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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Due to the time and location of this biography, there were some racist statements and phrases that made me cringe, but on the whole the volume and poetic detail of informative and entertaining stories, this is definitely a worthwhile read! Really lovely.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
It's slow, it hasn't aged well, and I need to spend my time better. It was for June book club and by the July meeting I still hadn't finished it. It won't be happening
This is one of those books that I've felt I "should" read, jsut because I've been hearing about it for so long. Some of the writing was beautiful. However, I couldn't quite get over how condescending she was to her neighbors.
Some of this was certainly a racist thing. I always have mental battles when this occurs in books of the period when that was generally more accepted. On the one hand, it's a time capsule. But I can never completely remove my own views on all of this. It's really come down (at least in my mind) to whether or not the racism effects the flavor of the whole book. And in this case, it did.
I also thought the organization of the book was difficult and I found myself wanting more about how she came to Cross Creek, the writing process (order, etc) and just more about her life.
Overall, some pleasant moments, but it was a struggle to get through.
Some of this was certainly a racist thing. I always have mental battles when this occurs in books of the period when that was generally more accepted. On the one hand, it's a time capsule. But I can never completely remove my own views on all of this. It's really come down (at least in my mind) to whether or not the racism effects the flavor of the whole book. And in this case, it did.
I also thought the organization of the book was difficult and I found myself wanting more about how she came to Cross Creek, the writing process (order, etc) and just more about her life.
Overall, some pleasant moments, but it was a struggle to get through.
So beautifully written. The blatant racism is a bit shocking, but we do have to remember when this was written and the time period it represents.
Normally with such beautiful prose I would devour a book like this, but it took me a long time to read. I wasn't chomping at the bit to read it every night, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
Normally with such beautiful prose I would devour a book like this, but it took me a long time to read. I wasn't chomping at the bit to read it every night, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
I had mixed feelings about this book. Before I read it I was expecting an account of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings life and how she homesteaded. While this book has some of that, it actually wasn't the type of homesteading account I thought it would be.
There isn't really a set time line to this novel. She jumps around back and forth between years and seasons and people. While she does describe some life on the farm, the majority of her time is spent describing the people of Cross Creek, and not always in the friendliest of ways.
Since this book was published before the civil rights movement, I expected some of the language that this book contains and knew it could be offensive. That didn't bother me. What bothered me was that it actually was racist. I could have respected Rawlings if the only time she appeared blatantly racist was just in her names of Black people. However, with the exception of a few she paints a picture of them being lazy, unintelligent, primitive, and quality only for servants. As she was quite the progressive lady in other ways during the novel (being divorced, running a farm on her own) she disappointed me in this area and it really spoiled the book for me.
When she's not talking about the people of Cross Creek the book is beautiful. Luscious descriptions of food she make abound and I might have to take a look at her cookbook. She describes beautiful scenery and the passing of the seasons through her farm. She describes the harvest and the natural wildlife that frequently show up unexpected in the least likely of places (snake in the bathroom). To me, the food chapter was the saving grace of this novel. In fact, its the reason I gave it as high as three stars.
If you are going to read this novel please be prepared to be offended. But also be prepared to experience the joy of running a Floridian farm.
Cross Creek
Copyright 1942
368 pages
There isn't really a set time line to this novel. She jumps around back and forth between years and seasons and people. While she does describe some life on the farm, the majority of her time is spent describing the people of Cross Creek, and not always in the friendliest of ways.
Since this book was published before the civil rights movement, I expected some of the language that this book contains and knew it could be offensive. That didn't bother me. What bothered me was that it actually was racist. I could have respected Rawlings if the only time she appeared blatantly racist was just in her names of Black people. However, with the exception of a few she paints a picture of them being lazy, unintelligent, primitive, and quality only for servants. As she was quite the progressive lady in other ways during the novel (being divorced, running a farm on her own) she disappointed me in this area and it really spoiled the book for me.
When she's not talking about the people of Cross Creek the book is beautiful. Luscious descriptions of food she make abound and I might have to take a look at her cookbook. She describes beautiful scenery and the passing of the seasons through her farm. She describes the harvest and the natural wildlife that frequently show up unexpected in the least likely of places (snake in the bathroom). To me, the food chapter was the saving grace of this novel. In fact, its the reason I gave it as high as three stars.
If you are going to read this novel please be prepared to be offended. But also be prepared to experience the joy of running a Floridian farm.
Cross Creek
Copyright 1942
368 pages
I am glad I read this book - I’ve been wanting to read it for some time. As a Floridian, I found it interesting - the racial parts of it shocking. It wasn’t too long ago that whites found themselves superior in all ways. I have a hard time holding this against the author however as I found her to be a product of her environment and one who thought herself to be forward thinking in these matters. It was interesting to delve into the lives of those who lived off the land before the era of Publix and thus thought Florida had seasons. (I for one believe we only have winter and summer). I found it interesting that “back then” fall was the rainy season, as that is summer for us, and summer temps lingered around the 80s as we experience summer temps well into the 90s with “feels like” temps in the 100s. I’m sure the Cross Creek of today is nothing like hers and found her to be a brave woman to leave city it’s for what was then Florida wilderness.
I started this one yesterday and found it a tough read. It's set in Florida in the 50s, I think, and the racial stereotypes are very much from that era. It's one thing to read it in Huck Finn, or something like that, where it's characters talking. But when it's a memoir and the writer calls someone a 'darky' I just can't stomach that. I gave up on this one. I have an old copy of the book that might have belonged to my mom when she was young. I'm going to give it back to her if she wants it, and the thrift store if not.
Lovely nature writing.
A good resource on life in backcountry Florida in the 1930s.
Warning for period-appropriate racism.
A good resource on life in backcountry Florida in the 1930s.
Warning for period-appropriate racism.
I got through the first 9 chapters (89 pages). It was boring, there's no discernible plot, just isolated random stories from her time living in Cross Creek. And because it was written in the 40s about a backwater Florida town, I just wasn't comfortable with the explicit racism of the time.