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remigves's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
cosmopsis's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Racial slurs, and Classism
Moderate: Death and Grief
Minor: Confinement and Domestic abuse
causticcovercritic's review against another edition
2.0
Objectively this is very well done, but my own tolerance for the endless verbiage of the folksy racist narrator was exhausted by page 35. Welty is a great writer, but something about a lot of US Southern fiction just makes me want to run away.
lfbennett407's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lprnana6572's review against another edition
5.0
I may have read this in high school. It is a hilarious book about the eccentric nature of small town southerners.
ja3m3's review against another edition
2.0
Maybe the message was hidden too deep in all the silliness that it went over my head. I really wanted to like it, but just didn't.
balletbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
Has a very gosspiy, chummy narration courtesy of Miss Edna Earle. as well as the sense that you've been dropped into the middle if Steel Magnolias. Uncle Daniel is a very interesting character - is he nuts or just eccentric?
cdlindwall's review against another edition
3.0
(This is not a helpful Review. It's a rant about my personal life. And really only able to be understood by my friends....)
So, this was my Junior IB Summer Assigned Reading.
And for those of you reading this review that are not International Baccalaureate Students, let me introduce you.
IB is consuming. It's consuming in the way you both love it and hate it so entirely. The way, somehow, you let it come to define who you are. The way it takes precedence. The way you come to know it, like a friend. The way you have come to bond, in a communal commiseration, with your peers. The way these people are your family, now. Because you've done this together.
The way coming home after a day of doing well in school can be the most exhilarating high you have ever experienced, and the way coming home after a day of being beat down can make you feel pointless. IB is your validator. I am an IB student in the most horrendous way possible. I eat, sleep, and breathe the work, the grades, the tests, the late nights, the stress, the success.
It's consuming in the way you believe in the program. With your entire heart you believe in its benefits, in its rigor, in its unparalleled ability to prepare and teach and mold FreeThinkers and HardWorkers.
The students in IB are like a Proud Mother and her young child. We brag with Wallet Photos, and Bumper Stickers, and Photos Hanging on the Wall.
You know there are other ways to get a decent education, comparable paths to take, but you'll always have that biased view that your Kid is the best. IB is The Best. IB is just a notch above the rest. You maintain wholeheartedly, with that beam of satisfaction, that IB is different, spectacular.
And so, because you take this opinion to heart, you finally allow it to consume you, swallow you whole. You give in to its perils, its downsides, its cons. Because it's all or nothing. And you're all in.
We are International Baccalaureate Students.
And so, after that lengthy Intro, I again come to the point that this book was an IB chosen Assigned Book. I can't ever give an accurate rating or review on this book, because it's wrapped within the packaging. It's wrapped in Orals, and Essays, and Tests, and Grades, and Stress. And I will only remember this book as that emotional segue back into it all. And that is all. /rantdone.
So, this was my Junior IB Summer Assigned Reading.
And for those of you reading this review that are not International Baccalaureate Students, let me introduce you.
IB is consuming. It's consuming in the way you both love it and hate it so entirely. The way, somehow, you let it come to define who you are. The way it takes precedence. The way you come to know it, like a friend. The way you have come to bond, in a communal commiseration, with your peers. The way these people are your family, now. Because you've done this together.
The way coming home after a day of doing well in school can be the most exhilarating high you have ever experienced, and the way coming home after a day of being beat down can make you feel pointless. IB is your validator. I am an IB student in the most horrendous way possible. I eat, sleep, and breathe the work, the grades, the tests, the late nights, the stress, the success.
It's consuming in the way you believe in the program. With your entire heart you believe in its benefits, in its rigor, in its unparalleled ability to prepare and teach and mold FreeThinkers and HardWorkers.
The students in IB are like a Proud Mother and her young child. We brag with Wallet Photos, and Bumper Stickers, and Photos Hanging on the Wall.
You know there are other ways to get a decent education, comparable paths to take, but you'll always have that biased view that your Kid is the best. IB is The Best. IB is just a notch above the rest. You maintain wholeheartedly, with that beam of satisfaction, that IB is different, spectacular.
And so, because you take this opinion to heart, you finally allow it to consume you, swallow you whole. You give in to its perils, its downsides, its cons. Because it's all or nothing. And you're all in.
We are International Baccalaureate Students.
And so, after that lengthy Intro, I again come to the point that this book was an IB chosen Assigned Book. I can't ever give an accurate rating or review on this book, because it's wrapped within the packaging. It's wrapped in Orals, and Essays, and Tests, and Grades, and Stress. And I will only remember this book as that emotional segue back into it all. And that is all. /rantdone.
rissaleighs's review against another edition
3.0
I read this because supposedly the setting was inspired by the town I'm currently living in. I could totally picture the story taking place on the main street here in front of the big courthouse--so that was an interesting aspect. The tone and plot fell a little flat for me, though. I think the narrator's voice just irritated me for some reason--so folksy, confiding, and self-important. The setting is assuredly evoked very well, but after reading her Pullitzer winner, The Optimists Daughter, this one just couldn't compare.
sarahepierce's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No