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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I could not finish this book. I forced myself to keep reading/skimming until I got to chapter 17. One of the ladies at my book club said that if I liked "Gone With the Wind," I would enjoy this book. Umm. No. Sadly, this is not the case. You know that scene in Gone With the Wind where the city of Atlanta is burning down? I wish someone would toss this book in the fire too...
Wonderful story, perfect for fans of To Kill a Mockingbird and Fried Green Tomatoes. The dialect may be challenging for those unfamiliar with "country talk," but the book wouldn't sing without it.
Every time I started to enjoy this book (and the audiobook narration is above reproach, really skillfully done) I became disgusted with the characters again. If more scenes had been like the episode in which our main character, 12 year old Will Tweedy, is nearly killed by a train, has an exciting escape, and talks with a forbidden mill girl, I might have enjoyed this snapshot of turn of the century life more.
Instead, I felt like:
-The author overuses eavesdropping as a plot device. It must be a quarter of the book that Will spends hearing/watching his Grandpa do some heavy petting and chitchat about faith, incest, his grandmother's death, the hypocrisy of the neighbors, what to have for dinner, etc. Does this kid do ANYTHING BUT PEEP?
-The problematic aspects of society in this time period (damned Jews, damned white trash, damned Yankees, good ol' Negroes that are basically furniture, every lady would like nothing better than a cook book) blend in with the cutesy, romantic version of the South-that-never-was. I don't know if the author intended it, but she seems to romanticize these unfortunate qualities as well.
-Grandpa needs to work on his bedroom talk. Your face is silky as a mule's snout? What is wrong with you.
Instead, I felt like:
-The author overuses eavesdropping as a plot device. It must be a quarter of the book that Will spends hearing/watching his Grandpa do some heavy petting and chitchat about faith, incest, his grandmother's death, the hypocrisy of the neighbors, what to have for dinner, etc. Does this kid do ANYTHING BUT PEEP?
-The problematic aspects of society in this time period (damned Jews, damned white trash, damned Yankees, good ol' Negroes that are basically furniture, every lady would like nothing better than a cook book) blend in with the cutesy, romantic version of the South-that-never-was. I don't know if the author intended it, but she seems to romanticize these unfortunate qualities as well.
-Grandpa needs to work on his bedroom talk. Your face is silky as a mule's snout? What is wrong with you.
Although the premise was interesting, I found myself bored after ten chapters.
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
1 star - I really hated it.
A long, boring soap opera about small minded, judgmental, gossipy people in a backwoods town that specializes in making a full blown scandal over every petty incident. It includes something for everyone: racism, sexism, chauvinism, religious prejudice, and "yankeeism". It is like an all you can read buffet of ignorance.
But there's something for the romantics too! A charming love story about a vile old adulterer, whom after lusting for years after a woman young enough to be his daughter, he finally marries her three short weeks after he buries his wife of decades. (Well he had to move fast in case "someone else got her first").
Thankfully I read this one via the audiobook version as it would have been an even slower and more painful read otherwise due to the thick southern vernacular:
If’n you’d a-got kilt, it’d mean you jest didn’t move fast enough, like a rabbit that gits caught by a hound dog.
Ain't the best prayin' jest bein' with God and talkin' a while, like He's a good friend, stead a-like he runs a store and you've come in a-hopin' to git a bargain?
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: To mourn is to be eaten alive with homesickness for the person.
First Sentences: Three weeks after Granny Blakeslee died, Grandpa came to our house for his early morning snort of whiskey, as usual, and said to me, "Will Tweedy? Go find yore mama, then run up to yore Aunt Loma's and tell her I said git on down here."
A long, boring soap opera about small minded, judgmental, gossipy people in a backwoods town that specializes in making a full blown scandal over every petty incident. It includes something for everyone: racism, sexism, chauvinism, religious prejudice, and "yankeeism". It is like an all you can read buffet of ignorance.
But there's something for the romantics too! A charming love story about a vile old adulterer, whom after lusting for years after a woman young enough to be his daughter, he finally marries her three short weeks after he buries his wife of decades. (Well he had to move fast in case "someone else got her first").
Thankfully I read this one via the audiobook version as it would have been an even slower and more painful read otherwise due to the thick southern vernacular:
If’n you’d a-got kilt, it’d mean you jest didn’t move fast enough, like a rabbit that gits caught by a hound dog.
Ain't the best prayin' jest bein' with God and talkin' a while, like He's a good friend, stead a-like he runs a store and you've come in a-hopin' to git a bargain?
-------------------------------------------
Favorite Quote: To mourn is to be eaten alive with homesickness for the person.
First Sentences: Three weeks after Granny Blakeslee died, Grandpa came to our house for his early morning snort of whiskey, as usual, and said to me, "Will Tweedy? Go find yore mama, then run up to yore Aunt Loma's and tell her I said git on down here."
Had a very hard time getting into this. Finally at the half point I had to put it down and move on.
Written 5/2000: Set in a small Southern town in 1906. About a boy and his grandfather finding themselves and finding their family. Also shows the importance of doing what you want instead of worrying what others are going to think.
Blah.
I couldn't stand most of the characters!
It had some cute anecdotes and monologues about faith that I liked. That's about it.
I couldn't stand most of the characters!
It had some cute anecdotes and monologues about faith that I liked. That's about it.
So this book took me weeks to finish. I think that's saying more about my priorities lately than the book, though, because every time I picked it up I rather liked the story that was told.
The story is a simple one, focusing more on the quirky characters than any real plot. But I like those kind of books, especially when they're well done, like this is. The voice is just perfect; I loved reading the southern colloquialisms that really brought the dialogue to life. And the characters were distinct and fun to read about.
One of the themes I really liked was the gossipy nature of this small town. Everybody was set on judging everyone else, and sometimes the actions of those who didn't fit the mold were an embarrassment to those who did. The climax on this issue came about 2/3 of the way through the book through the offhanded comment from Aunt Carrie, a character so minor she really only had two scenes. But is caused Will to reflect:
"I knew Mama and them were shocked at Aunt Carrie, but she made sense to me. Long as you didn't hurt anybody, why shouldn't you dance if you liked dancing, and marry again if you needed looking after, and go fishing or wear a flowerdy dress if it might lift your grief a little?" (p. 255)
The other theme I liked: the ties of family to one another. The bond between grandfather and grandson was especially nice, and I also enjoyed the changing relationship of Will and his aunt Loma (which bordered on sibling rivalry since they were only five or six years apart).
There was a few mildly sordid scenes toward the end of the book that I found a little uncomfortable -- though I think I was bothered more by the fact that a fourteen-year-old boy was the one overhearing, the one witnessing, the one revealing it to the reader. And when I reached the end of the book, I'm not sure whether the ending was entirely satisfactory (it's not exactly "happy").
But still, on the whole I liked this novel. Worth reading.
The story is a simple one, focusing more on the quirky characters than any real plot. But I like those kind of books, especially when they're well done, like this is. The voice is just perfect; I loved reading the southern colloquialisms that really brought the dialogue to life. And the characters were distinct and fun to read about.
One of the themes I really liked was the gossipy nature of this small town. Everybody was set on judging everyone else, and sometimes the actions of those who didn't fit the mold were an embarrassment to those who did. The climax on this issue came about 2/3 of the way through the book through the offhanded comment from Aunt Carrie, a character so minor she really only had two scenes. But is caused Will to reflect:
"I knew Mama and them were shocked at Aunt Carrie, but she made sense to me. Long as you didn't hurt anybody, why shouldn't you dance if you liked dancing, and marry again if you needed looking after, and go fishing or wear a flowerdy dress if it might lift your grief a little?" (p. 255)
The other theme I liked: the ties of family to one another. The bond between grandfather and grandson was especially nice, and I also enjoyed the changing relationship of Will and his aunt Loma (which bordered on sibling rivalry since they were only five or six years apart).
There was a few mildly sordid scenes toward the end of the book that I found a little uncomfortable -- though I think I was bothered more by the fact that a fourteen-year-old boy was the one overhearing, the one witnessing, the one revealing it to the reader. And when I reached the end of the book, I'm not sure whether the ending was entirely satisfactory (it's not exactly "happy").
But still, on the whole I liked this novel. Worth reading.