Tennessee Books

A wonderful story, thoroughly enjoyed, and similar to my family history. The book was not, however, well written.

The Jew Store was both charming and telling. The author was insightful, but always kind and her humor was gentle.

This is an exquisitely written memoir that reads like fiction. What a talent to take what is true and create a story! In the 1920's, my grandparents ran a "Jew store" in Lawrenceville, Virgina, but left after a year during which the KKK made it known they were unwelcome. My grandfather became a "Jew peddler" in North Carolina, and much of this story rang true with the tales I was told as a child. Residents looked on the "Jew peddler" with suspicion, but also with awe because he brought the big city with him. He was expected to be sophisticated; his opinions were taken seriously. During the Great Depression, one North Caroina farmer gave his daughter to my grandfather because she was starving. He took her home to Norfolk, Virginia, to raise with his own five children, and a life-long relationship ensued.

My book club enjoyed this book and had a lively discussion.

This was a definite surprise me novel. I picked it up for no other reason than the shocking title. This has become one of my favorite books, and she, a favored writer. I love how she brings the people from her childhood to life in the reader's mind, the language, the sayings, a delightful Southern Yiddish flavor. This book has been passed among friends and allowed us to have an interesting discussion with 3 generations of Southern women.

The authenticity of detail hit me over and again, describing not only how it felt to be Jewish in white anglo-saxon Prodestant Tennessee, but the way everyone was: open armed but not altogether open minded, graciously phrasing back-talk, helpful when you least expected it, back-stabbing the same way, and sugar-coating every topic but money. When it came to money, you didn't pay protection after the fact, like industrial cities; you first worked for permission. Fabulously The Jew Store tells this tale! True to my own memory is the white woman whose lemon merangue pie was acclaimed, only it was her cook's. The cook, called that but doing cleaning, gardening, child rearing, and everyting else. Learning to listen backwards if you wanted to know what someone was actually saying, as in "we're so glad you came over and didn't even call!" The sugar-coated talk from mean, angry men. The social standing that harked to who-knew-where... This was the small mill town I grew up in in NC, too. It produced the fragile sounding Southern-belle diction that was good for date bait 'up north,' as her daughter found out; but that belied the resolve of strong, smart women with wonderful senses of humor, as shown in her characters. Anyone who grew up in a small mill town in the South prior to -- say 1970 --- met plenty of folks just like these. How glorious to have this touching volume of remembrances.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Crazy Ladies" and "She Flew the Coop"; other novels by West, so I was really looking forward to reading "American Pie". It left me slightly unsatisfied; the story was good, the characters were interesting and lovable, but I just felt that they could have been developed so much further! I actually felt that this book should have had another hundred pages in it, where West could have gone much, much deeper in describing each of the McBroom girls' personal struggles and experiences, trying to deal with life, death and relationships,- most of all with each other. Eleanor's agoraphobia, Freddie's insecurity about her marriage, and Jo-Nell's journey to self-discovery, it was all very intriguing, but it felt like all I got as a reader was merely the tip of the iceberg...! I will definitely look out for the next Michael Lee West novel, though!

This is the second book I've read by this author, and although it American Pie is better than She Flew the Coop, it still wasn't good. It semed to be building up to an interesting tale, but then it just ended. The characters were quite interesting, but the story fell flat. Apparently I was one of the few who didn't like it though, so if you enjoy southern, gentle fiction you may want to check it out from the library.

If you're a fan of great Southern literature such as CRAZY LADIES, DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA, or Jackson McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, then you will love this book. As always, West gives us enough colorful characters to fill the pages of several novels and does it with enough zest and talent that they become larger than life, but not in a cardboard cut-out way.

While I did like CRAZY LADIES better than this effort, AMERICAN PIE is still worth your time and money. For that matter, read all of West's books.

Also recommended: CRAZY LADIES, BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Well, perhaps it is the more modern rendering of a tale, a reunion of family, of sisters, drawn together by tragedy, that makes this pie less delicious. I certainly like Michael Lee West's other books, especially, "She Flew the Coop," and "Consuming Passions". But I find this novel less enticing, easier to put down and do something other than read.

I loved this book. It's written in the same fashion and with the same quirky characters as a Fannie Flagg novel. This was only the second book I've read by Ms. West, but it certainly won't be my last. Crazy Ladies was a great read, and so was this.

American Pie follows three Tennessean sisters and their grandmother...Freddie, Jo-Nell, Eleanor, and Minerva Pray. After Jo-Nell's car is hit by a train and she's in the hospital, their small little family gathers around to console one another. Freddie, all the way from California has given up her southern heritage and proclaims the west to be her new home. Leaving her husband and his sexy secretary alone on the island of Baja, she flies home to help her sisters and figure out what to do with her life after an old beau steps back in the picture.

Eleanor lives with their grandmother Minerva Pray, and has become scared to leave the house alone. She surrounds herself with senior citizens and her family to forget about it. Minerva Pray is convinced there's a curse on the family and that all bad thing's happen in six's to them. And as Jo-Nell sits in the hospital getting better, she decides to make some major changes in her life, and a move just might be the best thing.

Overall this was a wonderful book. One that I'd definitely recommend for fans of Southern Lit and authors such as Ms. Flagg, Sandra Dallas, and Adriana Trigiani. I can't wait to read more from Ms. West!

Fall in love with Venus and Gib. The story jumps right off the page and into your heart. This is a fun read!

This is the fourth Deborah Smith's book that I read and once again I struggled to put it down.
I love her writing style, her interesting characters and unusual twists to the story, her detailed description of scenery, emotions and relationships.
I'm already looking for more work from this author

Great reading for anytime.
Wonderfully eccentric and vivid characters. Plenty of time to get to know them.
Rich sense of place and time.
Wonderful pacing.
This is my second Deborah Smith and I am thinking this is
an author to search the bookshelfs for.
The way she writes is very fluid and I reiterate FUN.
The characters were so interesting I could easily imagine some follow-up adventures from them.

I first bought this book "because the title sounded good." I had no idea that I would fall in love with Venus and Gib and their complicated, beautiful story. I love the vivid imagery, the "clashing of cultures" and the sardonic, dry humor Venus conveys throughout the story. It is now my favorite book in the entire world! A must-read for anyone who has ever felt different and like they didn't quite belong!

A fun and entertaining read. I wished I lived in that enchanting forest with all those amazing and endearing characters. A book I'll read over and over again just for the pure joy of it.

This book was so "homey" to me, I felt like it could be my family. Family traditions are so food centered, and especially for the females, we have our secrets and specialties we like to pass on, or not. My mother once asked me, "Do you think they go all out like we do?" After reading, West's book, I know we Southerners share more similarities than differences.

There's the greatest chocolate cake recipe in the book that I've ever tried, and the spice cake recipe is melt in your mouth wonderful!

The author of three marvelous books about eccentric and defiant Southern women, Michael Lee West has concocted a winning recipe of down-home cooking and family history in a charming memoir/cookbook, "Consuming Passions." At peace with her love of food and proud of her women-centered family, West promotes food as the sustenance of all that is worthwhile in life. Her anecdotal style sparkles and her recipes are not only provocative, but understandable, even for amateur Yankee cooks and other such timid kitchen souls.

The members of West's family take larger-than-life shape in this memoir, and the author is unabashedly proud, both of their iconoclastic character and their abilities in the kitchen. West does provide a modest warning: her "Southern tales are like intricate recipes -- part myth, part truth, and part lies." Her mother's insistence on an okra-free gumbo results in her swinging from a chandelier in protest. Her aunt Dell's oversized appetite takes form in her collection of hairless cats, antiques and skewed instructions on food preparation. Even her husband's attempt to raise bees falters when he mistakenly wears dark-colored socks. In the midst of the author's affectionate observations of family eccentricities is her unflagging commitment to a joyous life. Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the numerous invitations to create in the kitchen is her acceptance of imperfection and failure. West never stops trying, never stops of her sense of adventure, never ceases loving food and family.

When not enmeshed in rhapsodizing about food, West knows how to create food-based metaphor. Disdaining gossip as a "main course," she suggests that it "was more like an enticing appetizer, or a rich, sinful dessert." Partaking of gossip simply can't be helped, "even though you knew you'd be sorry later." Her family's obsession with food even has serious consequences. When a coroner concluded that several men had died in their sleep of heart attacks, her "aunts knew better -- it was death by butter."

At its best, "Consuming Passions" reads quickly; its bite-sized chapters contain both humor and instruction. At its worst, Ms. West's prose tends to have a purple cast, much like the sugared violets she recommends to cause sleep and dissolve anger. Readers who admire Michael Lee West's fictional characters will enjoy her real-life versions; cooks who seek to broaden their repertoire will not be disappointed. She invites you to dig in to the liberating, sensual and powerful influence of food, best shared with people you love.

This book is super, it's full of great stories about wonderful food. I've got a ton of cookbooks and this is the one I use the most. My favorite recipes are the Sweet Potato Souffle, Mashed Potato salad and Egg Salad recipes. I get compliments every time I serve these dishes to people.

I love the stories that accompany these recipes, it's like a lovely piece of history I savor as I eat the yummy food I cooked!

PS I'm a vegetarian and still find this to be a great resource for yummy food. I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys good food and sentimental, funny stories.

Fair warning! If you are on a diet or trying to lose weight, this book is lethal. My stars, what a feast of food memoirs complete with rich and tempting recipes! And how I would love some of that coconut cake that emerges from an eight day recipe.

Obviously, West knows her family characters and attaches them to their noted eccentricities and manna. And what colorful, yea memorable, folks these are! Everyone should have a family like hers, with Aunt Tempe, Aunt Dell, Uncle Bun, a marvelous Mama and grandparents and cousins and family gatherings around food that will make you want to go to the kitchen to execute one of the cooking delights featured in the tales.

I was especially fascinated by the pineapple upside down cake cooked in a cast iron skillet, and macaroni and cheese like I never imagined it.

It also thrilled me to learn that West was a slow-to-learn cook herself, yet the obvious love she has for her family and their food eventually became a part of her own mature life.

I think this book would be a fabulous gift to anyone from the South, or anyone who wishes they were. And recipe book fans are definite candidates for receipt of this tome.

Here is a read with laughs and lessons, and it certainly is a keeper for me. Bon appetit, sugar! Meet me in the kitchen!

The language of this relatively short novel is beautiful and haunting. Even though McCarthy's writing style has changed a little with each book over the past 40 years, each stage along the way has its own unique brilliance, and the somewhat sparce prose of "Outer Dark" is no exception. McCarthy has an ability like no other author I've read to describe a landscape - both exterior or interior - with such startling clarity and yet with such few words. McCarthy has no need for interior monologue, excessive dialogue, or an omniscient narrator; with the slightest subtle gestures he shares intimate and profound emotions and concepts with his reader. "Outer Dark" (as well as McCarthy's other works) is brilliant in this way.
The novel is also quite disturbing. Although they are only in a few short scenes, the mysterious trio, personifying the utter depths of (in)human violence and depravity, refuse to leave the reader's thoughts after the book has been finished. A couple of their scenes (really the only ones they appear in) left me with a very real sense of dread that didn't leave for a few days.
The actual violence of the book only takes up a couple pages of the entire novel, but as another reviewer stated, the feeling of the entire book is one of violence and oppressive fear. Once again, this is a testimony to McCarthy's mastery of language and storytelling. Because of this, the actual violence that there is is that much more powerful. I found this book in every way as disturbing as the much longer, much more violent "Blood Meridian."
From a literary standpoint, McCarthy's books are absolutely inspiring. His aesthetics present humanity at its basest, most fearsome state, but simultaneously shows slivers of the goodness and nobility in mankind, and maybe (I emphasize MAYBE) the hope that lays hidden beneath his horrifying portrait of existence.

Cormac McCarthy grabbed me with both THE ROAD and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and so I decided to explore some of his earlier works. The first thing one notices upon doing so is that McCarthy's own writing style has changed dramatically. Whereas the more recent novels use sparse writing to evoke powerful emotions, his past works are far more verbose, with run on sentences filled with all the adjectives one could imagine. In my opinion, I prefer the sparse writing instead.

But the earlier writing style is not so distracting as to eclipse the story. Typical for McCarthy, it is not a happy one. A young woman gives birth to a baby sired by her brother. When the brother leaves the newborn in the wild to die, telling his sister that it died while she slept, the baby is discovered by another who takes it as his own. When the sister discovers the lie and goes hunting for the baby, both brother and sister take paths through the wilderness leading from danger to danger.

Like Anton Chigurh, the one man killing machine in NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, who has no known history and is as lethal as an inhuman force of nature, OUTER DARK has its own cluster of human psychopathy. A trio of travelers killing those they meet, with no reason provided, haunt the pages and bring destruction with them simply for its own sake. The two times Culla, the brother, meets up with this trio, there is a vague sense of violence underlying the encounters. The reader cannot help but wonder exactly who these people are, how could they ever have met and developed the kinship that they apparently share, and what is their purpose. None of these questions have answers.

McCarthy keeps the reader off balance through excellent use of subtleties. The whispered query of whether Culla should be shot, the 'mystery meat', and the missing eyeball, all create a bizarre sense that something seriously is out of place. But, although we might have our ideas (often too disturbing to really consider), we cannot put our finger on exactly what that something might be.

That the sister hunts for her lost child against all odds is, perhaps, McCarthy holding out some hope for us in an otherwise bleak and violent environment. Though in the end, hope is not enough, in McCarthy's world, to get us where we need to be. OUTER DARK may not be pleasant, but it is the work of an excellent author who explores those shadowy regions many authors fear to tread, and who has rightfully earned the reputation of a master.

McCarthy's novels are certainly not for everyone, for they are dark pessimistic interpretations of the human condition, often showing mankind at our worst. Outer Dark is exceptionally well written. The journeys of a sister and brother has many characteristics of dark folk tales and Greek drama on cosmological justice, or the lack there of. The tale evokes Greek Tragedy and Old Testiment Judgements. The story is mythlike and makes reference to concepts around Original Sin and Redemption.

Because the characters are early 1900 Appalachian, there is of course a comparison and contrast to William Faulkner's work. McCarthy, like Faulkner, is a master of the English language and complex sentence structures. But McCarthy is more straight-forward and less ambiguous in his sentence structure and narrative style. McCarthy is also a master at identification of out of style, low frequency words, which he resurrects in his writing. McCarthy, like many great writers, invents words also. However he invents words with such strong reference to English language etiology that they are immediately recognizable and useful. Like Faulkner before him, McCarthy explores dark themes of human deprivation, but McCarthy actually takes these themes further than Faulkner since he explores ancient themes from the Greeks regarding fate and destiny and inescapability from the dark human condition.

At the core of many novels by McCarthy is a killing machine, a dark and mysterious man who kills his fellow humans as would an earthquake or hurricane or forest fire or any other force of nature. Some critics have linked these serial killer forces of nature to Achilles in the Iliad, one of the earliest serial killer anti-heroes from literature. For Achilles, the son of a water goddess is a marvel of masculine aggression and adroit, athletic slaughter. When such a serial killer engages in murder, he has no more emotion than a tidal wave. He expects no justice or injustice for killing is like breathing. It is a personal tragedy like being killed by a falling tree or drowning in a pond. For there is no justice against the tree or the pond and McCarthy sees his murderers as beyond earthy human justice or any cosmological justice from a absent and unconcerned God. Because this natural killer is in total touch with the worst aggressive aspects of human nature, they frequently can see the darkest instincts within their fellow men.

Outer Dark however also has a familiar narrative structure to the dark folk tales of Eastern Europe where children are eaten by wolves. For in this story, an 18 year old girl and her slightly older brother commit incest and the brother hides the baby in the forest telling his sister that the baby died, a story she doesn't believe for a minute. He leaves home on a quest away from his sin and deed. She leaves home on a quest for the child which has been taken by a Rumplestilkin tinker that uses terminology that evokes the anti-semitic descriptions of Jews in the Middle Ages.. Simultaneous to their parallel paths through darkness, three murderers stalk the land and seem oddly related to bringing rough reconciliation or completion to the tragedy.

A Jungian interpretation of the novel is really in order also for the boy is a thief and liar in a world of thieves and liars. The girl seeks her child for 8 months and never stops lactating. This odd feature to this story may reflect the miraculous in the lives of Catholic Saints for the girl believed that as long as her breasts weep milk, that the child is still somewhere alive in the world. The boy and girl may represent two sides of the human personality and each has a path to follow toward reconciliation with the other. Underneath much of the horror is a redemption story for the innocent child he denies is the product of his sin. However the redemption is extremely dark in this tale of horror.

Better known for his later novels The Border Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, the Crossing, Cities of the Plain, Blood Meridian, and No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy's second novel, Outer Dark (1968), is set in Appalachia around the turn of the twentieth century. As the title suggests, dark tones permeate the novel, along with Biblical imagery. The novel reads like William Faulkner. It is gothic, apocalyptic, poetic, and full of mystery. It tells the story of a woman, Rinthy, who gives birth to her brother Culla's baby. After leaving the newborn boy in the woods to die, Culla tells his sister the baby died of natural causes. Rinthy sets out to find her baby. Meanwhile, a tinker finds the infant in the woods. As Culla walks from town to town rather aimlessly searching for work, Rinthy attempts to locate the tinker and her baby. In his travels, Culla is wrongfully accused of theft, murder, trespassing, and inciting a herd of hogs to riot. Ultimately, both Culla and Rintha are subjected to punishment for their original sin. Though a minor work, Outer Dark reveals the literary genius of Cormac McCarthy. Recommended.

G. Merritt

I thoroughly enjoyed this book (if "enjoyed" is the right word) but I have no idea what it's about. Like all the other McCarthy books I've read, it is compelling from word one. No one today shapes the English language like McCarthy. His every word is poetry. His ear for dialog and dialect is staggering. His description of everything, I mean EVERYTHING, is unerring, uncannily so. His ability to set a (mostly) dark and somber mood is (literally) scary. But I don't know what the book was about. I guess it was about a lot of things. No matter to me: I just enjoyed reading it. I enjoyed the suspense, the symbolism, the gothic emotion, the rawness of it. I've read several McCarthy books. I was lukewarm about the Border Trilogy, but hooked after "The Road", "No Country..." and others. Wonderful, masterful book. But I still don't know what it was about....

I believe Tennesee Williams is the most versatile modern playwright who truly exemplifies the dysfuctionality of family morals. The Glass Menagerie, Streetcar Named Desire, and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof are indeed his masterpieces. I found Cat on a Hot Tin Roof to be my most favorite. The characters were memorable (who can forget Margaret "aka Maggie The Cat," Brick, Big Daddy, and Big Mama?) and the lines truly classic ("What's the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? Just staying on it, I guess, as long as she can..."). Also, just like Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof touched upon subjects that were controversial then and just as controversial now (homosexuality, child molestation, prostitution, etc.), which makes Tenesee William's works highly relevent. His plays age well with time. Not to mention that there have also been INCREDIBLE movie adaptations of all of his famous plays. After you read Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, or Streetcar Named Desire and The Glass Menagerie, watch the movie as well. There is no other modern playwright (except Oscar Wild and Anthony Wilson)whose plays will truly have a place in my heart for years to come.

This play is the usual extreme histrionics that I have come to expect from Tennessee Williams. In this book set on a Southern Plantation we have the obligatory hysterical woman, an alcoholic and a homophobe. After a while one cannot help but get the impression that Mr. William's works all consisted of the same stock, cardboard characters and he only changed the settings and their names.I do give this book 5 stars because I have always liked Elizabeth Taylor who starred in the movie of this play although she is in fact a Real Life Serial Monogamist as the Sociologist would refer to her .

Tennessee Williams was a genius. This play runs the full spectrum of human emotion-desire, frustration, depression, denial, grief, longing,need, inadequacy. Its all laid right out in shocking bursts of deep naked revelation. This is my favorite play of all time.

Like the other great American playwright Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams was not afraid of creating controversy through his work. Touching on themes of money, social status, and sexuality, Williams presents the dark side of each character. While it is hard to like any character, it is difficult not to be compelled by them.

Brick Pollitt is the favored son. Failing to recover from the death of his best friend and fight the demons that come with booze, he has no desire to gain the good graces of his dying father and inherit his wealth. His brother Gooper and his wife Mae, that "monster of fertility", are engaged in a competition for the father's favor. But even nearing a sixth child, they can not measure up to Brick. The climax comes as Big Daddy and Brick attempt to reach the resolution that Brick has no desire to attain. Accusations of homosexuality and an inability to let go of his days as an athlete are among the reasons that Big Daddy suggests for Brick's inability to settle down and expand his family. Yet the resolution is not Brick's choice.

The explosion at the end is hardly as stinging as the process of getting to the conclusion. The ultimate question is whether the cat (Margaret) will choose to stay on the hot tin roof or seek refuge. The fast paced drama moves at an unflinching pace that will make readers anticipate the direction of each page. It may be difficult for some readers to disengage from this drama.

Only Williams could have gotten away with naming his hero "Brick," as names were always his strong suit. He found comfort in names, and a wild exotic beauty, and even in his last faltering years was usually able to pull a final name out of his hat, something perfect. I remember seeing CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF on stage, with Elizabeth Ashley, some time before I read the play, so naturally my experience of the text is colored by Ashley's sizzling interpretation of Maggie the Cat, all hisses and feral screams. She was so strong I can barely remember who played Brick or Big Daddy in that production. I think it was Keir Dullea from DAVID AND LISA. Maybe Big Daddy was the man from the MUNSTERS TV show. What we, the audience, cared about was if Maggie was going to get her wway and triumph over all the mendacity and the "no neck monsters" that were swarming the plantation.

Maggie gets angry, but mostly we value her for her tenderness. Even when she knows her husband has lost his heart over a long-gone teammate, and that he's probably gay, she never gives up the ship. She knows that without her in his corner 100 per cent, he'll give up, drown in his own sorrows. He needs her to kick his ass and bring him back to the land of the awake. She wasn't going to be an enabler, she would always discourage him from drinking from the time he got up in the morning till he passed out at night, his crutches tangled up in his boxer shorts. For Brick, drinking is a way out of his tortured memories of Skipper, the boy he loved in high school and college. Taking a drink is "like a switch, clickin' off in my head. Turns the hot light off and the cool one on and all of a sudden, there's peace." Secretly the family has a plan to ship his butt off to Rainbow Hill, sort of a Betty Ford Clinic without the mercy.

We love Maggie trying to semaphor the truth into his thick skull by screaming, "Skipper is dead but I'm alive! Maggie the Cat is alive!"

Something made me pick up The Rock Orchard on the discount table of my local bookstore. Lucky me! I hit the jackpot. I love this book so much that I've given a copy to all of my girlfriends and female members, who have also all loved it. Paula Wall has become my new favorite author.

I was new to Paula Wall's work, but I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Ms. Wall's narrative is wicked fast and utterly engaging. Come to think of it, so are her characters. That said, there is no hint of shallowness or taking the easy way out. Her characters are just that...characters, true to themselves and therefore intoxicatingly easy to believe in. Their observations about life, love, sex, religion, men and women ring true and will stay with you long after you've raced through the book. I was so impressed, I ran out and paid waaay too much for her second book, Wilde Women, which is also excellent. (Hint: Buy it from amazon.com and save yourself some money, but by all means, buy it, read it and enjoy.)

This is not normally the kind of book I would choose, but it jumped from the library shelf into my arms after I opened it and read a line or two. The author cannot just write; she can paint phrases on a page that are both profound and funny enough to make you laugh aloud. To the point of tears in a few spots. Good story, many surprises, good ending. If I could write like Paula Wall I could better express how much I enjoyed her writing as well as the story she told.

I was really enjoying this book. The character development was such that I could identify with several citizens in the town of Leaper's Fork and their fascination with the Belle women. I had several good chuckles, just like the reviews had promised. I was totally there in the town watching the characters interact, into the gossip, and wondering how the main characters would solve their dilemmas when wham, bam it ended. What a train wreck of an ending.

I hate it when it seems as if an author just got tired of writing a book and wraps everything up in just a few pages. This book is 244 pages long. I would have gladly read another 100-200 pages just to have walked the path with these characters as they fulfilled their destiny. Instead, I am meandering through the town watching everyone start to find their place in life when whoosh, Paula Wall writes in an event and seven pages (some of those only half pages) later the books is over. Everything is wrapped up nice and neat, but I didn't get to take the journey with the characters. So dissatisfying, so many lost laughs and tears. Sigh.

I'm glad I read it. I just wish I had stopped seven pages before the end.

This was one of our book club books for February. We enjoyed the way Paula Wall intertwined her characters, story line and southern wisdom. This book brought forth a lively discussion on southern living, southern morals and some of the best quotes we have had in our book discussions.
We liked the way Charlotte gave advice to Mila and how it turned Mila's life around for the better. As Charlotte said, "we are what we are, until we decide to be different."

This is one of the funniest novels I have ever read. Gay captures the mindset and cadence of the backwoods community in "Provinces of Night."

The story revolves around a teen-aged boy who is finding his way in the world amongst his father who is seldom present, his Uncle Warren who has moved away, his spell-casting Uncle Brady, and his grandfather, bluesman E.F. Bloodworth, who has returned to the small Tennessee community to make amends. There isn't a strong plot driving "Provinces of Night" so much as a group of great characters that pursue their own interests to comical effect.

Along the way there are plenty of jugs of moonshine to drink, women to be pursued, and blood ties to be tested. "Provinces of Night" is more raucous like Daniel Woodrell's "Give Us a Kiss," than nostalgic like John Grisham's "A Painted House." It would be difficult for me to decide which of these three 5-star novels I enjoyed more. I can say that I believe Gay to be the best of the three writers at turning a unique phrase.

Provinces of Night is a haunting, comic, bloody novel that takes the reader into a back country, intense world. The novel does elicit comparisons to Faulkner and Wolfe in that Gay uses the book to portray a very specific time and place while exploring universal themes of family and responsibilities. These themes go back to the earliest biblical stories, yet are fresh and evocative in Gay's beautiful prose. Provinces of Night is well worth reading.

(from my amazon.co.uk review: Gay seems to be getting some attention there)

I've lived in Tennessee for almost 30 years, in the urban setting
of Knoxville. I'm a caver, and the hunting for new caves takes
me to small towns and deeply rural areas in rugged terrain, where
one can be 40 miles from the nearest supermarket. You learn that
there are places to be avoided, where strangers are not welcome.
(You can also find such places in London, Glasgow, etc., as well
as in parts of the English countryside.) The law can be far away
and not impartial in some locations. Provinces of Night deals
with small-town Tennessee rather than the deeply rural and remote
parts. The central figure, Fleming Bloodworth, is not violence-
prone, but violence is often not far away. There is humor and
tenderness, as well as violence and death, but that's often how
life can be. Tennessee is not a slaughterhouse, but it's not
unusual to see "Three Dead in Cocke County Bar Fight" on the
evening news.

William Gay started writing at age 52. He seems to have been
strongly influenced by the novels of Cormac McCarthy, especially
those set in Tennessee (Suttree, The Orchard Keeper, Child of
God--all set in Knoxville and the surrounding counties). The
title comes from McCarthy's dark and brooding novel Child of God.
Gay's first novel, The Long Home, has a flavor similar to Child
of God, but Provinces of Night is closer to Suttree and The
Orchard Keeper. Gay's writing skills are on a par with McCarthy:
after reading Provinces of Night and The Long Home, I reread
McCarthy's novels, and took a long pause when I encountered the
phrase "provinces of night" in Child of God. I wondered in
McCarthy was writing under a pseudonym.

There's a great power and lyrical quality in Gay's writing. When
I got halfway through Provinces of Night I began to dread turning
the pages, since every page read brought me closer to the end.
So I ordered The Long Home from Amazon, taking comfort in the
knowledge that hundreds of more pages would be waiting for me.
Gay's third work, I Hate To See That Evening Sun Go Down, a
collection of short stories, has just been published, and it
contains some of the finest short stories I've ever read.
Gay is a great new addition to our current Southern writers.
He's the darker side to the rural South: for the lighter side
read T.R. Pearson's whimsical novel A Short History of a Small
Place.

No one writes like William Gay, period. He is an artist who paints pictures with words, and there is no one like him who is alive today. Imagine van Gogh painting a novel, and you will begin to understand William Gay.

One of the best novels I've read in the past few years, "Provinces of Night" shows the influence of Flannery O'Connor and of Cormac McCarthy, but is also highly original. The language and dialogue are what make it most enjoyable. The story is both funny and dark.

It is the big dance for the eighth-graders at Dogwood Junior High School. Each student has his or her own story to tell about the event. Some stories deal with the mundane: a boy afraid to talk to the girl he likes, next-door neighbors who have grown apart, opposites attracting, and a student who is ashamed of her poor family.

Other stories deal with more difficult topics: domestic violence, death, homosexuality, and date rape. For this one night, though, maybe these students can put aside their problems and enjoy the magic of the dance.

I liked the way these stories came together. I especially liked when different stories mentioned the same characters. As with all short stories, though, I was left wanting more detail.

Kissing Tennessee and other short stories form the Stardust Dance by Kathi Appelt is a short book of short stories. The book is about different teenagers and their different problems. One of my favorites was Rachel's Sister. In that story the author wrote about a girl named Mary Sarah. Mary Sarah shared the sad tail of her and her sister Rachel's abusive father and what they had to go through. Another great story is The Notes Between the Notes, where the author wrote of two teenagers who don't have anything in common except one thing; they both secretly have a huge crush on each other. Definitely the coolest one was In These Shoes, in that story you/the reader get to go to the dance with all the other fictional characters you/the reader just reader about! The reason I didn't rate Kissing Tennessee five stars is because it is too short, I think I could have been longer. If you like reading fun books that put you in different perspectives, then definitely read Kissing Tennessee!

it was good if you think that chili dogs are good, if not i feel sorry for you

Kathi Appelt has outdone herself. Long accomplished as a picture book writer (see her new The Alley Cat's Meow--absolutely wonderful!) she has now distinguished herself as a young adult author. This series of related stories captures the angst that junior high age teens grapple with. Appelt covers it all, from abusive parents to rape to homosexuality. And through it all, she maintains a light touch and lyrical way with words. This is delicious writing!!

Kissing Tennessee and Other Stories from the Stardust Dance by Kathi Appelt is a book of short stories about teens and some of the problems they face. These are some of the examples that the kids face in the eight stories. In Rachel's Sister, Mary Sarah struggles against memories of her and her sister escaping their abusive father. In Starbears Cub Tanner deals with his confusion about The Question, which is really many questions all rolled up into one. Why does he have such strong feelings for Trent Davis? In These Shoes, Tawny learns that you don't have to rich and have everything in the world to be happy. I gave this book four stars because these stories were fun to read and they made you think. Since the stories were so short, they made you wonder what would happen next if they kept going. I didn't want some of the stories to end. I think this is a good book for people who want to try reading a different style of writing. I really enjoyed this book and I think that all young readers should try it.

This novel, I thought, was quite good. In addition to belivable backgrounds for both the characters and the story itself, the romance was well written too. The pressures these two people are under is written in such a way as to make you truly indetify with them.

The information the reader learns about the Korean War is also fantastic. For American readers some of this information will come as a shock as this war is not as well known about as the two wars that bracketed it (WW2 & Vietnam).

I wasn't going to say this, but after reading many of these reviews, I feel I must say something. I think a lot of the negative response to the relationship in this book has to do with it's specific components. Sadly it seems, too many people still can't picture an Asian male in a relationship with a Caucasian female. More's the pity.

Choi's debut novel is more engrossed in creating beautiful and artistic sentences than telling a story with believable characters and a coherent plot. I think the telling of it has great potential, but Choi never takes it to the apex of its possibilities. The story revolves around an "unlikely love affair", an interracial courtship ritual that revolves around an exasperating character escaping war torn Korea and an attractive Southern belle in the 1950s. As a reader I found it baffling how someone as dry and two-dimensional as the Korean Chang could be the subject of *anyone's* affection. He speaks little and may be endowed with existentialist fatalism but not much more. Chang is cowardly, faulty, mostly afraid, and above all, difficult to identify with, at least from this reader's point of view, making Katherine's choice to fall in love with him even more incredible, which resigns me to believe that some stories can only be told in fiction and forgotten.

This is one of those novels that grabs one's attention from the beginning. I liked Choi's matter-of-fact way of explaining her characters, but I also found I couldn't get overly involved with them. It didn't matter to me which man Katherine ended up with (and it was clear she *was* going to end up with A Man); I was merely curious to find out. The book pulls its reader along almost urgently for about 2/3 of the way. Then, alas, it snags on characters' inner thoughts as Choi tortures language to be as thorough as possible, and, yet, somehow, the characters don't come into any sharper focus. She's got a lot of talent, but perhaps needed an editing hand with some of the later exposition passages in this book. The book's worth reading because her talent is evident, and the subject makes one think.

While this novel has a lot to recommend, I felt that the two storylines (Katherine's and Chang's) didn't fit together cohesively. As one other reviewer noted, I didn't feel that there was a strong enough or believable enough reason why these two people would be so deeply attracted to each other. Thus their coming together seemed like simply a plot contrivance -- as though Choi had two really interesting storylines on different subjects that she was developing separately, but didn't have enough on each to sustain a full novel, so she awkwardly tied them together. Yes, both Chang and Katherine are outcasts, in a way, but that just wasn't enough -- particularly as Chang's story becomes increasingly grim. I could see how Katherine's attraction to Chang might have stemmed from her character (Choi makes a point of saying, in one section, that Katherine feels like love should be completely illogical, that she should fall in love with someone that no one else would approve of or understand), but I couldn't see how Chang's relationship with Katherine connected with his previous, horrifying experiences in the war, except on a superficial level. What does he need from Katherine? His life has been about guilt and betrayal; is Choi trying to stretch the point that in embracing Katherine, he is finally embracing his guilt? It's certainly possible to think up similar kinds of connections and themes, but they seemed flimsy and forced to me.

Finally, I found the writing somewhat tedious at times (even while it was intelligent and lucid throughout). The somewhat journalistic passages about the Korean War didn't bother me as much as it seems to have bothered other reviewers (in fact, I found them helpful and informative); rather, it was the long passages of exposition, wherein a character would ponder his/her thoughts and feelings in depth, that I found unnecessarily slow and overwritten.

Despite all this (overly long, I'll admit) criticism, I believe that many readers will find this book a worthwhile read. Choi writes with intelligence and a strong sense of character; I have no doubt that more fine books will come from her.

Susan Choi writes well. But alas, she doesn't know much about Korea. I quickly noticed this as I am from Korea. I think that's the most glaring flaw of this book--the war part in Korea is written so woodenly, it's almost painful to read. I could see that Choi wrote down the mere facts from what she dug up from her research. And also it goes on too long without giving the reader a clear picutre or map of the situation in general, so it was all so very vuague to me.

The best character in this book was Edison. The relationship between him and Katherine is very well depicted. In fact, come to think of it, it was almost like reading two books in one.

If Choi sticks to the world she knows mor intimately, which seems to me western rather than eastern, American rather than Korean, she would produce something wonderful with her talent.