Mississippi Books

Lewis Nordan is undoubtedly an excellent writer. He has also had an "interesting" if somewhat dysfunctional life. He shares with the reader selected
parts fo that interesting life. Several tales are indeed memorable. However, he doesn't seem to have an appreciation of when things might best remain untold. In reading the book and its at times startling admissions, I was at times repulsed. The good parts way outweigh the bad. So, I'd recommend it, especialy for Nordan's fans, but be prepared to be shocked.

This was the first I had read of Lewis Nordan, and I wasn't overly impressed.

I whipped through the first section about his (or should I say "Buddy's") childhood. After that, the book slows down. It becomes increasingly difficult to identify or sympathize with the problems and eccentricities of this young man as he comes of age. Buddy consistently fails to learn from his mistakes and the lack of growth is frustrating as a reader.

Still, I'll probably pick up another Nordan book to see if I like it any better.

In a world where everyone who ever endured a three-day suspension from middle school writes a histrionic tell-all memoir, it's a deep pleasure to read a memoir that fills what ought to be the requirements for any: 1. the experiences described are truly memorable; and 2. the book is written by a gifted writer who obviously does his work.

I say from now on unless both requirements are met, don't read the memoir.

Read this one.

Lewis "Buddy" Nordan writes a memoir -- sort of.

Often times his memoir reads like a tell-all tale, and at other times like a novel about Nordan himself. The line between fact and fiction is rather hard to ascertain. Boy with Loaded Gun is difficult to pigeonhole into any traditional classification. However, fans will be pleased and new readers will be amazed with his eighth book.

Nordan confesses to cooking up conversations, changing names, and exaggerating. What's left is an immanently readable, laugh your head right off, story about growing up in the Mississippi Delta town of Itta Bena and the haywire adulthood Nordan lived upon leaving Mississippi in the 1940s and 50s.

For Nordan aficionados, the book touches on the perennial themes of his fiction. Beginning with his first collection of short stories published by LSU Press in 1983 Welcome to the Arrow-Catcher Fair, to his most recent novel Lighting Song, loneliness and grief take center stage, along with a double helping of alcoholism, fantasy, and a Gothic sense of doom and loss.

What makes Nordan's writing engaging is a sense of redemption. His characters are on a quest somewhat like the wayfarers Louisiana novelist Walker Percy wrote about. For Nordan, humor makes suffering and pain bearable.

The memoir begins with the early death of his father when Nordan was a baby. Soon his mother would remarry, this time to a drunk. Nordan's stepfather came home each day from work to retire to his bedroom, where he would drink beer until sleep. Each morning he'd awake to ritual puking. Unfortunately, Nordan followed in his stepfather's footsteps.

He was a bizarre teen, one often obsessed with sex and other fantasies. As a teenager, Nordan ordered a military surplus pistol from the back pages of a magazine and attempted to bushwhack his stepfather in cold blood. The gun mysteriously jammed; thus saving the boy from murder and providing a title for the book.

After a stint in the Navy, Nordan attended the Methodist Millsaps College in Jackson, where he found easy sex in the parking lot outside the women's dormitory. He and his partner quickly and ludicrously eloped. In graduate school, he bummed around with hippies, did drugs, lived on a farm, and had illicit trysts with the first real hippie he met. This was a life far removed from the confines of Itta Bena, though his departure wasn't far from the rural South. Dissipation, it seems, can be found in the remotest hamlets of the Bible Belt, even around Auburn, Alabama, where he studied for the Ph.D. in English.

The memoir has all the components of a good southern novel. It's sprinkled with drunkards, midgets, racial angst over the Emmett Till lynching, pathological liars, sexual perversion, and even an unclaimed corpse that is kept on display for several decades at a Mississippi funeral home.

In one of the book's saddest moments, Nordan's college-aged son committed suicide. Years earlier, a child by his first wife died at birth. Perhaps the suicide served as a catalyst for the author to finally grow up. It appears that Nordan eventually learned to take responsibility and to call his grief by name.

The story ends with a surreal book tour stop in New Orleans, the land of dreamy dreams. By then Nordan was a published author and teacher of creative writing at the University of Pittsburgh, remarried and reconciled with wife number two, and on the wagon.

Readers may learn more than they wish about the real Buddy Nordan.

No, readers will love this book, and not just long-time Nordan fans. They won't love it because of his now public failures, but because he's got the guts to tell the tale, and because of the life-affirming laughter in every page. As always, Nordan writes beautifully, even if he had to jumble up the facts to avoid being sued.

-------------Reviewed by Dayne Sherman

Lewis Nordan is superior prose stylist, and his memoir BOY WITH LOADED GUN--which he describes in the preface as a mingling of fact and fancy--presents the reader with a series of scenes from a life that both collapses and then reconstructs through a combination of personal compulsion and unexpectedly sharp (and often humorous) encounters with life and death.

An extremely episodic work, BOY WITH LOADED GUN is divided into three portions, the first detailing Nordan's childhood in Itta Bena, Mississippi; the second his youth, first marriage, and rising alcoholism; and the third his painful recovery--complete with set-backs--from a life-time of self-destructive compulsion. The most successful of these portions is the first. Nordan effortlessly captures the eccentricties of growing up in post-war in prose that bespeaks the South in every aspect, and if BOY WITH LOADED GUN consisted of this portion only it would still find a special niche among the best of Southern belles lettres.

But life does not end with childhood, and the remainder of the book follows Nordon's life as it first unravels and then as he attempts (with many a set back) to knit it up again. Just as Nordan was unable to organize these portions of his life in the living, so is he unable to organize them on the page, and although the work remains stylistically flawless it becomes so extremely episodic that it lacks focus. After making such a long and frequently painful journey through Nordan's life, I expected him to offer a cummulative statement that would bring the diverse elements of his memoir into focus as the book neared its conclusion. But there is none--and this undercuts any sense of purpose the book might have. It is beautifully written, but there seems little point to it beyond writing beautifully.

Several [people] have suggested that Nordan is the "next William Faulkner." I can only assume these [people] have never read William Faulkner, for neither Nordan's style nor his material is remotely like anything Faulkner ever wrote. In tone of voice, however, Nordan does recall such authors as Eudora Welty and Harper Lee--particularly when writing of his childhood.

This is an extremely thought provoking book. Dr Cabana's style is very easy but he certainly draws the reader in to the extremely challenging issues that he has faced.

Dr. Cabana writes an eloquent narrative about his experiences in the correctional system. He also provides the reader with a unique perspective on the death penalty. Who better to give an accurate account than one who was there. When I started reading this book, it grabbed me in a way that I was unable to put it down until I had read every last word. In my opinion, Dr. Cabana is a realist and though I don't share his opinion on the death penalty, I respect that he doesn't feel the need to hide his opinion from the world. I highly suggest this book to anyone who is looking for insight in to how the correctional system works or anyone who values a good narrative.

This was a great book. It was very easy to read and will keep your interest. Dr. Cabana is an expert on this subject and is able to give the reader an idea of what it is like to be responsible for executing those on death row. This book ties in Dr. Cabana's experience in corrections and how being an executioner had a lasting impact on him. The story is sureal and one that the reader will not forget. I highly recommend this book to anyone!

Donald Cabana's book, Death at Midnight: The Confession of an Executioner is not aptly named. Although the title implies that the book is about an executioner, Cabana actually spends most of the book recounting petty squabbles with various administrators and co-workers during his years before becoming warden of Parchman prison in Mississippi. What little time Cabana spends critiquing the death penalty is ultimately unpersuasive, because Cabana relies entirely on anecdotes and appeals to his readers' sympathy. Capital punishment is too complex a problem to be argued on such pedestrian grounds.

Cabana's anecdotal anti-death penalty argument focuses primarily on what Cabana sees as the unfairness of executing Connie Ray Evans, a death-row inmate that struck up a friendship with Cabana while awaiting execution. Cabana never fully explains the circumstances surrounding Evans's conviction and sentence, except to say that Evans had murdered a store clerk during a robbery. I was interested in learning more about the crime that Evans was convicted of, so I was forced to do some research of my own. After learning more about Evans's crime, Cabana's repeated efforts to elicit sympathy for Evans failed. The following is a description of the events that led to Evans's conviction and eventual execution, which I found by reading court decisions referencing Evans's various appeals.

Connie Ray Evans and an accomplice, Alfonso Artis, concocted a plan to rob an R.J.'s Food Center on April 7, 1981. They specifically discussed the fact that it might be necessary to use a gun in the robbery. The next morning, Artis picked Evans up and the two walked to the store. They waited near the store for about half an hour, until they noticed that there were no customers inside. While Evans stood outside on look-out duty, Artis entered the store with a pistol and ordered the store clerk, Arun Pawha to get on his knees. Evans then entered the store and took control of the gun while Artis attempted to open a cash register. The two men ordered Pawha to help them in opening the register, and once they had robbed it, Evans ordered Pawha to get back on his knees. The two then searched Pawha's pockets and stole his wallet. As they turned to leave, Evans shot Pawha in the back of the head, killing him. When Artis asked why, Evans responded, "Because I'm cold-blooded." The two had managed to steal $140, which they spent that night on clothes, a movie, and a few beers. Evidence led police to Artis the next day, and Evans fled to the streets, where he evaded police for 17 days before turning himself in at the insistence of his sister. When asked by police why he had shot Pawha, Evans said "the man knew me, and I did not want him to identify me."

Cabana's appeals for sympathy fail, because the execution of Evans was just. It is clear that Evans planned the murder beforehand. The fact that Evans and Artis brought a gun and robbed a store within walking distance of Evans's home indicates that it was Evans's plan to kill the clerk from the very beginning. This is especially evident, given the fact that Evans watched the store for a half hour while waiting for customers to leave the scene. Evans certainly would have seen the clerk and known that the clerk could identify him, yet he chose to rob the store anyway. Since he knew the clerk could identify him, it seems clear that the murder of Pawha was pre-planned. Additionally, there is something inherently obscene about a murder that is committed for such a small sum of money. Human life is worth more than $140 - it is worth more than some clothes, a movie ticket, and a beer.

Cabana argues that Evans's capital sentence is unfair in light of the fact that Evans's accomplice received a sentence of 25 years but had already been paroled by the time Evans's execution. This argument is unpersuasive as well. Evans's accomplice was not the one who fired the fatal shot, and it is unclear whether the accomplice had any idea that Evans planned on murdering the clerk once the robbery was complete. Cabana implies that Evans's accomplice got a light sentence by agreeing to cooperate with the prosecutor in Evans's trial. Perhaps this is true, but the fact remains that it was Evans, not Artis, who ordered a man to his knees and then shot him in the back.

Cabana argues that the idea of executing another human being is made easier by the fact that very few people actually have to witness or participate in such an event. Yet, Cabana is guilty of the same problem he accuses the general public of. He rails against those executions he personally participated in, yet speaks favorably about the execution of child killer Jimmy Lee Gray. Cabana is also inconsistent when he argues that proximity to the death penalty makes one less inclined to support it. He refers to himself as an "executioner," yet he speaks favorably about the prospect of executing those who, in Cabana's mind, truly deserve it. Cabana argues that the men on death row are not necessarily the ones who deserve a death sentence, and that he would execute some of the truly horrible inmates without any qualms. If this is true, then it is inconsistent with Cabana's position that one who is involved in executing inmates is per se opposed to capital punishment. Cabana seems to say that the inmates who are on death row don't deserve to be there, yet he leaves room for the possibility that there are other inmates who do deserve to be there.

Cabana's credibility is also negatively impacted by his recitation of several "facts" concerning the death penalty. Among this laundry list of grievances against the death penalty are the following allegations: (1) The United States is one of less than 6 six countries that authorizes the death penalty for juveniles and has executed more juveniles since 1990 than any other country; (2) There have been more than 24 documented cases of executions of innocent people.

Number one is wrong on two grounds. First, the U.S. abolished the death penalty for juveniles in Roper v. Simmons. Second, the U.S. has not executed more juveniles than any other country since 1990. That title belongs to Iran, which had executed 22 juveniles from 1990 until the Roper decision. The statistics that Cabana cites also don't take into account the numberless unofficial executions and renditions that occur regularly throughout the world.

Number two is likely wrong as well. Cabana's conclusory statement that 24 innocent men have been put to death is shocking. So shocking, in fact, that I decided (once again) to do research of my own. I cannot find a single source that corroborates that figure, and the recent controversy surrounding the execution of Roger Keith Coleman belies the statement that there are, somewhere, 24 documented cases of innocent men being executed. As a reminder, Roger Keith Coleman was the man who was convicted of raping and murdering his sister-in-law. He maintained his innocence until the very end. His last words before being executed in 1992 were: "An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven, I hope America will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all civilized countries have." Fourteen years later, death penalty abolitionists pressured the governor of Virginia to re-test the DNA samples obtained at the crime scene using modern techniques. Time magazine placed a photo of Coleman on its cover, the governor received thousands of phone calls about Coleman, books were written arguing that Coleman was the first documented case of an innocent man being put to death...and in the end, when the DNA results came back, everyone who supported Coleman was forced to eat crow when the DNA proved that Coleman had lied up until the very end. The DNA test concluded that he was a liar, murderer and rapist.

Cabana's book is disappointing for a variety of reasons. While the title implies that it is a book about the death penalty, very little space is actually spent talking about capital punishment. The vast majority of the book is instead spent recounting Cabana's rise from prison guard to warden of the largest prison in Mississippi. And while this is certainly a great accomplishment, Cabana's infatuation with personalities and the minutiae of administrative bodies renders even this story bland and uninteresting. Cabana's infatuation with personality over substance translates into nothing more than a series of anecdotes about Cabana's various interactions with petty bureaucrats and administrators. What little time Cabana spends discussing the death penalty is so facially lacking in substance that even this is unpersuasive and unimaginative. Overall, I cannot recommend this book to anyone, be they a death penalty supporter or detractor.

This book chronicles a prison warden's career through the prison system. His recollection of specific incidents (e.g., a hostage situation) is vivid and heart-wrenching. Cabana's moral struggle with carrying out an execution is not presented philosophically, but instead relates what it's actually like to give the order to have someone put to death in the gas chamber. Whether you agree with Cabana's (arguably compassionate) viewpoints on the correctional system or not, this book is a page-turner because of his interesting life events. For those who are looking for a death penalty discussion, this book is a good accompaniment to "Dead Man Walking."

It's interesting to me that two pro-killer reviews have popped up on the page . . . Leslie MSU is confused. He was indeed convicted of first degree murder. Not once, but twice convicted. Two trials.

If I were to update the book, many would be surprised at what I have learned since it was published. Former jurors, and friends close to the murder victim disclosed facts unknown previously. Was he guilty? Was he stalking her? Yes.

Ann Williams

I read this book as a sophomore in high school for a school project, and even then found it to be elementary in writing and in editing. I've lived most of my life about 30 minutes away from where this took place (although I was born way after the murder itself took place) and the only reason I found the book to be of any interest was because it talked about places and people that I could relate to...it wasn't in some town in New Mexico or Vermont that I had no idea about.
It's an interesting book if you are a crime buff who wants to hear about the mystery, but the person she basically plays juror and exocutioner for was never convicted - although thats not saying that he didn't do it. As a lawyer you would think she would not be quite so biased against him.
Read it if you'd like, but as I said, even as a fifteen year old I found it to be written on an elementary level.

This is such a well written, first rate tale of a crime committed in sleepy Mississippi in 1960 that, for me, it evoked Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird. Thus having the tone set early on, it held my attention throughout--including reading all of the trial proceedings, which I usually do not do because they are so tiring and tedious. As an aside, this is one of the most entrancing jacket covers I have ever seen! The picture is of the victim, a young housewife, mother of four, trying her best in the 50's to be a good mother and wife, completely innocent of any wrong doing; hence the crime committed against her is as horrible as any crime can be! It is too bad this is published by a small publisher and not more widely available! I am hoping Ann Williams has written more non-fiction books.

I loved "In the Cold Light of Day"! Although the author told us who the likely killer was in the first few pages, the suspense of the story kept me glued throughout the book. You worried about the accused getting away with it and the brave witness getting done in along with any number of possible twists and turns due to the uncertainty of the justice system at that time and in that location. It is chilling that this is a true story. This book haunted me for days....a mark of a really good story.

Most of the initial good reviews of this book were probably done by people who knew the author either in California or in Mississippi because the writing is substandard, especially for this genre. It is one of the worst books I've read. The incorrect French of the publisher leads me to think it was self-published.

Mark Twain (1835-1910) grew up along the banks of the Mississippi River, and he captures the feel of the mighty river during the steamboat era in this superb narrative and memoir. I particularly liked the earlier chapters, as Twain describes his youthful tutelage as an aspiring steamboat pilot in the years before the Civil War. Readers see what it was like guiding a steamboat over a river full of dangerous snags and sandbars - in clear daylight, through thick fog, and on moonless nights. The author then jumps ahead to his middle age - describing life along the river and in the South after the Civil War, and including politics, epidemics, and the supplanting of steamboats by railroads. The book's second half lacks a bit of the magic found earlier, but remains eminently readable and informative. This is a remarkable narrative by a great writer.

I've been reading a lot of classic literature recently, and I also recently saw the Mississippi River for the first time...so this book seemed liked the perfect one for me to read right now.
This is a "non-fictional" book by Mark Twain. (I guess that means based on some truth but embelished in various ways?) In it he recalls the years he spent during his youth as a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi River. Then he suddenly jumps forward many years in the book to when he is an older man. As an older man, he decides to go back and travel on the Mississippi River again. He finds the river much changed. The course of time (the Civil War has come and gone, the expansion of the railroad, and the forces of nature) have greatly changed life on the river. The once thriving steamboat trade has almost disapeared.
Besides his personal recollections, he also includes other interesting stories,history,folklore, talltales, and such. It is written in typical Mark Twain style - his dry sense of humor will bring a smile to your face. I really enjoyed this book.

This book--at times disjointed, rambling, self-referential, and irreverent--is decades ahead of its time. It's an interdisciplinarian's dream as Twain takes on economics, geography, politics, ancient and contemporary history, and folklore with equal ease. Mostly though, one appreciates his knack for exaggeration, the tall tale, and the outright lie. It's a triumph of tone, as he lets you in on his wild wit, his keen observation, and his penchant for bending the truth without losing his credibility as a guide.

The book's structure is also modern: He recounts his days as a paddlewheel steam boat "cub," piloting the hundreds of miles of the Mississippi before the Civil War, then, in Part 2, returns to retrace his paddleboat route. Although a few of his many digressions don't work (they sometimes sound formulaic or too detailed) most of the narrative is extremely entertaining. Twain seems caught between admiration and disdain for the "modern" age-but he also rejects over-sentimentality over the past. He writes with beauty and cynicism, verve and humor. Very highly recommended!

Twain's account of his years on the Mississippi is part travel book, part memoir, and part historical work, with a few sketches, stories, and tall tales tossed in for good measure. There is even an outtake from the not-yet-published "Huckleberry Finn," along with extensive excerpts from historical and contemporary accounts by other authors. This smorgasbord of material makes for an uneven book, but much of it shows Mark Twain at his humorous and humanistic best.

The kernel of the volume (and its best, most cohesive section) is in chapters 4 through 17; this material appeared in the Atlantic magazine in 1875 and recalls his early life as a crew member on steamboats in the early 1850s. His adventures as a young man are fraught with danger, full of comedy, populated by a number of ornery, mischievous, and reckless characters, and occasionally embellished (although Twain is a bit obvious when he's fobbing off a yarn). As Twain later wrote in "Puddn'head Wilson, "if there was anything better in this world than steamboating, it was the glory to be got by telling about it."

After he published the series in the Atlantic, Twain added another 46 chapters; much of it an account of his homecoming (incognito--or so he'd hoped) to the Mississippi River in 1882, when the steamboat had been rendered obsolete by the railroad. Many of these descriptions are unusually (for Twain) melancholy; he remarks upon the relatively emptiness of the river traffic and notes the transformations to the river and its banks that had made steamboat travel safer but less adventurous. His new journey provides opportunities to relate a number of stories--some allegedly told to him on the river and a few unpublished tales that he deemed relevant and worthy of inclusion.

The material from other sources, unfortunately, tends to bog things down--and there are about 10,000 words of it commingled in the text and included as appendices. Twain gathered newspaper articles and historical documents; he also included travel writing from earlier visitors, primarily Europeans distracted by how Americans and their homes were horribly uncouth and dirty. (You almost get the feeling that Twain would have smacked "the once renowned and vigorously hated" Frances Trollope upside the head if he'd had the chance; she provides Twain with the most interesting, if snooty, descriptions of traveling along the Mississippi early in the century.)

The material Twain wrote, however, more than compensates for the dryness of the extraneous stuff. As always, he is quotable, witty, amusing, and provocative. In spite of its excesses, nobody has done the Mississippi better.

In Life on the Mississippi, Twain recounts his river experiences from boyhood to riverboat captain and beyond. Encompassing the years surrounding the Civil War, this book is an excellent source of 19th-century Americana as well as an anthology of the mighty river itself. Replete with rascally rivermen, riparian hazards, deluge, catastrophe, and charm, Life on the Mississippi is another of Twain's stellar literary achievements.

Wit and wisdom are expected from Twain and this book does not disappoint. It is equally valuable for it's period descriptions of the larger river cities (New Orleans, St. Louis, St. Paul), as well as the small town people and places ranging the length of America's imposing central watershed.

The advent of railroads signalled the end of the Mississipi's grand age of riverboat traffic, but, never fear, Life on the Mississippi brings it back for the reader as only Samuel Clemens can. Highly recommended.

I can't remember when I first read the adventures of Tom Sawyer. I also initially couldn't recall any details about the book. So I re-read the book. As I learned, Mark Twain grew up in a southern slave state. He also traveled to lots of places that helped him form the background of his novel.

After I read this book, something came to my mind, because I didn't have a similar kind of experience with a slave system. You can not have any idea how to handle this situation. As for me coming from the small and free island of Taiwan, it is shocking to me. From my point of view, America has the most equal society. How could it really happen is disconcerting. All men are created equal upon birth. Can anyone tell me why one is destined to be slave when they are born?

No matter how, it did happen the fact that we couldn't do anything about the slave system in that age. Anyway, the book was very interesting it is just like you were there with Tom Sawyer and joined his life in a small town of Mississippi. This book also made me realize what it would be like to live in the 1850's. One more thing, about this book, it is not easy to understand because of the dialect of the writing.

tom sawyer is a young boy who always causes trouble. when he teams up with huckleberry finn the trouble doubles.tom is lazy and doesent like to work so he tricks every boy in town to make it sound like its a privlage. tom and huck decide that they are going to run away and be pirates. the town seaches the river and find their boat whih floated domn the river. after a week the town decided the boys were dead and held a funeral and tow snuk into to his house and the boys walked into the funeral. after the funeral the boys decided to be tresure hunters and find a treasure. they decided to search a hunted house before they find a treasure injuan joe finds it first. injuan joe runs away. tom and a girl named Becky get lost in a cave and find injuan joe in the cave. tom and becky get out of the cave and the town locked the cave shut. when he told them that injuan joe was in the cave the town opened it and injuan joe layed dead on the floor by the door. om and huck snaek in the cave and find the treasure and that basically ends the story.

This book was really good. I like the adventure in it. The book was very exciting. It really kept my interest. This book made me realize what it would be like in the 1850s.

This book works brilliantly on two levels. The first being a simple story of boyhood adventures the second as a subversive multi-layered literary masterpiece. You can see this dichotomy clearly from the other reviews on this book.

Mark Twain is able to write a seemingly straightforward adventure book that consistently questions and pokes fun at the conventional wisdom of 19th century America. He rips on the hypocrisy of Christianity, slavery, class structure and most of the widely accepted paradigms of American society.

I love his sense of irony and the subtleness of his ascerbic wit. My guess is that even when he wrote this book most of his readers did not understand the subtler messages he was conveying. Good for him, otherwise it probably would not have been the best seller it was.

I urge the readers of this book to really take a look at the subtext. You will find a treasure chest of thought provoking jabs aimed at American society that are, for the most part, still relevant today.

This prequel to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn focuses on Tom Sawyer. The story chronicles the day to day events of the protagonist, and with Twain's vivid imagery and colloquial style, it will seem like you are there with Tom.

The first time I read this, I found this simply to be a rather light-hearted book with some drama mixed in with romance, perfect for kids just reaching their tens and beyond. The most I got out of it was the plot, how Tom becomes a hero after seemingly on a whim, decides to run away onto an island where they can do anything they want. Later, upon his return, he testifies against a murderer and finds hidden treasure. (How can someone not blame me for not saying that that this is almost a kid tale, reminiscent of the Hardy Brothers... brings back nostalgic memories).

Anyways, when I read it again, this time older, I found this to be a classical tale to be a bildungsroman. The telling of the story of the growth of a boy, named Tom. Twain incorporates many symbols within the story, filling into the archetype of the bildungsroman structure, from the village, the gold, to the cave. While the village could be interpreted to be a minuscule model of the United States, it could also be simply the place where Tom experiences his growth. The cave symbolizes the trial that he has to pass in order to reach into adulthood and be incorporated into society as a full-fledged adult. The gold that Tom finds in the end, may well also be the end of his journey and the reaping of his rewards. It is his happy ending.

This book, construed with the image of a small town in America and written in that colloquial style too, simply enthralls the readers and lures them in. It should be read by all children of all ages, well, considering that when they actually have the ability to read. Twain's book may not need to be limited to just children, as it also has some rather mature themes and motifs underlying the story. These may include the presence of society's hypocrisy present within the story, the presence of crime ranging from misdemeanors like playing hooky and all the way to murder, to messages about freedom, how society may inhibit that freedom.

These are some things, to think about, regardless, I strongly urge anyone with the slightest possibility of buying this book to purchase it. It may also be purchased in conjunction with its sequel. A warning, however, the second book is not as "adventury" as the first, because its themes are a little bit more mature than the first.

Albert manages to get another great book! This was enjoyable as expected. Although many people have complained about the bad pickle jokes, I thought it was rather funny - after all, they admit they are bad and just add to the overall fun. A murder mystery can always use a little humor to keep it from getting too depressing.

The herbal detective, China Bayles is back and she's in a pickle this time. China and best friend Ruby are on the board that stages the annual Picklefest in Pecan Creek. The event is lorded over by the pickle queen herself, Ms. Morgan, and when she gets offed, the pickle juice flies. Hubby McQuaid is tired of his boring life as a teacher and opens his own PI service, and Ms. Morgan is his first client. She believes one of her employees, Vincent, is fixing the books. So there's a plethora of suspects once again. Add to this the arrival of Amy, Ruby's just discovered daughter, at China's door, announcing she is pregnant and needs a place to stay. Seems like the father of Amy's baby may be involved in the murder too---until he turns up dead!
Wow...fans of the series will love this worthy addition to the China Bayles series. Ms. Albert knows how to combine her herbal expertise with good mystery plotting. A dilly of a book.

This series is one of my favorites and I love going back to the Texas hill country with each new installment of China Bayles' intrigues. I like getting reacquainted with China's friend and partner, Ruby. The other characters in the book don't disappoint either. Interesting facts about pickles and pickle making are included throughout the book, with recipes at the back. Ms. Wittig gives us well-written cozies with a modern flair.

Herbalist and sometime sleuth China Bayles is in a tizzy. The daughter of her best friend Ruby has turned up on her doorstep pregnant and needing a place to stay. Her husband had decided to make a career change and become a private investigator.
His first client is Phoebe Morgan, the Pickle Queen of Texas. She suspects an employee of cooking the books and hires McQuaid to follow the money. Just before Picklefest kicks off, Phoebe disappears. . .

Another great China Bayles mystery. If you're not already a fan, you will be by the time you've finished!

Unlike other titles sitting on the table by my bedside, A Dilly of a Death kept me reading late into the night. I admit that I am a China Bayles fan; however, it was not always that way. Even as I admired the author's writing style and the details about herbs and gardening and local color, I did not like China Bayles all that much in the early stories. There were times when she just wouldn't deal with her feelings. I wanted to say, "Grow up, China." Somewhere along the way, she did. Not to say the earlier books were not good. They were yummy. In every book, Albert focuses on a different topic, such as the dying of cloth or chili peppers. We learn about China's shop, her friend Ruby, and her hunk of a boyfriend, then husband. She even tosses in a couple of good, relevant recipes. China becomes a friend.

Dilly revolves around a pickle factory family. In this tale, we, too, go round and round. Who did it this time? Was it the neighbor who had a past with the victim? Was it the secretary? Was it the son? How about the artist in the guest quarters? We are kept guessing until the end.

Meanwhile, life in Pecan Springs, Texas, moves along. Flamboyant Ruby, who is mostly a grown woman, finds her past repeating itself when her daughter tries out her wings. In the ways that count, though, Amy isn't at all like her mother. Ruby has the wisdom and self-confidence of a few decades of life experience under her belt, while Amy hasn't yet discovered True North. If Amy has gained any wisdom, she doesn't bother to display it very regularly. Ruby has trouble remembering that she, too, had trouble discovering True North.

Albert has written another winner with psychological insight, wit and an absorbing plot. Read it. It will capture your imagination, and you will learn a lot about cucumbers and pickles along the way.

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

This is a compelling story, but it's full of inference and excessively fluffy. From a historian's perspective Huffman does not have enough evidence to be legitimate. If you're looking for a real history of either Mississippi or West Africa (my two areas of expertise) look elsewhere.

A 20th century Missisipian explores how the actions of a few slaveholders before the Civil war have affected modern history. A very good read.

Huffman takes readers through quite a journey as he gives the history of abolitionists in Mississippi and the ultimate return of blacks to Africa. His story is fascinating and I simply couldn't put down the book until I read every page.

What a great story. This book covers so many subjects in a complete and interesting way. There is the detective story of the slaves of Prospect Hill Plantation and their lives, a story of the current state of affairs in southern Mississippi and finally a gripping account of modern day Liberia and its turbulent history. Just a great story that I wished would go on longer.

Alan Huffman's book on the history of a group of freed slaves, their journey back to Africa and the modern story of Liberia is important and very interesting. Huffman gives us (1) a view of life and history that formed our society and culture in Mississippi, (2) provides an overview of Liberia's history and our connection to it (a chapter of US history that is seldom mentioned ... I never heard of Liberia and the US role in its founding before arriving in West Africa in 1978), and (3) shows that Faulkner was right in saying that the past continues to impact us.

In 1978 I went to Guinea Bissau,West Africa, to work on a USAID (foreign aid) program in the country's rice growing region. It was there that I heard, for the first time, of a group of freed slaves returning to Africa and establishing a country, Liberia, in 1821 with it's capital named after the fifth US president James Monroe. By 1838, 20,000 American blacks (ex-slaves and freed men --- including the slave group from Jefferson County that was the subject of his research) made up the population of the Colonization Society and Liberia. Today the descendants of these settlers make up about 5 percent of Liberia's population. This elite group dominated the political and economic sectors for more that 150 years. A backlash against this group in 1980 by descendants of local tribesmen caused the chaos that grips modern day Liberia. It's important to me and you today because of the potential links that states in chaos have to terrorist groups (Huffman talks of the potential laundering of Al Queda money through diamond sales in Liberia and the attempt to use the country as a conduit for the purchase of illegal arms --- including stinger missles).

Huffman brings the reader full circle and gives interesting details of his research and the people he meets along the way. He also provides details on our Mississippi history about slave and slaveholder interaction and the cultural values it imprinted on our society. I also liked the tidbits of history like the origin of Alcorn State University (evolving from a school for the sons of plantation owners to the first land grant college in the United States). This is a good book that I highly recommend.

This book is just okay. I would give it 2.5 stars if I could, to reflect the true averageness of this book. It starts out well, with colorful characters in desperate circumstances. The parts about Kiki's life, Soupspoon's battle with illness, and his early introduction to the blues lifestyle are interesting and well-told. The story peters out about halfway in, however, and one never really shares or believes in Soupspoon's obsession with his past with RL. The last half of the book seems hurriedly written, and contains some unexpectedly hackneyed story elements--the stuff with Chevette, in particular. (Didn't this same ridiculous male fantasy crop up in that other truly average novel "About Schmidt?")

this is the first book i have purchased written my mr. mosley. his descriptions and character development are very good as is the plot. the only issue i have with his work were the romantic relationships and the sexuality described in them. i am hardly a prude and i know that this is fiction but i felt that the sexual liasons that took place were not beleivable and not relevant to the storyline. other than this one issue, this is a very good book and i would recommend it.

I don't know that I've read anything like this before - the guy has his own very readable style. It starts a bit like the movie `Paris, Texas', where you suddenly are in the middle of seemingly unbelievable people in extreme circumstances, and then over time you realise how credible they are.
 
I don't know how `real' these characters are - everything is always life or death, intense pain and/or emotional climax: is it that Mosley's skipping the bits where `nothing much happened that afternoon', or is he suggesting that this sort of overwhelming life is actually happening constantly? At times it feels like a `Pulp Fiction' style sensory overload fantasy, at others a `serious' character novel.
 
The issues they're facing are not mine, but the stories and characters are engaging (and confronting), and well told. There's some background thriller/suspense - well done too - but this is a million miles from a formula paperback.

RL's Dream is a haunting story that will change the way you see your life. Through this book, you will see ways that facing up to your pain can bring redemption.

The book opens as elderly black Jazz musician, Atwater "Soupspoon" Wise, painfully returns to his apartment in lower Manhattan. His respite is brief when the landlord's men evict him for many months of not paying his rent and call Social Services to pick him up to be returned to a homeless shelter. It's cold as Soupspoon lies amidst his few belongings on the sidewalk, and it's getting dark. He's so sick he can barely speak, and has a horrible pain in his hip. He feels death standing over him.

While he's been going through this, one of his neighbors, Ms. Kiki Waters, a young white woman is also painfully coming home after being released from a hospital after being stabbed by a young boy. She is appalled to find Soupspoon on the street, for he is the man whose happiness had just cheered her a few days before the attack on her. Knowing her duty as a human being, she orders the men to move Soupspoon into her apartment along with some of his belongings.

Kiki nurses Soupspoon back to health, but uses methods that leave her life at risk.

In the course of their evolving relationship, each one learns how to turn pain into beauty and goodness. Soupspoon does it by playing and singing the blues. Kiki does it by facing up to and overcoming her fears.

The story is beautifully developed around the memories that Soupspoon and Kiki carry around of their younger days in the South. Soupspoon is frustrated that he cannot reach the heights as a musician that his friend RL Johnson could. Kiki carries intense fear from the abuse she suffered at her father's hands. Both are prisoners of those memories until they take steps to move beyond them. Those steps are their redemption.

To me the most powerful part of the book is the opening. Imagine yourself riding home on the subway full of stitches from a knife attack. Emerging, you see a poor, old man lying on the street who is your neighbor. Would you stop to help? What would you do to help? Chances are that you would not do as much as Kiki does. Yet we are supposed to love our neighbor as ourselves. Kiki hasn't known much love, yet she gives all she has to Soupspoon. It's a beautiful story, and shows how beautiful life can be.

If you also love the Blues, this book will reward you with wonderful sketches of what is was like to create that rich music that grew out of pain in the South during the early 20th century.

There are some writers whose talent is so special that you want to save their books and make the reading of them an occasion. Walter Mosley is one of those writers. He invests his characters with such depth, such full histories that you cannot help but care about them. RL's Dream is populated by a cast of such characters; even the most minor ones (including a baby) are fully fleshed and very real. Soupspoon and Kiki are two almost-lost souls who bring each other back to life in unexpected ways. It is a credit to Mosley's rare and splendid talent that the book itself resonates with music; its cadence is almost audible in the spare prose, the all-too-human behavior of people who, often, do things without even really knowing why. To comprehend the blues, to put words, literally, to a musical theme and to do so in a kind-hearted and deeply understanding fashion is to deliver magic in the form of a book. This is a "must read" novel.

Well written book, tells the true story behind the State Line Mob and Sheriff Bufford Pusser. I wish that a movie had been made of this account of the legend that is Bufford Pusser, although some of his tactics bordered more on vigilante justice then actual law enforcment action, it is clear to see and understand that what he needed to do and did were none the less heroic.

The "Walking Tall" trilogy was interesting and, I must confess, a favorite movie series of mine. That said, the entire premise is laughable: a man who uses only a stick to fight crime prevails against crooks who can use guns? Get real!

The "Walking Tall" movie series is based loosely (very loosely) upon a triology of books written by the now deceased W.R. Morris. The first, "The Twelfth of August," was the basic story of the first two 'Walking Tall' movies, although it focused more on his family. A second book, "Buford," covered from the end of the first book to the death of Sheriff Pusser. This was the third (and final) installment, and the stories told are altered somewhat to give a fuller picture.

I have not read 'Buford,' but I have read 'The Twelfth of August.' Pusser is presented, basically, as an American hero who stood up to the goons who beat him up, much as the movie series plays. The reality, of course, is somewhat more complex.

It is clear by the time of this book (which came out in 1990) that Morris does not regard Pusser so much as a white knight on a horse as he does a complex individual with varying shades of good and bad. Morris conducted additional interviews with many of the principals he features, and the result is an outstanding book with less of a pro-Pusser slant and a more sympathetic view (in some cases) of the 'bad guys.'

The story actually begins in Phenix City, Alabama just after World War 2. Nearby Fort Benning was the site of many a Marine who entered the crooked bars and dives of this east Alabama city and were beaten, robbed, and sometimes killed. In 1954, Albert Patterson was elected Attorney General of the state on a promise to clean up Phenix City. Before he even took office, he was assassinated. This led to martial law in the city and federal troops ran the criminals out. Many of them relocated to the Alcorn County (MS) - McNairy County (TN) line, where both counties were 'dry' and set up a new operation.

Ten years later, one victim of those beatings, Buford Hayse Pusser, moved back home to Tennessee and campaigned on a promise to clean up the state line. Often lost in the hype - but deftly covered by Morris - is the fact that the 'State Line Mob' was as responsible for its own demise as Pusser was. Louise Hathcock conspired with Carl 'Towhead' White to murder her ex-husband even before Pusser was elected. (Hathcock's deceased ex-husband, Jack, himself had been involved in the murder of a business partner, "Pee Wee" Walker, who had been having an affair with Louise). White and Pusser wind up in a three-year long personal war that results in the death of Pusser's wife, White's girlfriend (Louise Hathcock), and White, leaving Pusser the sole survivor.

The book has a lot of interesting information in setting the stage as to how some of the local criminals grew up to be that way. I would like to give it five stars, but I cannot. The main reason is because Morris is given to repeated use of metaphors that sound juvenile. For example, he says, "It would have been easier to turn Billy Graham into an atheist than get members of the state-line mob to turn on each other in court." One usage of such device would be OK, but Morris seems to do this every time he doesn't have much to say. The book also has an unusually large (for its size) references to sexual slang and colorful language. It is most certainly not for the pre-teen or adolescent set.

The book is an overall good read, and it is more interesting (and intriguing) than the movie series. If you liked 'Walking Tall,' enjoy this great book and see the story behind the story.

W.R. Morris was Buford Pusser's authorized biographer, he wrote the best selling "The Twelth of August" however in 1973 he told People Magazine, "Buford can be a really nice guy one day and the next day he's barely civilized. I thread delecitly in the book." Did Pusser and Morris have a falling out or did Morris' research cause him to have a change of oppinion on the hero?

Regardless, this book is the origins of the loose mob that Pusser destroyed. The crime element along the Tenn and Mississippi border was the result of a government crackdown on the illegal activities in Phenix City, Ga in the late 40's. The displaced con artists and prostitutes settled on the stateline of Tn/Miss on highway 45. Morris provides a fasinating discription of the self destructive lives of this murderous group. It seems that Alcorn County, Miss is the hot bed of much of the criminal activity-yet McNairy County, Tn got the title of "Murder County USA" due to it being the dumping ground of many of the unsuspecting victims of the so-called "state line mob." One of these victims was a young Buford Pusser, who had the guts to go back and rob the robbers.

The ring leaders of the mob have an amazing ability to avoid long term jail sentences. They are soon challanged by a new sheriff- Buford Pusser, who has an amazing ability so withstand knife wounds and gunshots. Pusser believed in "fighting fire with fire" a true unconventional law enforcement warrior. Shortly after taking office he picked up a mob leader and took him out to the swamps and beat him up for three hours. Morris, as well as the author of "Mississippi Mud" believe that Pusser knew who was behind the ambush that killed his wife, but he kept the information from the authorities only to track down and kill, or hire to kill, the men himself. The result of this book is that Buford Pusser may have been a flawed and tragic hero, but in the end he got the bastards- and walked damn tall doing it, even if outside the law.

Morris covers some interesting material. However, I don't believe he did as good a job as he did on The 12th of August. Much of the material in this book is just a reprinting of some of his previous book. I compared the two books as I read this one though and sometimes the wording of conversations had some variation. This book is not well written for someone with the journalistic background of Morris. Yet there are some interesting theories in regard to Buford Pusser's possible involvement in taking out some of those who he believed were involved in murdering his wife. I think the book is an overall worthwhile read but there are places in the text where Morris used vulgarity for no other apparent reason than to be vulgar. It did not help drive home the point any better.

Once I started reading the book, it was hard to put it down. I live only a few counties north of where all this was taking place. I only thought I
had an idea of what was taking place and about the people who were running the gambling, illegal whisky, and prostitution operation. That was one tough
area vs one tough sheriff who had to "fight fire with fire".

when you dive into this amazing novel. this will be my all time favorite book. when kingbury wrote this book she made sure the reader could feel the mississippi summer-time heat and smell the bbq. if anyone is a sucker for sweet summertime romance and a little bit of mystery then this is the book for you. make sure this is one for your collection. you will not be dissapointed.

The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me depicts the life of Haley Ellyson and her Mr.Greel who together capture the story's unforgettable characters, sultry summer location, and timeless themes. Although many books claim to have unforgettable characters, Suzanne Kingsbury's meet and exceed this expectation. Through Fletcher Greel we see empathy and an uncanny understanding for life; Haley teaches us what it is like to young and on fire. The atmosphere in which the story unfolds also adds to the reality of the novel. The story takes place in a fictional town in the Deep South where scorching temperatures brew up racial conflicts. Haley and Fletcher's summer love, the secrets Haley keeps inside, and the cultural ties of the town's people all present themselves as major themes in the novel. We see these themes unraveling before us to an ultimate and tragic demise. Suzanne Kingsbury's novel pulls as all the heartstrings within us leaving us with a sense of loss and a yearning for more.

The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me depicts the life of Haley Ellyson and her Mr.Greel who together capture the story's unforgettable characters, sultry summer location, and timeless themes. Although many books claim to have unforgettable characters, Suzanne Kingsbury's meet and exceed this expectation. Through Fletcher Greel we see empathy and an uncanny understanding for life; Haley teaches us what it is like to young and on fire. The atmosphere in which the story unfolds also adds to the reality of the novel. The story takes place in a fictional town in the Deep South where scorching temperatures brew up racial conflicts. Haley and Fletcher's summer love, the secrets Haley keeps inside, and the cultural ties of the town's people all present themselves as major themes in the novel. We see these themes unraveling before us to an ultimate and tragic demise. Suzanne Kingsbury's novel pulls at all the heartstrings within us leaving us with a sense of loss and a yearning for more.

I wish that Fletcher Greel had loved me. If only he were real! This book was so good that I felt as if I were there with the characters that summer. What made me like this book so much was how descriptive Suzanne Kingsbury was - she put so much INTERESTING detail into this novel. If my eye accidentally wandered to another line - I went back to read the previous one - I did not want to miss a single thing - my mind drank in every word.

The descriptions were so real, I was astounded to realize that she did not grow up in the South.

There are no quotation marks in the book, to denote when a character starts and stops speaking - but after a chapter or two I got used to the format.

You will smile, laugh, and cry when you read the story of four young friends who experience love, heartache, reality, and life all packed into one summer.

Normally, I'm kind of wary when someone writes a novel taking place in the South, espically if they're not Southern. According to the back, the author, Ms Suzanne Kingsbury spent a year in Oxford, Mississippi while writing her debut novel. It shows because she captures the spirit and the essence of the South. The characters are vivid and became alive and real to the reader as the novel progresses. To those who've never been to or lived in the South, this novel is excellent window into it. And to us natives, this novel reminds us what we love and don't love, about the most surreal part of America, the South.