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A review by thelizabeth
Blackberry Winter by Robert Penn Warren
4.0
I actually loved this story a lot. It's beautiful and strong and somehow creepy, intimidating and meaningful. There is the sense that this day is a fated day, and any moment could change everything forever. There are signs of it everywhere.
The perspective is a young boy in the rural South, old enough to notice things but young enough to leave all the responsibility for them to the grown-ups, even when he should maybe do something. He just wants to wander around and avoid his mother's rule about wearing shoes.
A tramp shows up at his farm, and the guy is really scary. His attitude makes it clear he's hateful and that his total out-of-place oddity makes him dangerous. Presumably he's there because he wants a day's work, but it's just as possible he simply wants to do something cruel.
But weirdly, Seth leaves this man with his mother (who seems to have him in hand anyway), ignores the danger, and goes exploring. There's been bad weather and a flood, and everyone is viewing its aftermath. He finds his father and surveys the flood damage. He visits the house of their black tenant farmers where he's usually welcome, except today the flood has ruined their house, the mother is sick and hits her son, and the old man has a chilling debate with Seth about the weather. It is about the weather, but is tense and foreshadowing. Seth's mother says it's only a summer cold snap ("blackberry winter"), nothing to worry about, and Jebb simply says, no. It's a sign that all bad things can happen, that change comes suddenly and biblically. That you can call it what you want, but you can't stop a thing from happening. It's a speech full of sadness and dread, and it holds together everything that Seth has seen that day. But Seth still believes he is safe.
The ending is weakly written, and when Seth indicates the impact this day had on him, I didn't understand why. There's suddenly a time shift, and some repetitive lines (like when a tv show has a flashback to something that happened five minutes ago), and an oddly vague conclusion. Then it just ends.
I really wanted to give this 5 stars, and maybe I should, because it was fantastic. But I hated the ending. It's basically the opposite of the Faulkner story, which I didn't love until the ending. I should probably reread it someday, and make up my mind. But I really, really recommend this nonetheless.
(Also RIYL that Mad Men episode with the hobo.)
The perspective is a young boy in the rural South, old enough to notice things but young enough to leave all the responsibility for them to the grown-ups, even when he should maybe do something. He just wants to wander around and avoid his mother's rule about wearing shoes.
A tramp shows up at his farm, and the guy is really scary. His attitude makes it clear he's hateful and that his total out-of-place oddity makes him dangerous. Presumably he's there because he wants a day's work, but it's just as possible he simply wants to do something cruel.
But weirdly, Seth leaves this man with his mother (who seems to have him in hand anyway), ignores the danger, and goes exploring. There's been bad weather and a flood, and everyone is viewing its aftermath. He finds his father
Spoiler
(but doesn't tell him about the tramp, for some reason)Spoiler
And strangely, he's right. The flood has spared their farm. The tramp does not use his terrible knife (breaking Chekhov's law). Almost nothing really occurs.I really wanted to give this 5 stars, and maybe I should, because it was fantastic. But I hated the ending. It's basically the opposite of the Faulkner story, which I didn't love until the ending. I should probably reread it someday, and make up my mind. But I really, really recommend this nonetheless.
(Also RIYL that Mad Men episode with the hobo.)