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amy_south's review against another edition
1.0
I admit that I did not finish this book. After the discussion at book club, I briefly considered going back to it. Decided against it.
letstalkaboutbooksbaybee's review against another edition
4.0
I'm still not entirely sure what to rate this one.
I got this book in a sort of grab bag of books for Christmas. I went into it completely blind. Reading the blurb on the cover made me think it was just going to be a short and sweet coming of age story of a teenage boy in 1970s Mississippi. I've never heard of this book, much less the author. I didnt have high hopes.
And it was a coming of age story. And so much more.
Part of me wanted to rate it quite low. The beginning really dragged on, and it took me a while to get into my groove with this. The main character, Daniel, isnt super likeable. He's actually just sort of a means to narrate the story most of the time. Things just kinda happen to him.
Towards the middle, things started to pick up. It was nice. It dealt with racial equality, it dealt with dysfunctional families, and a sprinkle of small town homophobia. What more could you want in a book?
The ending though. Things went from 0 to 100 REAL QUICK.
SO unexpected. And its the ending that makes me want to rate it higher.
I think I'll settle with a 3.5 stars. I do feel like it was a bit dragging, and that the ending was a bit rushed.
A nice little surprise of a book though.
I got this book in a sort of grab bag of books for Christmas. I went into it completely blind. Reading the blurb on the cover made me think it was just going to be a short and sweet coming of age story of a teenage boy in 1970s Mississippi. I've never heard of this book, much less the author. I didnt have high hopes.
And it was a coming of age story. And so much more.
Part of me wanted to rate it quite low. The beginning really dragged on, and it took me a while to get into my groove with this. The main character, Daniel, isnt super likeable. He's actually just sort of a means to narrate the story most of the time. Things just kinda happen to him.
Towards the middle, things started to pick up. It was nice. It dealt with racial equality, it dealt with dysfunctional families, and a sprinkle of small town homophobia. What more could you want in a book?
The ending though. Things went from 0 to 100 REAL QUICK.
SO unexpected. And its the ending that makes me want to rate it higher.
I think I'll settle with a 3.5 stars. I do feel like it was a bit dragging, and that the ending was a bit rushed.
A nice little surprise of a book though.
smartgirlsread's review against another edition
2.0
http://smartgirlsread.blogspot.com/
Have you ever gotten to the end of a book and thought to yourself, "That was messed up"? That was pretty much how it went for me today. At first, I was really enjoying One Mississippi by Mark Childress, our book club selection for August. The book begins as a kind of coming of age novel about a sixteen-year-old boy, Daniel, who has just moved to Minor, Mississippi, from Indiana. He has to make new friends and adjust to the culture of the deep south that is so new to him.
Daniel begins school and feels lucky to have found a new friend. "All you need is one friend who makes you laugh, who laughs at the same things you do. Almost at once I knew Tim Cousins would be my friend....He enjoyed making fun of everything as much as I did. Right there on the first day of school, we formed a team, just the two of us."
I was less than 100 pages into the novel when I started having an unsettled feeling and it continued throughout most of the book. Something bad happens and the way the boys handle it worries me. One wants to tell the truth, one wants to pin the blame on someone else entirely. I just knew something bad was going to happen and I just kept waiting for it like waiting for the other shoe to drop. As the story progresses, more and more anxiety just piled onto the heap, finally peaking with a huge disaster. I won't give away more than that, but I will say that once I saw what was coming the sense of foreboding was almost unbearable.
On the front cover of my copy of this book is a recommendation from renowned author Stephen King. He says, "Funniest novel I have read in ten years!" Really? This was the funniest novel he has read in ten years? I will admit that I have never read any Stephen King because his genre doesn't appeal to me at all. I have no interest in reading horror novels. Perhaps our distinct differences in taste account for him thinking this novel was funny and me thinking it was a tragedy. I know I laughed at parts of the book, but once I got to the end and noticed King's quote on the front of the book, I suddenly couldn't remember any of the funny parts. To me it just felt disturbing. Maybe I worry too much. Maybe the humor was just too dark for me.
Have you read One Mississippi? What did you think?
Have you ever gotten to the end of a book and thought to yourself, "That was messed up"? That was pretty much how it went for me today. At first, I was really enjoying One Mississippi by Mark Childress, our book club selection for August. The book begins as a kind of coming of age novel about a sixteen-year-old boy, Daniel, who has just moved to Minor, Mississippi, from Indiana. He has to make new friends and adjust to the culture of the deep south that is so new to him.
Daniel begins school and feels lucky to have found a new friend. "All you need is one friend who makes you laugh, who laughs at the same things you do. Almost at once I knew Tim Cousins would be my friend....He enjoyed making fun of everything as much as I did. Right there on the first day of school, we formed a team, just the two of us."
I was less than 100 pages into the novel when I started having an unsettled feeling and it continued throughout most of the book. Something bad happens and the way the boys handle it worries me. One wants to tell the truth, one wants to pin the blame on someone else entirely. I just knew something bad was going to happen and I just kept waiting for it like waiting for the other shoe to drop. As the story progresses, more and more anxiety just piled onto the heap, finally peaking with a huge disaster. I won't give away more than that, but I will say that once I saw what was coming the sense of foreboding was almost unbearable.
On the front cover of my copy of this book is a recommendation from renowned author Stephen King. He says, "Funniest novel I have read in ten years!" Really? This was the funniest novel he has read in ten years? I will admit that I have never read any Stephen King because his genre doesn't appeal to me at all. I have no interest in reading horror novels. Perhaps our distinct differences in taste account for him thinking this novel was funny and me thinking it was a tragedy. I know I laughed at parts of the book, but once I got to the end and noticed King's quote on the front of the book, I suddenly couldn't remember any of the funny parts. To me it just felt disturbing. Maybe I worry too much. Maybe the humor was just too dark for me.
Have you read One Mississippi? What did you think?
sarahjanespeedreading's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
miajmu's review against another edition
2.0
Once again, this is a book that I enjoyed until about 75 pages from the end... when it got really weird and dark.
howifeelaboutbooks's review against another edition
3.0
This book was very well-written, it was my first Mark Childress novel and I was blown away by it. I thought it was a very interesting and realistic story about a boy, Daniel, uprooted during the already-difficult high school years. His family moves to Mississippi and he has to adjust to basically being sent back into the past, where race is still an issue. There is a lot of action throughout this book, vivid experiences had by Daniel and his friend Tim. However, a scene at the book's ending is a little out of the blue. While it didn't bother me too much, my parents read it and hated it because of the ending. Living through that time period made them realize how unlikely the ending events were. It is a good story but I probably wouldn't recommend it because of that reason.
abookishaffair's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed this book a lot. It's about a boy from the north that moves to the south in the 1970's and confronts racism for probably the first time in his life. He and a friend get in way over their heads in a scandal that rocks their little Mississippi.
lauraramsborg's review against another edition
4.0
A great read--this book takes place in the 1960s after segregation in schools was outlawed. The story of the protagonist and the impact of one incident on prom night keep the reader engrossed. The characters were well developed and seem to jump off the page.
letstalkaboutbooksbaybee's review against another edition
4.0
I'm still not entirely sure what to rate this one.
I got this book in a sort of grab bag of books for Christmas. I went into it completely blind. Reading the blurb on the cover made me think it was just going to be a short and sweet coming of age story of a teenage boy in 1970s Mississippi. I've never heard of this book, much less the author. I didnt have high hopes.
And it was a coming of age story. And so much more.
Part of me wanted to rate it quite low. The beginning really dragged on, and it took me a while to get into my groove with this. The main character, Daniel, isnt super likeable. He's actually just sort of a means to narrate the story most of the time. Things just kinda happen to him.
Towards the middle, things started to pick up. It was nice. It dealt with racial equality, it dealt with dysfunctional families, and a sprinkle of small town homophobia. What more could you want in a book?
The ending though. Things went from 0 to 100 REAL QUICK.
SO unexpected. And its the ending that makes me want to rate it higher.
I think I'll settle with a 3.5 stars. I do feel like it was a bit dragging, and that the ending was a bit rushed.
A nice little surprise of a book though.
I got this book in a sort of grab bag of books for Christmas. I went into it completely blind. Reading the blurb on the cover made me think it was just going to be a short and sweet coming of age story of a teenage boy in 1970s Mississippi. I've never heard of this book, much less the author. I didnt have high hopes.
And it was a coming of age story. And so much more.
Part of me wanted to rate it quite low. The beginning really dragged on, and it took me a while to get into my groove with this. The main character, Daniel, isnt super likeable. He's actually just sort of a means to narrate the story most of the time. Things just kinda happen to him.
Towards the middle, things started to pick up. It was nice. It dealt with racial equality, it dealt with dysfunctional families, and a sprinkle of small town homophobia. What more could you want in a book?
The ending though. Things went from 0 to 100 REAL QUICK.
SO unexpected. And its the ending that makes me want to rate it higher.
I think I'll settle with a 3.5 stars. I do feel like it was a bit dragging, and that the ending was a bit rushed.
A nice little surprise of a book though.