Graceland, At Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache From the American South by Margaret Renkl

4.2 AVERAGE

makennareads's review

4.0
hopeful informative reflective fast-paced
a series of reflective and compassionate essays that make me miss the south. the only weakness of the collection is the political essays which have unfortunately suffered from their topical nature as they quickly became outdated

kristenpearson12's review

4.0
challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

tleewgirl's review

4.5
challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
A compilation of the author’s columns that appeared in the NYT over the past 9 years. 
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tellmiastorey's review

5.0
“I couldn’t tell her that the true miracle will never come until human beings have finally learned to live a better way: in concert with the natural world, and not in domination.”

Margaret Renkl is my favorite New York Times writer and I’m sad to say I only discovered her earlier this year when I read her other book, Late Migrations. Now I’m hooked on her writing for life!

Graceland, At Last is a collection of her New York Times articles broken down by different subjects. She writes about politics, culture, religion, and even the environment. She writes about the south in a way that always transports me back to my rural hometown. Give her writing a chance and you won’t regret it!

eoreilly17's review

4.25
hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
saramargareth's profile picture

saramargareth's review

5.0
emotional funny hopeful inspiring fast-paced

pmichj's review

5.0
challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced
bellwetherdays's profile picture

bellwetherdays's review against another edition

4.25
emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

jdrag's review

5.0
Read this book. If you are a Southerner, you will feel gratitude and pride in one of our own speaking so movingly about this fraught beautiful place. If you hail from elsewhere, you might unlearn some stereotypes about the South, become obsessed with native plants or pollinators, or be reminded to hold your own beloved family close.

jjeepa04's review

I really enjoyed the first half of the book, but have found myself uninspired to pick it back up. This has more to do with my struggle with the short story/short essay format....not the writing! Maybe one day.