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A review by shansometimes
Country Place by Ann Petry
medium-paced
4.0
Ann Petry, the first Black woman to sell over a million copies of a book with her novel, The Street, is a masterful storyteller who reeled me in again with Country Place. The Street was one of my favorite books I read in 2021. Country Place was a much different type of book. It was slower initially but still a page-turner.
In this atmospheric and foreboding story set in a small town in the 1940s, the reader gets to know all the townspeople, including "The Weasel," who takes joy in spreading gossip, and Johnnie, a soldier returning home after WWII. Johnnie hopes to pick up where he left off with his wife, Glory, and that's where this novel starts to unfold.
It took me a while to realize that, unlike in The Street, the characters in this book seem to be mostly, if not all, white. I'm still unsure about that, but it made visualizing the town dynamics interesting, if not a bit confusing.
As the story develops, Petry adeptly illustrates the effects of infidelity, carelessness, rumors, selfishness, and betrayal. I was in awe and really enjoyed this.
In this atmospheric and foreboding story set in a small town in the 1940s, the reader gets to know all the townspeople, including "The Weasel," who takes joy in spreading gossip, and Johnnie, a soldier returning home after WWII. Johnnie hopes to pick up where he left off with his wife, Glory, and that's where this novel starts to unfold.
It took me a while to realize that, unlike in The Street, the characters in this book seem to be mostly, if not all, white. I'm still unsure about that, but it made visualizing the town dynamics interesting, if not a bit confusing.
As the story develops, Petry adeptly illustrates the effects of infidelity, carelessness, rumors, selfishness, and betrayal. I was in awe and really enjoyed this.