, salvation, and redemption in O'Connor, so will you find them in this novel. The novel follows three generations of the Bridgeman family. Coleman Putnam Bridgeman, the patriarch, is the Boss of Gator Town. No, Gator Town is not Gainesville, Florida, but a small Florida town in which some folks might be said to recognize themselves. The Boss has developed Gator Town with tourist attractions, such as an alligator farm. He is bringing tourism to the small town. His son, known as Putt, served in World War II. He was a hero, saving one of his Sergeants lives. In the process, he suffered a head wound. Though it is the 1950s, for Putt, the war is still very real. Some men return from war forever changed. Coleman, III, loves his father and his grandfather. However, when he plays war with his father, he doesn't understand that for his father, the maps he draws in the sand are actual tactical battle maps recreating situations he encountered in the Pacific. The Boss, a widower, has moved Putt, Coleman, and Putt's wife, Sarah Neal out at the old cabin he once shared with his beloved wife Emma. It is Sarah's job to see that Putt stays out of trouble, takes his medication, and keeps him out of town. Sarah's is a hard plight. Her faith is not enough to cope with Putt's condition. She bolsters her faith with booze. As the Boss bluntly tells her she has crawled into the bottle and she will drown there. But on a bad day, Putt sneaks away from home. Down at the Piggly Wiggly, surrounded by customers, Putt believes he is back in the war. He believes he's on fire. He strips naked. The Boss must wrap him up and carry him home. Something terrible happens with this weapon: [image] Putt's Service Side-arm (view spoiler)[Upon learning that he is to be committed to a state mental institution in exchange for false charges of sexual assault being dropped, Putt becomes involved in a struggle over his weapon with Sarah Neal. Whether he kills himself, or Sarah Neal accidentally shoots him in an effort to take the gun away from him is left to the interpretation of the reader. A central question is whether young Coleman will ever forgive Sarah Neal for his Father's death. He believes she killed him. (hide spoiler)] Ironically, Putt saved a native of Gator Town, a young black man named Clayton, an orphan raised by Aunt Aggie, known for raising homeless black children. Sarah Neal angrily blames Putt's condition on the Army for making him responsible for saving a no-account such as Clayton. The truth is Clayton is a no account, a prisoner, in the state penitentiary for a theft. The crime for which he has been convicted is minor to what Clayton has actually committed. In Clayton, evil is a palpable force. For Clayton, Jesus is an entity with whom he can bargain. Escaping from prison, he carries with him, a Madonna he had stolen from Putt, the man who saved his life. "'Remember how you saved me once? Okay, okay. So I fell out of your boat and got sent up the river again. You don't want me to spend another ten years in that prison do you?' Then he remembered the statue and felt for it in his pocket. See here? I got your mama. I'm gonna take care of her too, if you just come on, Jesus' and save me.'" Ms. Hinckley addresses the issue of whether a life is so without value it is not worth saving. The resounding answer is no. Every life has value because each person has the possibility to change. It's a matter of choice. Without any doubt, the moral center of "A Hunger in the Heart" is "Fig," a black man taken into the Boss's home as a child from Aunt Aggie's. For Fig there is no black and white. He is in a sense color blind, not only to race, but to all human frailty. He is the Boss's right hand man. He is the purveyor of forgiveness, the moral compass for young Coleman, and the ultimate key to redemption. Fig serves as the perfect foil to Clayton, or "Sarge." They are respective representatives of good and evil. In an especially effective structural device, Ms. Hinckley provides a five year skip in the action aging young Coleman five years. We watch Coleman developing into a young man. He is estranged from his mother because of her alcoholism and her attraction to her therapist who is attempting to cure her alcoholism. What is especially effective is his recognition of Clayton as the man whose life his father saved and his recognition of him as a conman and thief. The question is, will Coleman seek revenge. Kaye Hinckley writes with a lyrical beauty, yet can shake the reader with a sudden jarring edginess. Her characters are memorable. They are human. Each has frailties and faults. Each needs the strength, love and forgiveness of others. Don't we all? Winston Groom wrote, "Kaye Park Hinckley's novel, A Hunger in the Heart, is a story of hope, forgiveness, and redemption. It's a great read in the tradition of southern fiction." Mark Childress said, "Kaye Park Hinckley is a writer with a sensitive ear and a keenly developed sympathy for her characters. Her debut novel, A Hunger in the Heart, marks the beginning of a promising career in the world of fiction. Highly recommended. ...more |
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May 02, 2013
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| 3.88
| 27,952
| Apr 17, 2012
| Apr 17, 2012
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really liked it
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A Land More Kind Than Home: The Debut Novel of Wiley Cash [image] Wiley Cash Wiley Cash takes his title from the final lines of You Can't Go Home Aga A Land More Kind Than Home: The Debut Novel of Wiley Cash [image] Wiley Cash Wiley Cash takes his title from the final lines of You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe. The epigraph Cash chose sets the tone of the work that follows. Something has spoken to me in the night...and told me I shall die. I know not where. Saying: Cash skilfully spins his tale through three distinct points of view: Adelaide Lyle, an elderly lady who provides the history and background of the story, serving as moral conscience of the story; nine year old Jess Hall, the portrait of innocence lost; and Clem Barefield, sheriff of Madison County, North Carolina for twenty-five years. First taking office in 1961, Barefield sets the events in the story in 1986. Madison County is as far west in North Carolina as you can get, butting against the border of Tennessee. Marshall is the County seat. A patchwork of deep wooded valleys and steep mountains, tobacco farmers in the western region of the state produce burley tobacco on farms hewed out of land more reminiscent of a network of roller coasters than agriculture. [image] Marshall, NC, County Seat of Madison County Folks in the Appalachians are God fearing. Passing through, if the Spirit moves you, you won't have a problem finding a church. But I'd recommend steering clear of churches in old grocery stores and gas stations, especially if the name of the church ends in the words "in Signs Following." Folks put their faith on exhibition by handling serpents, drinking strychnine, and handling fire to see if it'll burn'em. [image] Inside a Church of Christ With Signs Following Adelaide Lyle Now, you take the church in this book. It didn't start out that way. Once upon a time it was the French Broad Church of Christ in a real cburch with pews and a steeple, headed up by Pastor Matthews. But the cancer got him back in 75. Then along comes this fellow from out of nowhere, name of Carson Chambliss. It didn't take long for about half the congregation to up and leave when Chambliss took over pastoring. Without half the congregation, the bank took the church and sold it to the Presbyterians. That was fine with Chambliss who moved the church down to the old grocery store and papered the windows so nobody passing by could see what was going on inside that building. Chambliss put up a sign by the road at the edge of the parking lot and changed the name to River Road Church of Christ in Signs Following. Now, you remember what I told you about those churches ending their name in Signs Following. Underneath the name of the church he painted Mark 16: 17-18. That's those verses that say you got faith you can pick up serpents, drink poison, and the Holy Ghost will keep you safe. "I'd seen people I'd known just about my whole life pick up snakes and drink poison, hold fire up to their faces just to see if it would burn them. Holy people, too...that hadn't ever acted like that a day in their lives. But Chambliss convinced them it was safe to challenge the will of God." Jess Hall I'm nine and my brother is eleven. His name is Christopher but everybody calls him Stump. He's never said a word. He's bigger than me but I'm the leader. We live with Mama and Daddy. Daddy grows tobacco. When he hangs it in the barn and it dries out it smells so good. Stump and I get in trouble with Mama when we snoop. There's things we shouldn't know about. One day Stump and me were outside and heard the noises Mama and Daddy make sometimes when we're told to go outside and play. Stump climbed up on the rain barrel but it wasn't Daddy in there making those noises. I saw Mama's preacher leave the house and he looked at me and Stump. I didn't tell Daddy about the noises. On Sunday Mama went down to the church like she always does. Daddy doesn't go. Instead of leaving us at Sunday School with Miss Adelaide, Mama took Stump with her. I wanted to go, but she wouldn't let me. Only Stump. She took him to night church, too. I don't know what happened. But Stump died. Daddy got so mad at the men from church that brought Stump home he hit them and hit them. Clem Barefield Twenty five years next month. That's how long I've been Sheriff here in Madison County. My grandfather was Sheriff over in Henderson County. And my father farmed apples there. Hendersonville, Flat Rock, they're little more than an hour away, but living here is as close to living in a different world as you can get, no matter how old you get. People here are different. They're superstitious. Know the old mountain ways. Religion is so thick in the hills and hollers up here you can stir it with a stick. But I haven't had a reason to set foot inside a church in more years than I can count, especially after my son Jeff died. It's not natural for a man to outlive his son. Jeff and Ben Hall were friends, good friends. Ben settled down, married, became a good farmer, a good provider. There's calls you get that don't amount to nothin'. Then there's those you get you can't forget. My wife Sheila handed me the phone and it was Robby, my Deputy, telling me Ben Hall's boy Stump was laying dead up at Adelaide Lyle's house. Killed in that damned church over on River Road. Sheila told me not to let things get out of hand. There's some times though you can't keep from gettin' out of hand. Specially when that damned crazy preacher Chambliss is at the bottom of things. How the Hell does a boy get killed in a church? Why in the Hell do you kill a child who is incapable of speaking a word? The Reviewer Wiley Cash can write. He can tell a story. Cash began A Land Before Time while a graduate student in Louisiana. His mentor, as he worked on his dissertation, was Ernest Gaines. What an opportunity! [image] Ernest Gaines--I love me some Ernest Gaines' Books Everyone seems to love this book. Cash is one of the new darlings of the publishing world. His interview with Vanity Fair is entitled "Author Wiley Cash on Being the “Justin Timberlake of American Literature." http://www.vanityfair.com/online/dail... The dust jacket gleams with blurbs to the point you'd think this book came wrapped in stars. Clyde Edgerton said it would knock your socks off. Gail Godwin said it was like stepping into a Greek tragedy. Ernest Gaines' blurb is a little bit more interesting. Although it begins with a glow it dims to a weak glimmer. "I think this could be the beginning of a long fruitful career." In an interview with Brad Wetherell in Fiction Writers Review Cash said he got the basic idea of his plot from a newspaper clipping about a young autistic boy being smothered during a healing ceremony in a store front church in Chicago. Cash wanted to move it South to North Carolina. http://fictionwritersreview.com/inter... I wish I could love this book as many reviewers and readers seem to. However, as well as Cash can cause the reader to keep turning the pages, he leaves some mighty big gaps in his story. How was Chambliss chosen as the new minister at the ill-fated church? How did Chambliss manage to convert a Church of Christ into an unquestioning foot stompin', snake handlin' strychnine drinkin' fire handlin' bunch with such ease? Sure, this is a work of fiction. But even writers of fiction might do a little research about an area in which so much documentation exists, such as the Holiness Church movement. Bottom line, there are few converts to serpent handling. These churches, found up through Appalachia, consist of small congregations which include descendants of the original founding members. They don't grow into practicing churches overnight. Cash should read Salvation on Sand Mountain: Snake Handling and Redemption in Southern Appalachia by Dennis Covington. Cash is being touted as the next Tom Franklin. Sorry. Franklin never left so many gaps in a story. I think Ernest Gaines is right. This book could be the beginning of a fruitful career. Or it could turn into a series of incredulous stories. The choice is Cash's. I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading this book. I rate it a 4 for the prose, a 3 for the plot with an over-all 3.5. Hallelujah! UPDATE: Chosen as a group read by members of On the Southern Literary Trail for August, 2013. http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/6... ...more |
Notes are private!
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Sep 22, 2012
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Sep 26, 2012
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Sep 22, 2012
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Hardcover
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| 0451161777
| 9780451161772
| 0451161777
| 4.00
| 6,217
| Jan 02, 1956
| 1980
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really liked it
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The Grass Harp: Truman Capote on the Sunny Side of the Street "Gonna take a Sentimental Journey,The Grass Harp: Truman Capote on the Sunny Side of the Street "Gonna take a Sentimental Journey, [image] Random House, New York, New York Scene One--The office of Bob Linscott,Editor for Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, among others Random House, New York, NY Linscott: Truman, you're a wonderful writer... Capote: Oh, that's so true. There's only one TC! (Truman takes a languorous puff from his cigarette and stares dreamily at the ceiling, then looks at Bob, giving him a sultry look.) Linscott: Don't pull that pouty baby face look on me. It won't work. Capote: Why, Bob, I don't know what you mean! (In a whining tone) Linscott: Look. Bennett's getting nervous. It's been two years since Other Voices, Other Rooms came out. That jacket photo just about made us all laughing stocks. Capote: Now, that was perfectly innocent, Bob. And, Foxy, you had final approval on that picture. Now, didn't you? Linscott: You caught me at a weak moment. Capote: (Waving his cigarette delicately) Well, there you have it, Bobby. Linscott: We've kept you in front of the public, Truman. We published your short fiction in A Tree of Night: And Other Stories. But you've been promising... Capote: And it was a ROUSING success. You were at the reading down at the Poetry Center. I was practically BLASTED off that high stool Malcolm had me sit on by the applause. How many times have you heard Bravo and Encore shouted outside of an opera house? Hmmmm??? Linscott: And you hopped off that stool and were bowing and blowing kisses with both hands. Have you absolutely no shame, Truman? Capote: What's that, Bob? Shame? (giggling) Linscott: Truman, you SKIPPED off the damned stage like a school boy! [image] HUZZAH! Capote: Well, Foxy, I FELT like a school boy. Why, I DID! Linscott: And don't tell me you're still working on Summer Crossing. Capote: But, Bob, I am. I really, really am. It's just that the progress is slow. Linscott: Really, Truman. What do you not understand? A rich New York girl falls in love with a cab stand attendant? Capote: Love comes in many places. Wherever you find it, is natural. Linscott: I'm sure you would know, Truman. But it's THIN, Truman, THIN! Any author could write it. It doesn't have your unique artistic stamp. Capote: Well, actually, Jack doesn't like it either. [image] Truman and Jack Dunphy, long time companions Linscott: You're not helping that gad about with his novel are you, Truman? Capote: NO! Bob! I wouldn't do that. Why would I lie? (eyes dart left and right) Linscott: For any of the same reasons you always do, Truman. So what am I going to tell Bennett? Capote: Alright. I tore it up. I didn't like it either. Linscott: You tore it up! Truman! Capote: Well you said you didn't like it. I tore it up. It's finished. Gone. Never to see the light of day. Happy? I'm working on something else. Something from back in Alabama. About growing up with Callie, Sook, and Annie. Linscott: Is this true? I want to see the first two chapters. Capote: Oh, Bob! You won't believe it. It's about the lovely years I spent with my cousins. I know how dark and gloomy Other Voices, Other Rooms was. But this is the HAPPY TC. It's very real to me, more real than anything I've ever written, probably ever will. Linscott: That's what you've said about EVERYTHING you've ever written. Capote: (sulking) I cry. I have no control over myself or what I'm doing. Memories are always breaking my heart, Bob. You know, it's not easy writing a beautiful book. SCENE TWO--Truman on the terrace of the Fontana Vecchia in Taormina, on the phone. Linscott in his office at Random House, also on phone. Linscott: Truman, Truman, Truman. This is absolutely wonderful. So, Dolly, that'd be Sook, right? She's got a patent medicine for Dropsy that Verena... Capote: Ye-e-e-s, that would be Cousin Callie. She could be so mean-- Linscott: And Verena is going to steal Dolly's recipe to make the money off it-- Capote: (Yawning. Jack is rubbing his shoulders) That's right. Callie always was the richest, meanest woman in town. Linscott: So, they run off from home and find a treehouse between two China Berry trees and live there, and Verena sends the law to bring them back, and there's this retired Judge-- Capote--Charlie Cool who falls in love with Dolly, and Catherine Creek, Dolly's helper, and Riley, an older boy I looked up to all living up in this tree. And Judge Cool stands between Verena, the law and the townspeople who are trying to get Dolly to go back home and live with Verena. Linscott: My boy, my boy--This is simply marvelous stuff. How are you going to get them down out of the tree? ARE you going to get them out of the tree? Capote: Bob, you'll just have to wait and see. I'm mailing out the last sections June 4. Linscott: I hope you mean June 4, 1951, and not 52 or 53. Capote: Really Bob. You need to loosen up a little. First you drink, then you have sex, and then you smoke. You should try it sometime. Linscott: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Wonderful stuff. Simply marvelous. Now this is the TC I know and love that we ALL know and love here at Random House. Capote: Give my regards to Bennett, Foxy. (hanging up) A little lower Jack, honey. SCENE THREE: Scenes of train travelling through the Italian countryside. A map flashes Florence, Rome, and finally Venice. Truman is on the phone looking out his hotel room overlooking the Canal. CAPOTE: Uhm, Bob, Truman Linscott: How could I ever mistake that voice, my boy. Capote: Oh, Bob. I do hope you are pleased with the book. Linscott: Uhm, how can I say this, Truman. I didn't like the ending. Nobody hear at Random House liked the ending. [image] And if Bennett Cerf isn't happy, ain't nobody happy at Random House Capote: But, Bob, WHY? I just don't understand! (plaintively, turning into a pouty face) Linscott: Well, Truman, the first half was absolutely divine! I was expecting a continuing miracle! I don't think we got that. Not at all. Capote: But, but, but... Linscott: Not, you understand, that it isn't a good as a story and as superb as a piece of righting. There's no specific criticism to be made; just that we all had a slight feeling of letdown, tapering off a little, with the ending coming to soon. It's so short, we don't think people will buy it as a novel. Capote: I cannot endure it (stamping feet) that all of you think my book a failure. I am simply striken by such overpowering opinion! Linscott: "We'll pray that the critics won't have the same feeling of vague letdown in the last half that effected us. SCENE FOUR: Review pages swirl coming to rest on headlines as a back drop to Truman Capote sitting in a comfortable chair. Capote holds an Atlantic Magazine. Newspapers and magazines are scattered around his chair. [image] First Edition, The Grass Harp NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE-- THE GRASS HARP SHOWS THE MATURING AND MELLOWING OF ONE OF AMERICA'S BEST YOUNG WRITERS NEW YORK TIMES-- A VAST IMPROVEMENT OVER OTHER VOICES OTHER ROOMS THE COMMONWEAL-- WITHIN THE SLIM COMPASS OF THIS WORK, TRUMAN CAPOTE HAS ACHIEVED A MASTERPIECE OF PASSIONATE SIMPLICITY (Lights begin to fade) Capote: (reading aloud) "The Atlantic Monthly commented that 'The Grass Harp charms you into sharing the author's feeling that there is a special poetry - a spontaneity and wonder and delight - in lives untarnished by conformity and common sense.'" Capote: (reading reviews with satisfied smile) All books are far too long. MY theory is that a book should be like a seed you plant, and that the reader should make his own flower. Now, Bob, Honey--Bennett--What was it you were saying? Actually, I'm thinking about an extraordinary young woman that loves to shop at Tiffany's. Stage lights fade to black. FINIS [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jun 11, 2012
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Jun 07, 2012
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0552992097
| 9780552992091
| 0552992097
| 3.93
| 66,688
| 1981
| Jan 06, 1999
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really liked it
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The Hotel New Hampshire: John Irving's Fairy Tale of Life [image] "A dream is fulfillment of a wish."--The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud The Hotel New Hampshire: John Irving's Fairy Tale of Life [image] "A dream is fulfillment of a wish."--The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud One of the benefits of having your favorite professor of psychology as your next door neighbor is learning that he is a very widely read man. We are an odd pair, I suppose. He is 76. I am 59. But through the years we have known one another we have become best friends. We frequently exchange books the other has not read. It is safe to say that Howard is fond of literature that some might find "quirky." That's fine with me. That which is quirky can be quite fascinating. Howard can also be subject to a touch of hyperbole. So when he handed me his copy of The Hotel New Hampshire, declaring it the finest book written in the English language, I graciously accepted it, not revealing the grain of salt I reserved for his high accolade. While I would not proclaim "The Hotel New Hampshire" the finest book written in the English language, it is a book I came to love with the passage of each page. Quirky? Oh, there's no question about it. Iowa Bob Berry is the football coach of Dairy Prep School in Dairy, New Hampshire. The school doesn't quite make the top tier of preparatory schools in New England, but it serves its purpose for the wealthy whose children don't fall into the top tier of students that attend the top tier schools. It comes, then, rather a surprise that Iowa Bob's son, Win,is Harvard material. The problem is, that although he has been accepted to attend it's going to take hard work to earn the money to afford the tuition. Now,Dairy Prep is an all boys' school. It comes as no surprise that Win's girl of his dreams is unknown to him although they live in the same town. However, after graduation, the two nineteen year olds spend their summer working at Arbuthnot by the Sea, a resort in Maine. Nor does it come as a surprise that the two fall in love over that wondrous summer. There is definitely a fairy tale quality to the courtship of Win Berry and Mary Bates, the daughter of a very scholarly family. Another employee at Arbuthnot is Freud, not Sigmund, of course, but Freud a mechanic, who entertains the guests with the antics of pet bear, "State O' Maine" who rides a 1937 Indian Motorcycle. At the end of summer, 1939, Freud announces he's returning to his home in Vienna, not a wise thing to do. He sells the motorcycle and the bear to Win for $200.00 for Win's promises he marry Mary, attend Harvard, and one day will apologize to Mary for an event Freud does not reveal. Win makes good on the first promise quickly. Win and Mary begin to be fruitful between the entertainment seasons during which Win is earning his tuition at various resorts with the use of the Indian and the Bear. World War II puts a hitch in Win's enrollment at Harvard. However, he returns safely, graduates from Harvard and takes a teaching position at Dairy, now a coed facility. The Berry children are Frank, Franny, John Harvard, Lilly, and the youngest,known as Egg. John, the middle child, narrates the novel in first person. Win quickly becomes dissatisfied with his teaching position. He buys the now vacant female seminary to convert it to a hotel as there is no other in Dairy. I've mentioned that Irving's novel has a fairy tale quality to it. It's necessary to remember that there are the lighter tales of Hans Christian Anderson and there is the darker side of the genre by the Brothers Grimm. As the story of the Berry clan proceeds, it is evident that Irving has chosen to follow the Grimm route. Frank is gay. He is targeted for humiliation by the backfield of the Dairy football team, quarterbacked by Chip Dove. The same backfield rapes Franny. She refuses to report that she has been raped, but minimizes the attack by saying she had been beaten up. Lilly has a rare disorder which prevents her from growing. Egg is practically deaf following a series of ear infections. Win receives an offer to sell the Hotel. And who should appear to offer the Berry family a change of scenery but Freud, now the owner of a hotel in Vienna, Austria. Win is his pick to help improve his gasthaus to the level of a fine hotel. Freud could use the help. It's an odd establishment. One floor is occupied by prostitutes, who may ply their trade legally in Vienna. Another floor is occupied by a group of radicals, despising the old order and anything smacking of tradition. Win has his work cut out for him. Freud has obtained a smarter bear, Susie. She's considerably smarter than State O' Maine. She happens to be a young woman who does a divine impression of a bear, not only serving as an entertainer, but a body guard for the ladies of the evening upstairs. And, oh, yes, Susie was the victim of sexual assault as well. She considers herself ugly, and is content to hide behind the bear suit. [image] "The Hotel New Hampshire" was written and directed by Tony Richardson for the screen in 1984. The radicals upstairs are a dangerous group. They plan to set off an automobile bomb which will cause a sympathetic bomb under the stage of the Vienna Opera House on the premiere night of the fall season. I leave it to the reader to discern whether the attempt is successful,or not, and who lives and who dies. [image] The Vienna Opera House The Berry family return to the United States. Lilly has written a best seller "Trying to Grow." This deus ex machina allows the Berrys to live a comfortable life, though all of life's normal travails continue to follow them through out their lives. As Irving tells us, sorrow, love, and doom float through each of our lives. It's how we each handle those unavoidable currents that determine the satisfaction of our lives. Iowa Bob, training John Harvard to be a weight lifter, put him on a strict regimen of exercise. "You have to be obsessed. Obsessed. Keep passing those open windows." Having lived approaching sixty years, I'd have to say you can't live just standing still. Some dreams become wishes which are fulfilled. Some are not. Just persevere. I have read a number of reviews of "The Hotel New Hampshire." You will certainly find its detractors here. Those unfavorable reviews note the dysfunctional nature of the Berry family. Similar reviews find Irving's emphasis on sexual assault unnerving. While I've noted Irving's fairy tale nature of storytelling in this novel, life isn't a fairy tale. The events described in Irving's novel happen all too frequently. As a bit of a post script, I have to say Irving did his research on the dynamics of sexual assault and its effects on survivors. Yes, sorrow also floats. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Apr 19, 2012
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Apr 28, 2012
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Apr 19, 2012
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Paperback
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| 0307762505
| 9780307762504
| B009BKYOAW
| 3.53
| 11,646
| 1965
| Aug 11, 2010
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really liked it
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The Orchard Keeper: Cormac McCarthy's first novel of a Southern Quartet The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy was selected by Tom "Big Daddy" Mathews a The Orchard Keeper: Cormac McCarthy's first novel of a Southern Quartet The Orchard Keeper by Cormac McCarthy was selected by Tom "Big Daddy" Mathews as the Moderator's Choice for Members of On the Southern Literary Trail for January, 2016. [image] First Edition, Random House, New York, New York, 1965 [image] Cormac McCarthy, Dust Jacket Photo, "The Orchard Keeper" Them that's got shall get You have to read this book. I rarely say it. I feel so strongly about it, I'll say it again. Read this book. Read it straight through. Then read it more thoroughly, more thoughtfully. See how Cormac McCarthy put this story together. The hill country of Eastern Tennessee has always been different. During the American Civil War, the mountainous areas of Tennessee were a hotbed of Unionism. Set in Red Branch, Tennessee, Cormac McCarthy created a community that portrayed the independence of the residents of that area of the state. Red Branch is located somewhere between Knoxville and Sevierville in Tennessee. The time of the story is between World War I and World War II. The people of Red Branch are a close knit bunch. It's a place of hospitality if you're one of their own. If you're not from around there, you're not likely to be welcome. If you're a member of the Alcohol and Tobacco Unit of the Federal government, don't expect a whole lot of information about who is running whiskey out of the Tennessee Hills. Folks in Red Branch do what comes naturally. Sex is a gift to be engaged in and enjoyed. The young women are just as willing and eager as the young men are to enjoy one another. Young Josh Tipton, a bit player in the overall scheme of things, is humiliated that his young lady insults him by telling him he's the nicest young man that ever needled her. Perhaps he's insulted to be a nice young man. But considering McCarthy's comedic moments, it's more likely Josh's humiliation over the needle size of his pride and joy. A quick read, The Orchard Keeper, at first blush is a simple enough tale. There are three main protagonists, Marion Sylder, a bad boy not above breaking the law by running unbranded whiskey out of the hills in fast cars; Uncle Ather Ownby, who tends a ruined apple orchard, a hermit, content to live alone away from the encroachment of civilization, and young John Rattney, a fatherless boy, who comes to be fostered and mentored by both Sylder and Ownby. McCarthy writes of a land and a people fast changing. What was once unblemished forested mountainsides is being encroached upon by progress. Or so some would call it. McCarthy intimates it is a present fast forgetting the past. “They are gone now. Fled, banished in death or exile, lost, undone. Over the land sun and wind still move to burn and sway the trees, the grasses. No avatar, no scion, no vestige of that people remains. On the lips of the strange race that now dwells there their names are myth, legend, dust.” John's last memory of his father, Kenneth, is being given an orange drink by his father, purchased for a nickel, before his father left for South Carolina in search of a job. It's the last time John ever sees his father. John's mother reminds him that his father was a hero in the army, returning from service with a platinum plate in his skull. She also tells him that if only his father were there, neither he nor she would want for anything, for his father had always been a good provider. Evidence is to the contrary. Kenneth Rattney was no hero. He was a con man and a thief, always on the lookout for an easy buck. Whether he came by it honestly or not, he didn't care. Kenneth hitches a ride with Marion Sylder, who is coming back home to Red Branch after an absence of five years. Sylder's driving a new black Ford coupe. He's well dressed. Rattney's wrong when he decides Sylder's an easy mark. When Sylder has a flat, Rattney attacks him with a tire iron. Sylder kills him in self defense, disposing of his body by rolling him off the road where the body lands in the old spray pit of the gnarled and ruined orchard tended by Uncle Ather. Sylder has no idea whose body he's rolled off the road. Uncle Ather, walking through his ruined orchard discovers Rattner's body floating in the old spray pit. Ather's learned a long time ago that bringing in the authorities is only going to lead to meddling. He hides the body, piling cut cedar trees over the old pit. Neither does Ather know the identity of the body floating in the pit. Back at the rickety shack John and his mother occupy, John is drawn into the nature of the wilderness that surrounds him. He moves his bed to the enclosed porch of the house, watching the change of the seasons. His mother, for all purposes, a widow, leaves John to his own devises. John does not attend school. No truant officers exist to drag him away from his wandering through the woods that surround him. During his regular walks through the remarkable landscape in which he lives, John meets both Marion Sylder and Uncle Ather. Both become mentors, essentially foster fathers to him. John watches Sylder slide through a curve, plunging into a swift running creek. He pulls him from his car. Sylder realizes the boy saved his life and he returns the favor by seeing the boy share the comfort of his home, supplies him with enough money to increase the string of his traps with which he wishes to earn money for his mother's support, and gives the boy his first dog. Uncle Ather is a fount of folkways and woodlore. He is a natural storyteller, a man seemingly older than the hills he wanders. Ather still remembers when civilization was so distant that "painters," or panthers, regularly roamed the woods, their screams piercing the black night unlit by a distant civilization. However, society is changing. There is no place for characters such as Marion Sylder and Uncle Ather Ownby. Running unbranded, or shall we say, untaxed whiskey, isn't good for Government Revenue. Sheriff Gifford, the symbol of government authority is on the lookout for Sylder. Ather calls the law down on himself when he shoots up a tank put up on one of his beloved mountains by the United States Army. John Rattner remains loyal to both his friends as the law closes in on them. McCarthy makes it clear that both bootlegger and mountain hermit can be fathers of greater influence than a man who merely fertilizes an egg. What first appears to be a relatively simple plot is not as simple as it appears. Just who is the narrator of this tale? Is this an unknown, omniscient narrator, speaking to us in the third person? Or, is this a classic bildungsroman told by an older, wiser John Rattner? McCarthy created a remarkable story with his debut. The language of the hill people is pitch perfect. His prose describing the Tennessee hill country is more poetry in the indelible beauty of a vanishing world captured forever on the page. McCarthy's manuscript landed on the desk of Albert Erskine at Random House. Erskine had been Faulkner's editor. As he read McCarthy's manuscript, I wonder if Erskine at times questioned whether Bill Faulkner ever died. I can see Erskine shaking his head in wonder at the words on the rough manuscript that a new Southern voice had produced. McCarthy was seen as the heir apparent to William Faulkner. Orville Prescott, reviewing The Orchard Keeper noted that the author had read much Faulkner. And imitated him much. Yet, Prescott found a raw narrative power in this first novel. Prescott, O., Still Another Disciple of William Faulkner, The New York Times, May 1965 In 1966, the William Faulkner Foundation selected McCarthy as the author of the most notable novel. Rightly so. [image] ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Jan 2016
not set
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Jan 2016
not set
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Mar 23, 2012
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Kindle Edition
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| 0547416210
| 9780547416212
| B09PMCJWQ4
| 3.97
| 426,682
| 2005
| Jul 10, 2010
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it was amazing
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Extremely Loud and Incredbily Close: Jonathan Foer's novel of love, loss, and memory There are events that leave an indelible stamp on us for a great p Extremely Loud and Incredbily Close: Jonathan Foer's novel of love, loss, and memory There are events that leave an indelible stamp on us for a great portion of our lives. This happens from generation to generation. Ask those living at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor where they were and what they were doing, they will be able to tell you the answer. Similarly, ask me where I was when I heard John F. Kennedy was shot, I can tell you. Ask what I was doing when the attacks of 9/11 occurred, I can tell you. I had arrived at work at the District Attorney's Office. My chief side kick with whom I was working prep for a trial, ran into the grand jury room and said turn on the television. I did. What I saw was something I could not accept. [image] Jonathan Foer goes far past the point of remembrance. Foer drops you into the shoes of 8 year old Oskar Schell. For him, 9/11 is not simply an event which he will remember for its historical significance. It is an event he lives daily because he lost his father that day. And the event is brought home to him, for he has a cell phone with his father's messages sent from the twin towers that day. This is a secret he keeps from his mother, for he wants to protect her from the pain of those messages. It is an incredible burden for a child to bear. [image] Oskar is left with a gamut of guilt and fears, resulting in a state of vicarious traumatic response to his father's death. His grief is all the more palpable because he is extremely gifted and incredibly cursed with an intelligence far more gifted than children his age. Oskar shared a bond with his father, who fostered that intelligence, by devoting great attention on his son, gently lulling him to sleep at nights by reading him the New York Times and circling the errors they found in red ink. His father challenged Oskar's intelligence by setting up questions for Oskar to solve, leaving clues amounting to a trail of breadcrumbs leading him to a solution of the problems he designed for him. Or did he? Did his father actually do this? Or is this something which Oskar has perceived in his mind alone? The action of this novel occurs a year after the fall of the Towers. Oskar is still dealing with the traumatization of his father's loss. In an effort to keep the memory of his father close, Oskar frequently hides in his father's closet where the scent of his father's shaving still lingers in his mind, if only in his mind. A bundle of memories and his fears cripple Oskar in his dealings with others, especially his schoolmates, whom are not affected by the fall of the Towers as Oskar is. Nor does Oskar perceive his mother to be as deeply affected by the loss of his father. She has a new friend, Ron, who becomes a frequent visitor to the apartment. Oskar hears their laughter in the living room, as he hides in his father's closet. At one point, typical of a child, he tells his mother he wishes it had been her who died that day. It is something a child would say, intentionally hurting the remaining parent, then immediately struck with the hurt he inflicted on his mother whom he loved without question. There are strong clues that while Oskar is undoubtedly a prodigy of intelligence far beyond his years, that Oskar just might suffer from more than childhood fears. Is it that Oskar is afflicted by Asperger's Syndrome? A look into the Diagnostic Services Manual--I believe we're in the fifth edition of that psychological cookbook, now, reveals that this is a distinct possibility. Oskar is enveloped in a net of pattern and design, a characteristic shared by children with this diagnosis. He is awkward in his social interactions. Nor does he seem to grasp the results of his actions in social settings. Play on words which Oskar finds hilarious are lost and misunderstood by those around him. Oskar's behavior in filling daybooks with events that have happened to him, including other tragic events occurring before and after 9/11 take on a ritualistic quality, echoing some of the characteristics shared by those diagnosed with Asperger's, which is considered a sub diagnosis of autism. It is a matter of degree, not an exclusion from that diagnosis. That Oskar is unaware of the consequences of his behavior on his teacher and his fellow students is clear. In graphic detail, he explains the results of the bombing of Hiroshima, sharing a video interview with a survivor of the first use of an atomic bomb against a civilian population. That Osckar's last name is Schell is a clever device used to great benefit by Foer. For Oskar is a veritable Chambered Nautilus consisting of impenetrable chambers of secrets revealed only by gently bisecting the shell of a nautilus. Oskar's mother carries her son to be counseled by Doctor Fein, who is anything but fine in his ability to reach Oskar and release him from all the fears held within him, brought about from his father's death. It is only through Oskar's discovery of one last mystery he believes was left him by his father to solve, that Oskar begins to live outside himself and become engaged with people outside his immediate family that just might allow him to move forward from the prison of the loss of his father. Quite by accident, Oskar spies a blue vase on the top shelf of his father's closet. Stacking his works of Shakespeare in his father's closet, Oskar stretches to reach the vase, only to tip it off the shelf, shattering it on the floor of the closet. It contains a key, with an envelope. Written on the envelope is the word "Black" written in red ink. Oskar determines that the answer to his father's last mystery is the key and someone named Black. Although the number of locks in New York City is mind shattering, Oskar, a child of the internet, decides to track down all the Blacks in New York City in an effort to find the secret of what the key opens. It is this journey, if anything, that will allow Oskar to move beyond the death of his father and live his own life. Foer, in a display of brilliance, introduces us to Oskar's grandmother and the grandfather, Oskar never knew. Thomas Schell, for whom Oskar's father was named, also is trapped within the memories of another terrible incident in Human history, the firebombing of Dresden. The elder Thomas, although once capable of speech, can no longer speak a word, but communicates by writing in blank day books. He disappeared before the birth of Oskar's father. [image] We learn of the elder Thomas's history through his letters to his unborn child and through his life with Oskar's grandmother, who lives in an apartment building across the street from Oskar. Oskar and his grandmother communicate by walkie talkies at all times of the day and night. It is through the writings of the elder Thomas Schell that we experience first hand the horror of living through one of the great acts of inhumanity against man--the fire bombing of Dresden during World War II by the Royal Airforce and the United States 8th Airforce from February 13-15th, 1945. Those events leave Thomas Schell a man forever changed. The beauty of Foer's novel is the answer he provides in the resolution of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. We recover from the tragedies of our lives through the bonds we share with others. This is the ultimate beauty of life. While some critics, and some readers, find Foer's novel, manipulative and cloyingly sweet, I find it an affirmation of life. To paraphrase Faulkner's Nobel Acceptance Speech, it is through reaching out to others that not only are we able to endure, it is the way we prevail. This is a solid 6 Stars literary masterpiece. If it makes you cry, take joy for the fact Foer reminds us we are human, not only capable of acts of inhumanity, but also capable of acts of great love and forgiveness. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jan 19, 2012
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Jan 29, 2012
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Jan 19, 2012
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ebook
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| 0385475748
| 9780385475747
| 0385475748
| 3.54
| 2,090
| 1994
| Oct 01, 1994
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really liked it
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Snow Angels, Stewart O'Nan's novel of family life “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Ka Snow Angels, Stewart O'Nan's novel of family life “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” ― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina It is 1974 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Arthur is fourteen. His older sister, Astrid is in military service, flying high over Russia, photographing bits and pieces of a very cold country in a very cold war. But the real war is back in Butler, on the home front. Arthur's mother and father are splitting up. His mother explains to him that she loved another man and his father could not forgive her. She adds that she was not the villainess, Arty's father had his own women on the side. At the same time, Annie Marchand, the perfect babysitter who had watched Arthur and Astrid while their parents lived out the motions of happiness in a marriage, has problems of her own. Life hasn't turned out well for the pretty babysitter, now grown, married, and the mother of a beautiful little girl, Tara. Annie's problem is her husband Glenn. He's not a bad sort. In fact, he's so damned nice. He's the excited puppy, bouncing from job to job that he can never keep. No matter how good his intentions, Glenn finds reasons to be late for work. Too much booze. Too little interest. Another job hunt. Annie soldiers on as the family breadwinner, a waitress at the club, overlooking the golf course. It is a cold winter afternoon. Mr. Chervinick has the band practicing out on the soccer field, preparing for the last half-time show of the football season. Arthur, in the trombone line, a highschool freshman, numbly marches through the drill routine, obliques and a whirlwind maneuver that Chervinick calls the tornado, a movement the band never can perform to their director's satisfaction. As Jimmy Buffet sings, "There ain't to reason to hurricane season." A tornado is something that can't be controlled, nor can a high school band replicate its movements on a practice field. During their attempt to swirl and twirl across the practice field, gunshots ring out. This is where our story begins. From that point on, O'Nan deftly weaves the stories of Arthur and Annie's families. There is a terrible beauty in the symmetry of the death of two marriages. After stormy screaming matches between his mother and father, Arthur's family dissolves in a whimper. Annie's ends in those gunshots that reverberate over the practice field. Moving between the voices of Arthur, Annie, her bad boy lover, Brock, and husband Glenn, slowly spiralling into madness, Snow Angels sings with the power of a Greek chorus in building to an unavoidably tragic conclusion. While O'Nan weaves all the strands of a spider's intricate web of emotion, interspersed are moments of dark humor as Arthur suffers the consequences of his parents' divorce. No longer able to sustain two homes equivalent to their former household, Arthur finds himself living in the most efficient of efficiency apartments, a former retreat for ministers, now converted into family apartments. The chapel has been demolished, but its foundation stands as a reminder of its former role. It is a place Arthur and his bus mates laughed at on their way to school. It is the home of twin sisters Lily and Lila, also the butt of Arthur and his friends crude humor. Now Arthur waits for the bus with Lily and Lila, slowly finding himself attracted to Lila. He wonders what she would look like without her glasses and what her body might be like underneath the home sewn clothes she wears. We follow Arthur through obtaining his learner's permit, his father's sporadic and awkward weekend visits. Arthur's father teaches him to drive in a battered car belonging to his paternal aunt. His mother, also a waitress, as is Annie, has kept the family Country Squire, the quintessential automotive image of the perfect family's perfect automobile, a reminder of family vacations during happier days. These days cannot be recreated. They can only be remembered. Astrid appears as a distant voice on telephone calls from Germany. She is removed from the cold war at home. Although she asks Arthur if he would like her to take leave and come home as he doesn't seem to be taking care of their mother, clearly she has no intention of doing so. Arthur takes satisfaction in knowing where her secret stash of weed is, the pipes, the bongs, the papers. That will show her. We watch as Arthur sets out on his trek to adulthood, desperately trying to arrive there in the arms of Lila. She's very nice without her glasses on. And, oh God, the bra is off. Oh, God, what is beneath that awful binding garment is beyond Arthur's wildest dreams. And the wheels on the bus go round and round. What a reminiscence--the opening of the old television show, "Ben Casey." Perhaps you remember it. "Man. Woman. Birth. Death. Infinity." http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=... That's O'Nan's marvelous novel in a nutshell. Snow angels. I've made them as a child. I've watched my children make them. Giddy moments of the exhilaration of being a child and alive. In this novel, snow angels are not symbols of happiness but the bleak harbingers of unhappiness and a tornado of death and violence that will forever haunt the reader. Yes, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. This novel almost makes you wonder if there is such a thing as reincarnation. Born in 1961, Stewart O'Nan took his MFA from Cornell in 1992. His short story collection, In the Walled City, was awarded the Druse Heinz in 1993. His manuscript of Snow Angels captured the first Pirate's Alley Faulkner Prize for the Novel, awarded by the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society of New Orleans in 1993. The novel was published in January, 1994. O'Nan's latest novel is The Odds, out January, 2012. I'll have Mr. O'Nan sign that at the Alabama Booksmith in Homewood, Alabama on January 23, this week, when I'll also respectfully ask him to sign my copy of this novel and his award winning collection of short fiction, In the Walled City. Rating: A solid 4.5 out of 5 ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 17, 2012
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Jan 23, 2012
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Jan 17, 2012
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Hardcover
| ||||||||||||||
| 1612188958
| 9781612188959
| B005AYQWIK
| 3.84
| 503
| 1970
| unknown
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really liked it
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I have to thank "The Oxford American," a journal devoted to southern literature and culture, for introducing me to Donald Harington. The fine folks at
I have to thank "The Oxford American," a journal devoted to southern literature and culture, for introducing me to Donald Harington. The fine folks at that magazine let me know about him way back in 2006, when they handed out their first Lifetime Achievement Award for Contributions to Southern Literature to this guy from Fayetteville, Arkansas. Donald who? It pains me to say it, but I'd never heard of the man. You'd think I would have run right out and bought every Harington in sight, but this is one time I just got it wrong. It happens to all of us from time to time, I guess. You just can't read every book out there. And, if you'll bear with me here, because you've probably figured out, this won't be the typical book review, I have to admit, being from Alabama, you take your pleasures where you can find them at times. Other than college football and a few other sports, my beloved home ranks about last in every positive category of American life. Now, note I said beloved, because I do love this state, even with all its faults. It's only human nature that when you're low down there on the totem pole, it's always nice to know there's a couple of notches occupied beneath your lowly position. It used to be said, if you were an Alabama resident, "Well, thank God for Mississippi." Then those Mississippians unbuckled their bible belt and legalized gambling. And all of a sudden, Mississippi's got better roads, some really nice schools, new welcome centers,new train stations, and other amenities all brought about by what most Alabamans still consider a mortal sin, with the exception of those folks who regularly cross state lines to legally gamble and buy lottery tickets in Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida. It's amazing what a little sin can do for a place, you know? And THEN, Oxford, Mississippi was named one of the top 10 places to retire to in the whole "Newnited States of America." That just about did it. So about all an Alabama boy could say was, "Well, thank God there's still Arkansas," not that we ever really considered them part of the SOUTH. Darned if it doesn't hurt to say out of literary pride--yeah, we got a few authors from around here--I figured I could just skip Donald Harington. After all, we've got Nelle Harper Lee. No, I don't believe Truman Capote wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird," before you ask. However, I do think Ms. Lee had considerable to do with "In Cold Blood." We take partial claim to Truman because of his Monroeville, Alabama relations. We have William March, Winston Groom, Mary Ward Brown, T.S. Stribling, Carl Carmer, Hudson Strode, Mark Childress, and Jimmy Buffet. Yes, I am an aging pirate way past forty parrot head. I didn't think I needed Donald Harington. Then, back in November, 2009, I saw Donald Harington died. I read the obituaries. Donald Harington, born in Little Rock Arkansas, December 22, 1935, died November 7, 2009. The accolades astounded me. The man's life flat floored me. Harington lost his hearing at age twelve after a bout of meningitis. Yet, in those few years he caught the dialogue, the lingo, the argot of the Ozarks. In 2010, I ran across that old copy of the Oxford American. I re-read the bio and the award, swallowed my pride, and ordered a copy of "Lightning Bug." It came in from Amazon. I shelved it, forgot it, and then darned if Amazon doesn't go and buy the entire Toby Press catalog which happened to contain the complete works of Donald Harington. I could read it for free. I was between books and through the miracle of FREE whispernet service (Does that make you wonder if Amazon is going to get around to charging for downloading an e-book?) whoosh, I had my own free copy of "Lightning Bug." For those of y'all wondering if this Alabama confessional is going to turn into a book review, well, here it is. I flat love Donald Harington. It made me glad I voted for Clinton. Twice. It's enough to make a man want to go on pilgrimage to the Ozarks. First, Harington made me laugh. He could make me cry from laughing and he could make cry from the mere tragedy of what it sometimes means to simply be human. "Lightning Bug" is filled with references to old Ozark folkways and superstitions. To some, and you'll find Harington's detractors right here on goodreads, Harington's dialogue is so thick with what they refer to as hillbilly ignorance, they can't abide the man. Having relations in the northwest part of this state, I can hear some of the same phrasing, terms, and superstitions I recall growing up in Alabama and visiting those family members. It's true. It rings true. And for Arkansas natives who have crucified Harington for portraying their kinfolk as ignorant, well, it's just about as well they no longer call Arkansas home. A number of years back, a good friend gave me a copy of "Pissing In the Snow." It's an anthology of Arkansas folklore. She was a raven haired beauty and I was more than half way in love with her, but the timing was never right for either one of us. She could give me that book and laugh about it, because she was from, guess where--Fayetteville, Arkansas. Much of what I read in "Pissing in the Snow" could have come straight out of Harington. The catch is, what was in the pages of that book of folklore shine through on the pages of Harington's writing. While reading the book, I posted a few comments along. Having completed the book, I'll stick with my original impression. Reading Harington is about like reading Faulkner who had just about enough nitrous oxide to make him slap happy. Harington's story is quirky. The people are quirky. Some you'd like to call neighbors. Other's will make you run in the opposite direction--and you'd be smart if you did, because some of them would as soon kill you as look at you, especially if you're a revenooer threatening one of the best stills in the hills. It is a sheer delight to tell you fellow readers that Harington created an entire, surreal and quirky world around the small township of Stay More, Arkansas. I have the intense pleasure of announcing I have eleven more Stay More novels to go. As Harington tells you, you won't find it on any Arkansas map, but by the towns he names that do appear on any decent Arkansas atlas, you can figure out pretty much where Harington knew it was. And, at least in Harington's mind it might as well have been a real place. Perhaps it was. He just changed the name to protect the innocent and the guilty. There should be no surprise that there's a lot of innocent and guilty to protect in Harington's world. Over there in Stay More, Latha Bourne is the postmistress and she runs the most popular general store in the community. She's got a head for business. When that candy drummer comes around in the summertime, Latha won't buy too many Hershey bars because any damned fool knows they're going to melt in that Arkansas heat. But she's smart enough to see that the postal delivery service also crates in enough block ice to keep the soda pops cold. Her competition refuses to consider the extravagant price of carting in block ice, but can't figure out why all the men folk hang out over at Latha's. Well, I can tell you why they do. There's not a man in Stay More, Arkansas, that's not a little in love, or at least lust with Latha. Her allure defies description, although her sharp wit and keen intellect cause a man to pay more attention to her than just because of her curves. Even Donny (pronounced "Dawny")Harington who works his way into the story as a five to six year old boy, expects to grow up and marry Latha. He loves her unquestionably, because of the attention she sheds on him, the ghost stories with which she entertains him, and the fact that she provides him shelter from some very, very rigid and unloving relatives with whom he lives. "Lightning Bug" is largely the story of the romance of Every Dill and Latha Bourne. They were lovers. He was twelve and she was eleven. However, after their adolescence, the powerful Ingledew clan of brothers who consider Stay More their own personal town, and in some ways are, as they own the bank that carries the mortgages on almost every resident of Stay More, decide that Latha should be betrothed to Randall Ingledew. We don't know Latha's rationale for deciding to accept this betrothal, but she puts Every Dill out of her life. Even World War One cannot break the hold of the Ingledew family over Randall's betrothal to Latha. Although Every Dill returns from the war to report that Randall died, tied to a tree by the Germans as a decoy to lure American doughboys into the path of a machine gun nest. Every, still in love with Latha had promised that he would take care of Randall while overseas. He failed in that mission, though the scars of machine gun bullet holes piercing both legs indicate he made every attempt to save his rival for Latha's affection. That was the kind of love he had held for her since early adolescence. However,the Ingledew's threaten Every with his very life if he approaches Latha. Until Uncle Sam says Randall is dead, he's not--at least not officially. They remind him there's seven of them and one of him. If they have to, eight may take a walk in the woods, but only seven will come out. The meaning is clear. "Lighting Bug" spans the time from pre-World War One to some time after 1939. During those years, many changes come to Stay More, most for the worst. Stay More is a dying town, especially after someone who might be Every Dill robs the Ingledew Bank. Dill does leave Stay More. He has one more encounter with Latha, professing his love for her. What transpires some would call rape. Whether it was, or wasn't is subject to interpretation. The following years are a blank in the life of Every Dill. His absence is not explained. Latha spends a good deal of time with her sister Mandy and churlish husband in Little Rock. Latha spends almost three years in an insane asylum there. The only facts this reviewer will reveal regarding those circumstances are that her committal was involuntary, and while she clearly needed emotional help it could easily have been supplied by loving family members had they chosen to do so. In 1925, Latha escapes from the Little Rock Asylum. We next find her running the general store and being the efficient Post Mistress of Stay More. With the exception of "Dawny's" sleep overs, her only company is her sister's daughter, Sonora, living with Latha in Stay More temporarily. Of course, she has her customers and visitors during the day. Occasionally, Latha takes off the day, spending the time fishing in a fine spot, Banty Creek. There, Latha meets Dolph, also taking the day off from work on his farm in a town up the road. Latha is a woman of strong sexuality. Her exercise of it occurs rarely. But when it happens, the term "la petite morte" was never more applicable than to Latha, who literally faints and remains unconscious for a period of time, waking up with a tremendous sense of well being. Dolph complicates matters by making it his sole purpose in life to marry Latha Bourne, a task she doesn't make easy for him, as she gave him a false name and her residence in a town other than Stay More. Latha doesn't see the need to complicate her life by marriage. Of course, Dolph does track her down, eventually. She tells him she's married to a fellow that works over in the canning factory in town. That's not true either. It's at this point that Every Dill reappears in Stay More. His occupation? He's become a preacher. He's returned to post fliers around Stay More announcing his intention to preach a revival. Dill's transformation from soldier to bank robber to preacher dumbfounds the residents of Stay More. Every buys tacks from Latha to post his fliers. He returns to borrow a hammer to put them up. Clearly, Every is of the mind that Latha is his intended and their love was something meant to be from the time they were barely out of childhood. Latha's niece, Sonora, flat out confronts Latha with her belief that Every is her father and that Latha is not her aunt, but her mother. She can see their features in her face and this is a fact that she recognizes intuitively. Within a short time, Latha succumbs to Every's continued proposals of marriage on the condition that she make love to him before the marriage. Every's commitment to the Lord prohibits him from committing the sin of fornication but insists on putting a ring on Latha's finger. In a recent discussion of whether authors intentionally interject symbolism into their works, I can't speculate on Harington's position on this subject. However, I will say that Every's last name is Dill. Of course, his nickname he was stuck with was "Pickle." Not only is Every a stand in for every man, within the context of this novel, Every's Pickle stands in and up for male sexuality with a priapic vengeance. And Latha's not interested in just an every man's pickle, but the one that belonged to her first love. What follows is an impasse that can only be resolved by Every's conversation with God and Latha's own conversation with Christ. To say the episodes are dreamlike and surreal is an understatement of the greatest magnitude. I will say that Latha's conversations with Christ and his references to what his Dad would think provide some of those moments of tears resulting from laughter. I'll limit the summary to the fact that Christ's and Latha's conversations occur over each of them sharing peaches in an orchard and a different twist on the incarnation of mortals by whichever aspect of the Trinity the reader so desires. "Lightning Bug" is a tangle of flashbacks and narrators. It is one of Harington's masterstrokes on what makes this novel work so well. I've seen one reviewer who questioned the significance of "Dawny" and his fate, and the identity of the other narrators in this tale. In this reviewer's opinion, Harrington combines techniques of omniscient narrator, a very subjective narration speaking as to another person through the use of you. That second mentioned narrator is "Dawny" as a grown man, reminiscing of his coming of age in Staymore. The object of his narration is none other than Latha Bourne, addressing her as "Bug," for Latha is the ultimate human form of lightning bug that mysteriously appears on those warm summer nights and makes each of them the magic we carry with us from childhood till death. And it is Harington's use of himself as narrator through which we are able to unravel the mystery of Latha's past which the omniscient narrator does not, will not, or perhaps cannot provide us. For Latha Bourne is one of those unique and magical individual which, once she becomes a part of our lives, we are forever incapable of forgetting the impact she has had on our lives. I'll leave this review by saying the reader will find complete satisfaction with Harington's resolution of this novel. Love never dies. I'd say that's a good thing. For more on the works of Donald Harington, I found these references particularly fascinating. I sincerely hope you'll come by the PO down at Stay More and join me there. I think the place and the people that live there have a whole lot to tell us about what it means to live. "Donald Harington's Stay More Novels: A Celebration of Thirty-five Years," Bob Razer http://libinfo.uark.edu/specialcollec... wn.com/Donald_Harington (This site includes biographical information, video interviews with Donald Harington and other helpful information "Donald Harington Interview" by Edwin T. Arnold, http://www.donaldharington.com/interv... "Remembering Donald Harington and Stay More," Bob Razer, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail... "Donald Harington, Ozark Surrealist, Dies at 73" By WILLIAM GRIMES, Published: November 12, 2009, New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/art... ...more |
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Dec 10, 2011
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Dec 18, 2011
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Dec 10, 2011
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Kindle Edition
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| 0679723161
| 9780679723165
| 0679723161
| 3.88
| 880,239
| Sep 1955
| Mar 13, 1989
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it was amazing
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Originally published by Olympia Press in two volumes in 1955, "Lolita" exploded on the American scene in 1958. Since then, Nabokov's novel, the memoir
Originally published by Olympia Press in two volumes in 1955, "Lolita" exploded on the American scene in 1958. Since then, Nabokov's novel, the memoirs of a pedophile named "Humbert Humbert," has appeared in list after list of the world's greatest literature. The memories of a pedophile would seem to be curious material to climb to the top of highly regarded literature. However, it is a master work of comedy, tragedy, and an ironic look at American pop culture of the 1950s. Humbert Humbert writes his memoirs as an explanation for his obsession for the taboo of his love of "nymphets" and "faunlets." These are words coined by Humbert himself. But nymphet has entered the dictionary of common English usage. We know from the novel's academic foreword that Humbert is dead, that he has perhaps paid the price for his crime by spinning off this mortal coil, struck with a pulmonary thrombosis. Of course, by doing so, he avoids trial for his alleged criminal acts. Alleged? Hardly so, as we are told Humbert's story by the man himself, in great detail. Why does Humbert find pubescent "girl children" so attractive? His answer has been confirmed by many contemporary researchers who have studied innumerable cases of confirmed pedophiles. Humbert, during early adolescence, fell in love with a young girl his own age. The memories of his tempestuous love leave him fixed in a level of sexual development which he seeks throughout his life. While Humbert is perfectly capable of performing sexually with age appropriate partners, he is not satisfied with those relationships. And so it is with those individuals who find their sexual preference among children. In fact, Humbert is cursed, so he thinks, that women his age find him an irresistible target. But it is this curse that leads him to his ultimate "nymphet," Lolita. Humbert finds himself a border in the Haze residence. Mrs. Haze is a widow, supplementing her income by renting out rooms. Humbert senses another unwanted adult entanglement until he happens upon Delores Haze, the landlady's twelve year old daughter. Who is Lolita? She is Humbert's idealized image of Delores. She is "L." She is "Lo." She is "Lo-lee-ta!" If Humbert must pay the price of marrying his love child's mother, it is a small price to pay. But luck seems to follow Humbert in his pursuit of the taboo. Lolita's mother is conveniently struck down by a car, running across the street upon discovering Humbert's diary in which he details his lust for her daughter. It is a child lover's paradise. Humbert finds himself the stepfather of the girl of his dreams. Lolita returns Humbert's affections, if we are to believe Humbert's memoirs. However, through slips of conscience, Humbert reveals his realization that he has stolen Lolita's childhood. After having his fill of her, night after night, he acknowledges he falls asleep to the quiet sobbing of Lolita. At times when his lust spurs him on to a repeat of the act he has just completed, the child resignedly says, "Oh, no. Not again." Humbert's transformation of Delores to a highly sexualized Lolita is a mixed blessing, perhaps bordering on a curse. In his effort to woo her with travel, clothing and gifts, Humbert teaches Lolita that her favors have value, a concept she quickly learns and masters. Humbert and Lolita embark on a cross country trek of seemingly every American tourist trap, colonial inn, cabin resort, and monument, famous or not. Lolita is entertained with comics, clothes, and stops at every gift shop where Humbert dutifully forks out the price for whatever Lolita asks. Restaurants are selected on the basis of being favored with "Huncan Dines" desserts. Nabokov skewers American culture in the process. But Humbert's sexual education of Lolita leads to his losing her. Ultimately, Lolita abandons Humbert for another. Humbert will search for her for years until he finds her, no longer the nymphet of his dreams but a young married woman expecting her first child. However, the tale is far from over. Humbert searches for the man who stole his Lolita. It is during this quest that Humbert emerges as a tragic anti-hero. Could it be that levels of pedophilia exist, with one being more evil than another? That is a decision for the individual reader. Nabokov weaves comedy, pathos, and tragedy in a novel that envelopes the reader in a world of taboos, activities that that are culturally unacceptable, all the while beguiling the reader to turn to the next page. However, when Nabokov wrote "Lolita," children who were creations of the imagination of men such as Humbert were just that. Today, what imaginations are being fueled by television programs such as "Toddlers and Tiaras?" Flip over to The Learning Channel and decide for yourself. ...more |
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Oct 29, 2011
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Oct 31, 2011
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Oct 29, 2011
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Paperback
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| 0679750185
| 9780679750185
| 0679750185
| 3.54
| 33,079
| 1978
| Jan 13, 1994
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really liked it
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I was led to Ian McEwan's "The Cement Garden" by Carmen Callil's and Colm Toibin's excellent book, "The Modern Library." Having formed the opinion tha
I was led to Ian McEwan's "The Cement Garden" by Carmen Callil's and Colm Toibin's excellent book, "The Modern Library." Having formed the opinion that I was woefully "unread" after picking up that volume, I decided to take these two authors' advice and dive into those books selected as the most influential books written in English since 1950. "The Cement Garden," written by McEwan in 1978, is a chilling little book about children living on their own without parents. Essentially, McEwan has constructed an urban "Lord of the Flies." Intermingled with themes of social isolation and adolescent sexuality, Freud's Oedipal complex looms large throughout an uneasy psychological tale of a family's dysfunction. Jack, the fifteen year old son, one of four children, is the narrator. This is the opening sentence: "I did not kill my father, but I sometimes felt I had helped him on his way. And but for the fact that it coincided with a landmark in my own physical growth, his death seemed insignificant compared with what followed." That landmark in physical growth is Jack's first ejaculation which he accomplishes while Da is busily cementing over the yard out of a sense of efficiency. Perhaps if Jack hadn't been involved in that act of self discovery, poor Da wouldn't have ended up face down in a puddle of wet cement. Jack psychically erases the existence of his father by smoothing his impression in the cement away after the corpse is carried away by ambulance. There is no grieving process that follows. Death is something that simply happens and must be accepted. What follows is simply told in a straight forward manner. Shortly after the unnamed father dies of a heart attack, the mother dies of a lingering illness. To Jack and Julie, the oldest, it seemed so obvious at the time to hide their mother's death to remain together. The solution? Cover Mum in a trunk with cement down in the cellar. Julie is seventeen. She is the obvious choice to become head of the family. Jack resents her assertion of authority. Sue, thirteen, keeps a secret diary, recording their lives, although the reader is only supplied with the briefest of glimpses when she reads a small bit to Jack. Tommy, only four, decides it would be better to become a girl. His sisters readily take to the idea, outfitting him with a wig, blouses and skirts. As time passes, with no parent on the scene, Tommy regresses to being a baby once more. Julie puts up the old baby crib in her room, assuming the role of mother to the degree she is able, which isn't much, to put it simply. Inevitably, Mum's death cannot be hidden. There's a crack in the cement covering her body. The sweet sick smell of death permeates the house. When Julie brings home a boyfriend, Derek, things are going to fall apart. McEwan's gloomy tale skids to a tumultuous climax. This bleak novel is a precise portrait of the grotesque. This is not a book lightly read nor easily forgotten. The subject matter is not pleasant, nor is it meant to be. One turns the page with a degree of squeamishness, but also fascination, as the facts unfold through Jack's unblinking and unrelenting perspective. McEwan's subsequent three novels in conjunction with the darkness of this story earned him the reputation of being "Ian McAbre." However, in "The Cement Garden," the reader sees the origin of the author who would win the Booker with "Amsterdam," and the writer of the widely read "Atonement." This is one to add to your read stack if you've not already done so. ...more |
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Oct 28, 2011
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Oct 29, 2011
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Oct 28, 2011
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| 0385533578
| 9780385533577
| 0385533578
| 3.95
| 8,066
| 2010
| Nov 02, 2010
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really liked it
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If you enjoy the books of Pat Conroy, you will enjoy this book. If you don't, you won't. My first introduction to Pat Conroy was through the movie "Con If you enjoy the books of Pat Conroy, you will enjoy this book. If you don't, you won't. My first introduction to Pat Conroy was through the movie "Conrack," starring Jon Voight. I had never heard of Conroy, much less read him. However, the movie sent me in search of him. When I found the paperback movie tie-in, I was hooked. From that time forward, I have read Conroy's books. I have met him, spoken with him, and seen him several times on the book circuit. His voice is a familiar sound to me, and when I here it, I can recognize it, before I see the face from whence the words flow. So when I pick up a new Conroy now, or return to one I have read, Pat Conroy's voice whispers to me as my eyes flicker over the words on the page. It is a most pleasant reading experience. This book is not so much about the books which have influenced Conroy's life, but about the people in Conroy's life who introduced those books to him. It is surprising to see the venomous statements of some who have reviewed this literary memoir who proclaim that Conroy is a racist because he glorified the South of "Gone With the Wind." How sad. Those readers seem to have just skipped over the whole point that the chapter concerning that novel is a prose poem in homage to Conroy's mother who fired his imagination by instilling him with the love of books and reading them. "My Reading Life" has its high points and its lows. The finest sections are those relating to Conroy's family, his English teacher Gene Norris, the owner of the Old New York Bookstore in Atlanta, and his first book rep who pushed countless "essential" novels into Conroy's hands, all the while telling him he would never be a great writer. Here you will find Conroy's dry humor when relating his experiences of meeting Alice Walker, being thrown out of an Adrienne Rich poetry workshop for being male, and being an American in Paris while writing "The Lords of Discipline." Here you will find Donald Conroy, "The Great Santini," who still holds a swaggering control of Pat Conroy's life, whether he will admit it or not. Conroy would have the reader believe that his soul is at rest with his father's ghost. However, this haunted relationship appears to pervade all the works of Pat Conroy. The low points of Conroy's memoir are, for this reader, those sections dealing with an author or book for which there is no living connection with Conroy, a book which was not put into his hands by a person influential in his life. The section on "War and Peace" felt forced, that Conroy felt he could not address the issuer of reading without including what some consider the greatest novel ever written. Conroy himself says he would prefer Anna Karenina. Well, Mr. Conroy, why didn't you write about that instead? The final chapters of "My Reading Life" seem the be the target of the reading public. Even I, a staunch devotee of Conroy's works, found myself thinking, "My, he doesn't know how to end this." So, perhaps the few final chapters detract from what is good in this book. One goodreads friend remarked, "It just petered out." I would love to see the look on Conroy's face if this lady were to say that to him. After all, this is the American in Paris approached by circles of confident ladies of the night, calling him "Beeg Boy." This is the man befriended by a free spirited poet who relished in revealing her sexual experiences with her many lovers. Conroy remarked, to the effect, "Gee,I'm glad we never ended up in the sack. I would hate to see I had been revealed to have chipmunk sized genitalia." ...more |
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Oct 04, 2011
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Oct 12, 2011
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Oct 04, 2011
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Hardcover
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| 0151191549
| 9780151191543
| 0151191549
| 4.27
| 710,343
| Jun 01, 1982
| May 22, 1992
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it was amazing
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"The Help" was a runaway bestseller on the NYTimes for over one hundred weeks. Now, the movie is a top grosser. I can't deny I liked it. I gave it fiv
"The Help" was a runaway bestseller on the NYTimes for over one hundred weeks. Now, the movie is a top grosser. I can't deny I liked it. I gave it five stars. There's nothing not to like. It was a sleeper hit. It was a short run first print and a first print of "The Help" will cost you a sweet price. But it didn't win a Pulitzer or the National Book Award. It is not a great American Novel. It will not endure as "The Color Purple" will. Sure, the maids in Jackson, Mississippi, have it bad. It takes an upstart insider of a white girl to come to the rescue to show the up and coming wives of Jackson, Mississippi, you just don't treat people that way. In Walker's "The Color Purple," no one is going to come to Celie's rescue, least of all, a white woman. Raped by the man she calls father, Celie has two children. They vanished. They were there and they were gone. Her younger sister, Nettie, is coming on and Pop has his eye on fresher flesh. When Mr._________ comes courting, Mr._____, who needs a wife for his children, wants Nettie, but Pop won't let Nettie go. She's too young. You take Celie. He does. Mr.__________ not only has a compliant bed mate, he also has a cook, a nanny, and a laundress all rolled into one. As in almost every domestic violence relationship, Celie can't win Mr. ___________'s game. Celie's world is a bleak one. It is dreary. Nothing breaks the monotony of the days. Who knows where Nettie is, or whether she's safe. There is no one to talk to but God. She writes him letters and it is through those letters that all of the characters emerge, first through Celie's eyes, then miraculously through Nettie's letters. But Nettie is not nearby, she has become a missionary for a black couple, Samuel and Corrine. Celie finds love in a singer in Juke Joints, Shug Avery. She is the color in Celie's world. Loud, brash, indomitable and independent, Shug is an old flame of Mr. __________. Celie is fascinated by her. Mr._________ has a passion for Shug. And it would be Shug who gives the novel its title. "I think it pisses God off when you walk by the color purple in a field and don't notice it." The thing about color is that you do have to notice it. It is the beauty of life that is lost in muddling through an endless string of hopeless days. Just as Celie writes to God, Nettie is writing to Celie, waiting for a response. But none comes. The fate of the letters will not be revealed here. Just know they exist and will appear at the appropriate time. Celie is surrounded by strong women. Mr._______ oldest son, Harpo, marries Sofia. When it nags at Harpo that Sofia won't mind him, Celie's solution is, "Beat her." That works with Celie, not Sofia. Harpo's next appearance shows him battered and bruised with an excuse he got too close to a kicking mule. A well wielded piece of stove wood is the true source of Harpo's marked face. Shug stays around for a good while, singing the blues at Harpo's joint after Sofia moves out and Harpo turns their house into a business. Shug lives with Mr.___________ and Celie, secretly bringing Celie the pleasure she has never received from a man. Celie will take love where she finds it. In Africa, Nettie writes how the native tribe, the Olinka, view the missionary group. They are merely black white people who have lost the ways of living as an African. The Olinka is also a male dominated society. Boys may go to school. Girls are not allowed to be educated in any matter other than what will transform her into a good wife. It seems it's tough to be a woman no matter where you live, whether it is a civilized location or not, if any place is ever truly civilized. This is a work of love, loss, and misery, tempered only by hope. This is a story about the layers of discrimination and prejudice that surround us, white against black, black against black, man against woman. Ultimately this is a triumphant work of self-realization and independence of a woman who learns she can speak out in the world as opposed to writing to an unknown mystery who never writes back. Some find "The Help" patronizing--that the maids of Jackson must be rescued by a white woman. I never thought so, until I read "The Color Purple." By all means, enjoy "The Help." Treasure "The Color Purple," especially the next time you pass a field with purple in it. Notice it and show it to anyone you can. ...more |
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Aug 09, 2011
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Sep 19, 2011
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Aug 09, 2011
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Hardcover
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| 1892514001
| 9781892514004
| 1892514001
| 3.94
| 32
| Aug 1975
| Jan 01, 1998
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really liked it
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My Brother Bill: John Faulkner's Memoir of William Faulkner and his family [image] John Faulkner, September 24, 1901 – March 28, 1963 [image] The My Brother Bill: John Faulkner's Memoir of William Faulkner and his family [image] John Faulkner, September 24, 1901 – March 28, 1963 [image] The Faulkner Brothers: Murry, William, John, and Dean, family portrait You have to take John Faulkner's reminiscence of his older brother William with a large grain of salt. "My Brother Bill" is a beautiful recollection of the Faulkner brothers' childhood. It may even be accurate. However, the reader has to remember that John Faulkner, a writer himself, was a story teller. John grew up in William Faulkner's shadow. Although John always attempts to put William in a favorable light, a sibling rivalry blazes up from this "affectionate remembrance" on more than one occasion. Reading John's comments on William Faulkner's post Nobel prize works, we learn that John was disappointed in William's later works, beginning with "A Fable," which William considered his masterpiece. John reveals none of Faulkner's faults, though he said he had his bad qualities. John minimizes Faulkner's drinking, saying he merely enjoyed a drink as much as the next man. He goes so far as to say that Faulkner often pretended to be drunker than he was to obtain attention and be cared for. Whitewash? Deliberate falsehood? Or were the two brothers just not that close? Only one photograph exists of the two of them together as adults, a shot taken by happenstance when Faulkner went to John's house to retrieve a lawn tractor he believed John had kept for too long. [image] John and William Faulkner only adult portrait together Neither will you find any recounting of Faulkner's romances. Meta Carpenter? If John knew of her, you won't find her in these pages. Joan Williams? Nope. Not here. The others? Nary a one. What does appear here is one man's attempt to create the appearance of a close relationship between an older and younger brother. In fact, John and William were on opposite sides of issues of race and integration. John and his wife Dolly were actually members of the White Citizen's League of Oxford. John would have the reader believe that Faulkner's attitudes on race and integration were a phase he went through in a short amount of time, much to the town's and the rest of the Faulkner family's relief. Mother Maud Faulkner encouraged both John and William in their writing. She urged William to help John become published. However, when two of John's short stories were rejected, interestingly enough two segments of "Go Down Moses" bear striking resemblance to John's rejected stories. According to John, Maude actually accused William of stealing John's work, an accusation for which John writes he put up a defense for William not recollecting the source for his stories as any writer might do. It must be remembered that the Faulkner family originally spelled their name as Falkner. It was William who inserted the "U" to become William Faulkner. Upon John's first novel being accepted for publication, he was easily persuaded to insert the "U" into his name as well. Although he disparaged William's novels "Sanctuary" and "Pylon" as having been written for money, he had no problem being identified as the younger brother of a Nobel Laureate when it came time to market his books. William is reported to have said that if all it took was to put a "u" in his name to remove a leech from his back, he was happy for John to do it. William Faulkner wrote in "Light in August--" that "Memory believes before knowing remembers." Perhaps that describes John's state of mind in writing "My Brother Bill." John began "My Brother Bill" within days of William's death. He returned the proofed and edited galleys to his publisher just weeks prior to his own death. William died July 6, 1962. John died March 28, 1963. William was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his last novel, "The Reivers." John didn't care for it. EDIT: This review is shared again for the benefit of goodreads group "On the Southern Literary Trail" and for those interested in biographical material regarding William Faulkner. Mike Sullivan Founder and Moderator On the Southern Literary Trail ...more |
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Jul 09, 2011
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Jul 10, 2011
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Jul 09, 2011
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Paperback
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| 0307591042
| 9780307591043
| 0307591042
| 3.80
| 502
| Jan 01, 2011
| Mar 22, 2011
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really liked it
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Dean Faulkner Wells offers a unique and personal view into the private world of William Faulkner. The daughter of youngest Faulkner brother Dean, who
Dean Faulkner Wells offers a unique and personal view into the private world of William Faulkner. The daughter of youngest Faulkner brother Dean, who died in a plane crash prior to her birth, spent a great deal of time in the company of Nobel Laureate William Faulkner. As a child, she did not recognize the importance of the man who generously undertook raising her following her father's death. To his niece, the writer was simply known as "Pappy." William Faulkner took on the responsibility without reservation, as a natural obligation to his youngest brother whom he deeply loved. Dean was the baby brother. Wells' title is taken from the Faulkner family's remembrance that Dean never owned a watch. He lived every day by the sun. Dean Faulkner was ten years younger than William. William paid for his flying lessons. He gave him a Waco-C cabin cruiser. It was the plane in which Dean Faulkner died. William blamed himself for his brother's death. That event contributed to the bouts of depression he fought periodically over the course of his life. Wells presents Faulkner on a level of intimacy that reveals a man completely different from the image he showed to the rest of the world. It is for this that "Every Day by the Sun" should be read. There is no deep literary analysis here. Nor is there any deep exploration of Faulkner's feelings towards race. Wells reveals Faulkner's warmth, humor and wit that he reserved for family and intimate friends. Wells does not varnish over Faulkner's marriage to Estelle or his romances he pursued outside his marriage. However, she clearly understands that she was able to accept his behavior because she was a niece and not a daughter. Wells also portrays Estelle in a more favorable light than previous authors. She offers no insight regarding the underlying reasons for the Faulkner's distant marriage. She was offered no explanation, so she does not speculate on William and Estelle's disaffection for one another. The Faulkners' alcoholism is a subject for open discussion. William binged. Estelle drank every day. But Estelle joined AA and maintained her sobriety. She returned to her painting which she abandoned for years and was an avid fisher-woman. Dean Faulkner Wells also provides us with a view of Oxford that is rapidly vanishing as the town has become a popular retirement community today. The beloved "Square" that surrounds the old courthouse is changing. Old Faulkner haunts are disappearing. Condominiums, apartments and garden homes crowd in on the square today. "New" Mississippians bray into their cell phones as they cruise the shops, boutiques and restaurants that have replaced the familiar locations frequented by William Faulkner. It is a bustling commercial success that Faulkner would have despised. The reader may still find Faulkner in the rooms of Rowan Oak and in the pages of Wells' engaging memoir. Faulkner's niece has written a book that shows her obvious love for William Faulkner. However, she never sinks into sentimentalism. Her view is fresh, objective and unblinking. Read it. ...more |
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Jun 25, 2011
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Jul 03, 2011
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Jun 25, 2011
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Hardcover
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| 0061963526
| 9780061963520
| 0061963526
| 4.01
| 6,240
| Dec 10, 2009
| Dec 29, 2009
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liked it
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Ian Rutledge returns in his 12th case in "The Red Door." He must deal with a young knife wielding robber in London, a missing missionary, and the murd
Ian Rutledge returns in his 12th case in "The Red Door." He must deal with a young knife wielding robber in London, a missing missionary, and the murder of a teacher named Florence in a distant village. Charles Todd has constructed a series of puzzles seemingly unrelated but perhaps they are. We begin with Florence, an attractive woman, at the time of the Armistice. She is waiting for her soldier husband to return from France. She paints her front door a brilliant red for him to see when he comes home. However, she waits for a husband who never returns. Meanwhile, in London, Rutledge is accosted by a young man named Billy who attempts to rob him as he crosses the bridge over the Thames during an evening walk. Rutledge bluffs the young robber into giving up his attempt at mugging Rutledge. However, Billy's incidents escalate. His robberies result in murder. Rutledge must deal with the guilt of letting Billy go when he was accosted and he will become a decoy in the effort to flush Billy from hiding and to be taken into custody. However, Rutledge's detail to bring Billy to justice must take a back seat to solving the disappearance of a member of the well known Teller family. Walter Teller is a well known missionary who has written of his experiences and has a broad reading audience. When called by into the field by the evangelical society for which he works, Walter vanishes into thin air. The Teller family has many secrets. Rutledge is not a welcome intrusion into their daily lives. The Teller patriarch has chosen the careers of his sons and they have dutifully filled those roles. Peter is the soldier. Walter the missionary, and Edwin the stable head of the family following the death of their father. When Walter disappears, Rutledge finds that all the family members have gone on their own search for Walter. There is something in the Teller family past that must not see the light of day. Rutledge's involvement in the Teller disappearance would seem to be over when he is called by the high constable to investigate the murder of the woman who owns the cottage with the red door. It seems her name was Florence, Florence Teller. And the man to whom she was married that never returned from France was named Peter Teller. A coincidence? Or did Peter Teller lead a double life? That a Teller should be a bigamist is not an acceptable finding. Rutledge has his hands full untangling a delicate social dilemma without failing to bring the murderer to justice no matter what social class the killer may move in within the respectable circles of London. Todd presents another rewarding read, yet wraps the solution to all of the investigations into tangled and forced resolutions. Billy's story serves as a distraction to the over all plot of the book. It is difficult to find sympathy for the Teller family. And, perhaps for that reason, I found "The Red Door" considerably less satisfying than previous volumes. Nevertheless, any Charles Todd should never be discounted as unworthy of being read. And as I've reached the most current Rutledge, #13, I must consider Todd's new series involving a battlefield nurse, Bess Crawford in "A Duty to the Dead." ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 08, 2011
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May 11, 2011
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May 08, 2011
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Kindle Edition
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| 0553586610
| 9780553586619
| 0553586610
| 4.20
| 6,053
| Jan 25, 2005
| Aug 30, 2005
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really liked it
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Ian Rutledge is assigned to investigate the murder of a family. A ten year old boy is missing. Either he is the killer, or missing in freezing weather
Ian Rutledge is assigned to investigate the murder of a family. A ten year old boy is missing. Either he is the killer, or missing in freezing weather. The entire village has turned out to search for him. But it has been days since the killings. It is hard to imagine the boy could be alive exposed to the brutal weather. The mother and son team, writing under the pen name Charles Todd, continue to explore the after effects of World War One on British society and on Ian Rutledge who suffers from his experiences of his years on the Somme. The "Todds" keep this series delightfully fresh. And this case is a penetrating study of a horrendous crime. Suspects abound, all with close connections to the victims. The murder weapon is a revolver. Revolvers are accessible to every suspect. However, these are the days before ballistic examination. No solution will be found through lands and grooves. Once again Rutledge will use his instinctive observation of human behavior to unravel the brutal murders in "A Cold Treachery." ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 30, 2011
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Apr 05, 2011
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Mar 30, 2011
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0060515198
| 9780060515195
| 0060515198
| 4.04
| 226,816
| Sep 20, 2005
| Sep 26, 2006
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really liked it
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Contrary to some critics who take themselves quite seriously who thumbed their noses at "Anansi Boys," I, who do not take my self too seriously, loved
Contrary to some critics who take themselves quite seriously who thumbed their noses at "Anansi Boys," I, who do not take my self too seriously, loved it. Is it as good a novel as "American Gods?" Well, yes it is. However, it is a different kind of tale. You will not find the darkness layered on so thickly in "American Gods" in this tale. Nor do I think that Gaiman intended the reader to find the same level of seriousness in what Gaiman calls his follow up "adult" novel to "American Gods." Gaiman is capable of crafting light hearted fantasy with ease. At times, Gaiman approaches almost slapstick humor. In his preface to this novel, Gaiman tips his hat to P.G. Wodehouse, Zora Hurston, Tex Avery, and Thorne Smith. I won't take umbrage at that. The influence of each author is present in the pages of "Anansi Boys." Whether you agree that Gaiman paid appropriate deference to his named muses, is irrelevant. After all, the French are wild about Jerry Lewis, while other cultures scratch their heads in wonder, grimace, shrug their shoulders and say, "Well you know how the French are." I say,whatever works. Gaiman weaves his story around "Fat Charlie" Nancy, the son of Anansi in his human form. The Anansi tales grew out of west African folklore, particularly the area of Ghana. Anansi simply means spider. Whether in human or animal form, Anansi is a trickster. He uses his wit to outfox his opponents. Pardon the outfox comment. But after all, the Anansi tales morphed into the B'rer Rabbit and "B'rer Fox tales told by Uncle Remus as recounted by Joel Chandler Harris. From time to time the world needs a story of where the bully loses to a much smaller, seemingly helpless opponent. We have bullies enough in this world who never lose. Me, I'll thank Gaiman for giving us a story where there was more to the little guy than was apparent who prevailed against odds which he shouldn't have overcome. I have a sudden desire to find a green fedora and some lemon yellow gloves. Why, I might even try a little karaoke. If you don't want to listen, I won't mind a bit. For those wondering at the tenor of this review, check out Charles Taylor's NYTimes review from 2005, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/boo.... Really, Mr. Taylor, suspending reason for a few hundred pages and finding a value in folklore and mythology does a body good. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Mar 07, 2011
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Mar 13, 2011
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Mar 07, 2011
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0140249435
| 9780140249439
| 0140249435
| 3.92
| 17,438
| 1981
| Oct 30, 1997
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it was amazing
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Gas lines, Krugerrands, the silver splurge, Iranian hostages, the price of oil. Updike settles Rabbit at the age of 46 in the middle of the Carter adm
Gas lines, Krugerrands, the silver splurge, Iranian hostages, the price of oil. Updike settles Rabbit at the age of 46 in the middle of the Carter administration. Thanks to the convenience of his father in law's death, Rabbit finds himself the chief sales rep for Springer Motors. In the midst of the nation's first oil crisis, it's only natural that Springer Motors has obtained a Toyota distributorship. And "Rabbit is Rich." Son Nelson is now 23, a disaffected college drop out, with one too many girlfriends, one of whom is pregnant. The father-son rivalry for who will be king of the car lot is a central issue to "Rabbit is Rich." Updike's tone is sardonic. There is more comedy in Rabbit's third appearance and it serves the novel well. Rabbit's snooping in a neighboring couple's bath and bedroom provides a glimpse into Rabbit's continuing search for sexual experience outside of his marriage to Janice when he discover's the couple's collection of Polaroid SX-70, shall we say "candid" shots. Rabbit muses he had wondered why the camera model was an SX. He has no difficulty filling in the middle letter as he shuffles through the couples' photographs. Visions of Bo Derek in "10" dance through his head. When Rabbit is rich, anything is possible. Updike's novel takes the Pulitzer for literature and I won't quibble with that. Rabbit returns for one last time in "Rabbit at Rest." And that is next on the reading list.
...more
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Notes are private!
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1
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Feb 25, 2011
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Mar 2011
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Feb 13, 2011
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Paperback
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| 0312965680
| 9780312965686
| 0312965680
| 4.01
| 9,789
| Feb 01, 1998
| May 15, 1999
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really liked it
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Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard is a veteran of World War One. He has survived the war, but is haunted by the memories and experiences of futi
Inspector Ian Rutledge of Scotland Yard is a veteran of World War One. He has survived the war, but is haunted by the memories and experiences of futile frontal assaults and relentless artillery barrages, one of which buried him alive. Unknown to anyone but Rutledge, he hears the voice of one of his men, a Scot named Hamish, who died under circumstances best left discovered by the reader. Hamish is his constant companion, advising, cajoling, and frequently warning Rutledge when he's going off the track, either on the case he is working on, or when he is perilously close to allowing his battle instincts in the trenches to spill over into his civilian life. "Wings of Fire" is the title of a book poetry written by Olivia Marlowe, published under the pseudonym O.A. Manning. The reclusive author is critically acclaimed, believed to be a man because of her graphic lines capturing the hellishness of WWI and the passion expressed in the love poetry found in "Wings of Fire." When Olivia and her half brother Nicholas are found to be victims of an apparent suicide, and another member of the family dies of a broken neck in an apparent fall, Rutledge is assigned to determine whether foul play was involved. What follows is a well plotted English mystery, detailing the tragic history of a family in which too many deaths had occurred. Olivia's twin fell from an apple tree dying at the age of eight. Five year old brother Richard wondered off onto the moors never to be seen again. Richard's distraught father dies while cleaning a pistol. Over the years, the deaths have mounted up at a rate unlikely under any statistical probability. It will be up to Rutledge to unravel the tangled threads of this family's history. "Wings of Fire" builds to a satisfying conclusion. Rutledge's first appearance was in "A Test of Wills," a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Read it first to understand Rutledge's time in the trenches of WWI and the reason that Hamish is his constant emotional conscience. Highly recommended. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 31, 2010
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Jan 2011
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Dec 31, 2010
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0060530928
| 9780060530921
| 0060530928
| 4.16
| 553,062
| Sep 30, 2008
| Sep 30, 2008
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really liked it
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I found it hard to sleep last night and picked up "The Graveyard Book" to lead me to rest and relaxation. Instead author Neil Gaiman kept me up past 2
I found it hard to sleep last night and picked up "The Graveyard Book" to lead me to rest and relaxation. Instead author Neil Gaiman kept me up past 2 a.m. which I read straight through from beginning to end. Interrupting Gaiman's taut narrative was unthinkable. After all, what is morning coffee for, if not to serve as an aid to revival after a late night or early morning of reading? "The Graveyard Book" begins with an episode of unsettling violence. A killer named Jack has murdered three of four members of a family living near an ancient graveyard. The only member spared is a precocious toddler who has a tendency to leave his crib during the night and explore when he finds himself unable to sleep and is bored. On this night, his excursion saves his live. The child finds his way to the graveyard where he is taken in by the dead who reside there. The ghost of his mother begs the endearing Mrs. Owens, dead for some three hundred years, to save her child. Although the residents of the graveyard may be dead to the outside world, they have a lively society within the boundaries of the cemetery and live on within the confines of that world. The babe has no name but becomes an Owens when he is adopted by that couple. He is Nobody and that is what he is named. Among the dead he becomes known as Bod. Through him we meet the other residents of the cemetery, almost all of whom, contribute to Bod's upbringing. As we watch Bod grow we learn that the man, Jack, is still on Bod's trail. He won't give in until he has killed him. The reason for Jack's macabre mission is gradually made clear, just as we learn that Bod has a special Guard of Honor to protect him against the plot to kill him. Gaiman enchants with Bod's encounter with the local ghouls among whom are the 33rd President of the United States, the writer Victor Hugo, and the Emperor of China. The ghouls are a particularly incompetent lot and provide a welcome break of truly comic relief. That President is never named. However, our 33rd President was Harry Truman. Might this be Gaiman's condemnation of Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb against a civilian population? Perhaps. It is a section that calls out for re-reading and a little research. It might also lead children to conduct their own historical research as well. But this interlude never slows the driving plot of Gaiman's tale. Gaiman said he was surprised to win the Newberry for 2009. I'm not. Gaiman continues to amaze with his ability to create new worlds populated by strong characters. The Newberry for this title was debated with a strong amount of controversy. However, Gaiman has created a tale that inspires children to believe in themselves and develop the knowledge they have the ability to overcome adversity in the most dire of circumstances. Gaiman gives us a concise, exquisite rendering of the struggle between good and evil. He also beautifully describes a child's sense of family. As he wryly has one resident of the old graveyard say, to raise a child it sometimes takes a graveyard. This is a tale that will not only entertain mature children but will also captivate adults as well. If there were ever a good read aloud for quality family time, "The Graveyard Book" is it. ...more |
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Dec 31, 2010
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Dec 31, 2010
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Dec 06, 2010
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Hardcover
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| 3.95
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really liked it
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not set
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May 02, 2013
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| 3.88
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really liked it
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Sep 26, 2012
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Sep 22, 2012
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| 4.00
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really liked it
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Jun 11, 2012
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Jun 07, 2012
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| 3.93
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really liked it
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Apr 28, 2012
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Apr 19, 2012
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| 3.53
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really liked it
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Jan 2016
not set
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Mar 23, 2012
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| 3.97
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it was amazing
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Jan 29, 2012
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Jan 19, 2012
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| 3.54
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really liked it
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Jan 23, 2012
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Jan 17, 2012
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| 3.84
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really liked it
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Dec 18, 2011
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Dec 10, 2011
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| 3.88
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it was amazing
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Oct 31, 2011
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Oct 29, 2011
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| 3.54
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really liked it
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Oct 29, 2011
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Oct 28, 2011
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| 3.95
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really liked it
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Oct 12, 2011
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Oct 04, 2011
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| 4.27
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it was amazing
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Sep 19, 2011
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Aug 09, 2011
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| 3.94
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really liked it
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Jul 10, 2011
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Jul 09, 2011
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| 3.80
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really liked it
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Jul 03, 2011
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Jun 25, 2011
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| 4.01
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liked it
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May 11, 2011
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May 08, 2011
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| 4.20
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really liked it
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Apr 05, 2011
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Mar 30, 2011
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|||||
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| 4.04
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really liked it
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Mar 13, 2011
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Mar 07, 2011
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|||||
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| 3.92
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it was amazing
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Mar 2011
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Feb 13, 2011
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|||||
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| 4.01
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really liked it
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Jan 2011
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Dec 31, 2010
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| 4.16
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really liked it
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Dec 31, 2010
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Dec 06, 2010
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