Mississippi Books

i just discovered Parrish and this series and I bought them all! The first one was a great read and since I read another one later in the series I know they are all going to be good. Can't wait to read the next in the series. A good story of Southern misdeeds that can't be forgotten. Somewhat easy to figure out, but a good read anyway.

DARK of the MOON by P.J Parrish / excellant service and I appreciate the expedited delivery.

this was his very first book, and introduced a younger version of kincaid, who i met in a latter book. i liked learning about the psychology of a southern, racist town. even though it was the 80s, it felt like the 50s or 60s. the mystery itself was great too. go read it.

This is my second Louis Kincaid novel, having read Island of Bones a few months ago. This one blew me away. It centers around the investigation of a decades old lynching, a small town, and the secrets that haunt some of the pillars of the town. Louis Kincaid investigates this crime, refusing to "let it go" at the urging of the town's leaders. What follows is a great story of what happens when the truth is finally revealed.

I have not had a lot of time to read much fiction lately, but I had to know what was keeping my wife up late at night. I took the opportunity to read this story and could not put it down! It wasn't just a mystery, it was so much more. It was a captivating story of life in small town Mississippi. How events in the past shaped the people of the present. I really cannot wait to start the second book in the series. In fact, I am stopping right here to go do just that.

If you are a fan of Larry Brown, or Southern Literature in general, you will be spellbound with "Joe". As usual, Brown's characters are believable in their flaws. You will want to talk about this novel with someone after you read it..so recommend it to a friend and then be reinspired when you discuss the possibilities of what "really happened". What a terrible loss when Larry Brown died! Read anything you can get of his previous novels, especially "Fay" and the unfinished last novel "Miracle of Catfish"

Larry Brown came as a recommendation from another writer I admire (Vicki Hendricks) ... then it was seconded by Steven Sidor ... and my advice is to listen to what those two have to say about good books. Joe is wonderful stuff and Larry Brown was a wonderful writer. I'm ordering Faye today (after saving this). Larry Brown, like William Faulker, Daniel Woodrell and two writers mentioned above, needs to be read. What flavor ... what writing. Just excellent.

Larry Brown is a very under-appreciated Southern author, who hits his high mark with "Joe". Without going into a long detailed review, if you want a great modern, southern gothic book that you can't put down, this is it. Trust me.

"Joe" is the first book I'd read by talented author Larry Brown and I have to say I'm glad."Joe" held my attention in many ways-despite being a very large book to read. The main character is not perfect, some people might call him a straight up jerk. Somehow when I kept reading about this man, and all his flaws I couldn't help but to like him. Mr. Brown made him so real, so human and so imperfect, that I felt like I could know a JOE living next door or down the street even. However in realife-very rarely do you get to see and understand a person, like the author made me understand Joe and the reasoning behind his motives.
I highly recommend this book.

This novel is a whiskey soaked Faulkner-esque book of life in a rural Southern community. Quality American literature. A modern classic. I don't want to give anything away. I kid you not when i suggest you read it if you even sorta like American literature. Larry Brown seems to have mastered the form. Really, trust me and all these other reviews on here.

this is a good novel--it kept me reading, which is job number one for a writer. it is both funny and sad. the writing is sometimes lyrical, sometimes crude. each chapter contains an odd surprise or two.
i believe durkee has created a character he may come back to some day.

As we grow, there are always singular pieces that imbed themselves into our hearts and minds. There's always one film, one piece of music, and one book. I read this novel a few years ago when I was nineteen and, without being hyperbolic, I was different afterwards. I honestly have never unearthed a creation that completely and totally captured the truth about life like 'Rides'. Each page beautifully showcased every flustered emotion that vibrates through us on that rickety road of teendom, deatiling the extremes we go to in trying to understand who we are and the ultimate release we feel when life suddenly makes a tad bit more sense and we see that our futures are in our control. Lee Durkee has fashioned something more than a book; this is art and like all good art, it's reach is deeper, stirring notions inside us and helping shape who we are and our relation to the world. I spent many an hour digesting this book, ultimately shedding a few tears at the end as Noel reaches his crossroads, my eyes opening along with his. 'Rides' pushed the clouds out of my view and enabled me to grasp life in a richer context. I cannot recommend it enough to experience the grand beauty of Durkess's work.

Rides of the Midway is a score for Lee Durkee. Like the title suggests, it is smooth rolling rollercoaster ride that carries the reader through some of the most memorable scenes and innovative prose in literature to date.

(...)

This being said, Mr. Durkee certainly does not spell everything out for the reader in the book. The characters are not always obvious in their motivations, the relationships between Noel and other characters are not systematically straight forward - but contrary to what Wanker believes, this is actually one of the book's many strengths. There is a lot to be said for understatement and its place in art. Mr. Durkee has most certainly produced a piece of art of the finest degree in Rides of the Midway.

I discovered this book after reading a review about it in Spin Magazine and boy am I glad I did. A dark, coming of age novel which takes you through the life of a small town boy in the mid to late seventies until he is in college. The main character is very relatable and the author sets up all too real situations that can be scary, funny, interesting, nerve racking, or all of the above. If you ever played sports in high school but were never good enough to be on the team and thus maybe turned to drinking and doing small-time drugs while listening to some Skynard in the woods, I recommend this book to you. A at times funny but more importantly scary first novel for Lee Durkee that dives into lost innocense and failed realities. Would have given five stars but two crucial relationships ended kind of unclearly and abruptly. All in all, a well written and easy to read and relate to story that should not be missed.

This is one those types of novels that keeps you reading late into the night. The type of book that makes you wish you didn't make plans for the evening because you'd rather finish it than go out for drinks. The sentences are seamless; the dialogue is regionally faithful but never in a manner that distracts. In addition, this book is unsettling-- it's a real dark world Durkee writes himself out of. Noel isn't necessarily the most charming character, but you have to admire his resiliance and his unwillingness to be anything but himself. Finally, the manner which the events of the book come together to cohere is breathtaking. I'm going to give this book as a Christmas present to everyone I know. You should not miss out on a novel that has a scene in which the protagonist couples with a water melon!

Note: This is a review of the particular "Cambridge School Shakespeare" edition [Edited by Rex Gibson, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000] of As You Like it and not a review of the play itself.

This edition (a) contains the unabridged play and (b) tries to explain and elucidate Shakespeare's play to teenagers of the age of maybe 15-17. It clarifies difficult language, highlights the main conflicts, puts the play into a historical context and the context of the literary tradition that it belongs to. It encourages the reader to think of different possible ways to play the characters and different ways to understand the play.

I am not a teenager and I am not 16 years old any more, in fact, I am 53 years old with a PhD in Economics and a Masters in Psychology. I read Shakespeare for fun, to challenge my brain, and to grow personally. I found this edition of the play very helpful and enjoyable. The commentary neither spoiled my fun by overanalyzing or showing off its learnedness nor did it offend my intelligence by oversimplifying. In addition, the layout of the book is quite reader-friendly.

If you are a Shakespeare scholar or a scholar of English Lit, this edition will probably be too simple for you. For people of my caliber, however, I can really recommend this edition. Enjoy!

The Caedmon recording of As You Like It is well worth the purchase just to hear two Redgraves soar in their performances.

As with all of Shakespeare, the concept of love at first sight is given far too much credit, but other than that, this is a delightful romp filled with much amusement. The language is as beautiful as one expects in Shakespeare, but is somewhat less difficult for the modern reader to follow than in some of his plays; I found myself being more distracted than helped by most of the footnotes. As with most Shakespearean comedies, it was easy to see that this play was intended for the amusement of the common people; the similarities in style between the plot here and in much modern pop culture were striking (the sexual innuendo to be had when a woman passes for a man and finds another woman falling in love with her, for instance). If it had a flaw, it was that the ending was just a little TOO pat and contrived, even for a comedy, but that's just a minor quibble.

As far as Shakesepare's comedies go, "The Comedy of Errors" will always be my favorite. And while this "As You Like It" never quite obtained the popularity of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or "The Taming of the Shrew," one probably could argue that "As You Like It" is the best of Shakespeare's comedies. This play contains several plots that Shakespeare cleverly intertwines and it offers a happy ending with love triumphant. But more important than the triumph of love, the theme of reconciliation carries through to virtually everyone in the story. The story begins with the sibling rivalry of Orlando and his older brother Oliver who has hoarded the family inheritence. After a brief fight, Oliver hopes that Orlando may accidentally die in a wrestling match against Charles. This is where a 2nd plot comes in. The Duke Frederick (who has a daughter Celia) has banished his older brother (the true Duke who has a daughter Rosalind). But for now, Rosalind is allowed to stay and she has made good friends with Celia. Orlando meets these 2 girls and falls into favor with Rosalind. After the wrestling match, things start to go bad. Orlando learns that his brother Oliver is planning to kill him, and Rosalind is banished. But all is not lost. Orlando takes his loyal servant Adam and flees while Rosalind (in the male disguise of Ganymede), along with Celia, and the comical Touchstone will flee to look for Rosalind's father. And here is where the play becomes mostly comical. (Good comedies can often have a sad start. "The Comedy of Errors" shows this well.) Moving on, we meet Rosalind's father and his crew who have made exile into a paradise. From Duke Sr's party, we meet the melancholy Jaques. But he is arguably the most interesting character in the story. (In fact, the most famous passage from this play belongs to Jaques. The 7 stages of man which end in nothing. Perhaps Macbeth took lessons from Jaques: 'Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow.') Duke Sr welcomes Orlando and Adam, and it isn't long before Orlando and Rosalind run into each other. Shakespeare maintains the comedy when Rosalinde keeps her male disguise on and tells Orlando he must practice wooing on him/her. Touchstone has some comical romantic moments with Audrey. And there is an interesting triangle where the shepherd Silvius loves Phebe, but Phebe loves Rosalinde (seeing only Ganymede)! We may recall this from "the 12th Night" when Olivia loved Viola in her male disguise. But after this comical moment, all begins to resolve. Oliver comes on the scene and he and Celia fall in love. (So much so that Oliver is willing to reconcile with Orlando and grant him all.) The play ends with not only the reunion of Rosalind and her father, but the joyous weddings of Rosalind / Orlando, Celia /Oliver, Audrey /Touchstone, and Phebe / Silvius, but more good news comes. Celia's father mends his ways and returns all to Rosalind's father. Jaques offers the crowning touch. Despite his cynical nature, he is NOT a villain. Ironically, this hermit type man converses with more characters than anyone in the story, and while he can not take part in the play's final happiness, he DOES wish everyone well. As I said, my favorite comedy will always be "The Comedy of Errors." But don't make the mistake of overlooking this comedy.

This has to be one of Shakespeare's gayest plays (no pun intended). Whatever tragedy may have occurred in the beginning - at the court - is totally forgotten when the action moves to the forest, where Robin-hood like; a banished duke, a melancholy philosopher and a cast of love sick characters act out their lives on the stage.

Much of the play is centered on Rosalind - the female lead in 'drag' - who falls in love with the third son of a nobleman, Orlando, who has been cheated out of his inheritance by his eldest brother. Her father, the duke, has also been cheated by a brother and is now living in the forest with his `merry men'. Her short stay at court is disrupted when her uncle changes his mind about her and `graciously' gives her a few days to get out of the kingdom. This event leads to her escape into the forests with her cousin, the daughter of the duke at Court. As the play progresses more and more characters end up in the forest which becomes the stage where all these actors play out their parts - to paraphrase Jacques.

As a reader you sometimes have to suspend rationality in order to swallow some of the larger than life events that occur in this story (The snake - Lion - Lion killer scene for example). It's not meant to be taken too seriously I'd imagine, just a play about love and romance and the lengths one will go to because of love. The only rational person in this play seems to be the Malvolio-like Jacques, whose deer hugging antiques (forerunner of modern day Environmentalism?) and refusal to take part in the revelry make him the butt of the other's jokes. Even the clown seems to have been pierced by Cupid's arrows as he too weds a country `wench', something unheard of in the other plays where the clowns all seem to be eunuchs.

If you're reeling from any of Shakespeare's tragedies, or want to escape the ordered, (courtly?) existence that is your life and take a dive into an almost fantasy-like world where all is love and laughter, this play may be your ticket.

I loved this book! It's about the family that has this house in the deep south and about their lives. There are some racial issues though the family is white. The woman who inheritis the house at the end of the story gets the BEST revenge! It's a wonderfully written book which I fell into and was so sorry to see end.

So much of this book keeps coming back to mind and I chew on the meaning or the motivation for the character. Good read.

Shirley Ann Grau returns to a literary theme that has characterized much of southern literature for the last eighty years or so: the legacy of slavery and how this is manifested in the daily life of the American South. Often the literature (principally by white authors) that has emerged deals with a dismaying society created by history, resentment, prejudice and ignorance, and is usually handled with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Things are simply described in black and white with shades of gray almost invisible. It is only with authors such as Faulkner, Eudora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor that this society is shown in a more muted, as well as more complex, light. As I began reading this novel, I was thinking that Grau might fit this mold; however, by the book's end I was left with one main reaction: this book could have been so much more.

The novel is a generational history of the Howland family, a family that has occupied the same land in south central Alabama (the exact location of the novel is never revealed but all the clues point to this location) from the early nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth. The family suffers through Indian raids and the destructiveness of the Civil War and Reconstruction, but manages, by sheer will and labor, to accumulate wealth and become the most important family of the area. It is on the penultimate generation that Grau focuses: Abigail, the granddaughter of the last of a long line of William Howlands. Abigail's mother (she is also named Abigail) dies when the girl is in her early teens and is raised by her grandfather and Margaret Carmichael, a mulatto housekeeper who has three children by Abigail's grandfather. In a trick of genetics, all three of Margaret's children are born white (except to the eyes of Southern whites who have, in Abigail's words, a "talent" for spotting signs of Negro blood). You would think that all the ingredients for a mesmerizing story would be at hand for Grau to create a world that would allow her to deal with such important themes as the interactions of a racially mixed family unit within the confines established by white southern traditon.

Unfortunately, this is only hinted at and instead Grau spins out a narrative that is replete with political intrigue, violence and revenge that leaves the reader reeling a bit from the unbelievable chain of events that brings the story to a close. She almost completely ignores the loving relationship of her grandfather and Margaret and instead focuses on the difficulties that Margaret's children create in Abigail's life, all of which come across as a bit trivial and quite unconvincing. Grau definitely has talent, and her narrative is told in a very conversational tone, her southern accent almost palpable to the reader. Often the novel meanders (the overly long description of William Howland's search for an illegal still is one such example) and I wish that she could have given her story more focus, and not given in to the impulse to be a bit sensational.

This book takes us back to a by-gone time among people I know very little about. The book passes through multiple generations, which is enjoyable but makes it more difficult to get attached to any single character. It is well-worthwhile simply because it is unusual and fun to read about people from the past. However, I cannot remember many details, and it has not preyed on my thoughts, so I'd describe it as primarily entertaining rather than thought-provoking.

This book won a Pulitzer Prize, so one expects fine writing. But would a book about race in the South written more than 40 years ago --- at the time of the I Have a Dream Speech --- seem like more than an historical relic today? With Keepers of the House, the answer is definitely yes.

To begin with, Grau's spare, strong prose collects no cobwebs. It reads hard and clear 40 years later and will do so 100 years later. At the same time, she spins out her generational tale languidly and enigmatically. A relatively unimportant event (plot wise) can receive multipage treatment, and a critical event a few sentences. The pacing keeps the reader on her toes.

Moreover, though race pervades every portion of the book, it is not a story just about race. It covers much more: love, loss, parent-child relations; male-female relations (almost protofeminist at points); the rural south; whiskey manufacture; coming of age . . . there is a lot in here to grab the heart and the mind, much more than its statement about the destructive power of racial hypocrisy.

On the negative side, in its treatment of mixed race offspring and racial passing, the racist caricature of the "tragic mulatto" makes an appearance. (Check out this link if you are not familiar with the myth of the Tragic Mulatto: www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/mulatto). Although the book twists the traditional myth by, apparently, suggesting passing as the better course --- the characters who are set up to pass and stray from that path are condemned for it --- the message that racial mixing leads to tragedy comes through, albeit with the author's regrets.

That treatment certainly makes the book anachronistic as a "progressive viewpoint," and would understandbly play a role in its lack of prominence today. I would not prescribe it for a high school curriculum. It did not "spoil" the book for me, however, for two reasons.

First, while I "rooted" for the narrator and cheered for her during times of violent confrontation, I didn't really like her, so that her beliefs came across much less as the message of the book. Instead, she is just another flawed character of the time. Those beliefs are part, but only a part, of what one doesn't like about her. I don't know if she seemed more of a straightforward heroine when the book was written, but she certainly doesn't now.

Second, the core of the book is really the love story between the narrator's Grandfather and his housekeeper --- the interracial connection that drives the entire tale. The depiction of that relationship, far from perfect or idealized (though not portrayed either as the product of rape or powerlessness which would have been a real, but different, story) rang so true and was set out with such acceptance that, for me at least, it excused some of the bumps.

Finally, I should add that, although the story builds slowly, it does build. By the last quarter or so, I was in "can't put it down" mode.

For all its attempts to elucidate the economic and social structures that led to the decline of the south, this book is best in its portrayal and critique of romance. The section introducing Eula Varner as an object of desire is one of the most compelling before the opening passages of Lolita (forgive me twice):

her entire appearance suggested some symbology out of the old Dionysic times--honey in sunlight and bursting grapes, the writhen bleeding of the crushed fecundated vine beneath the hard rapacious trampling goat-hoof.

I mean, come on, passages like that just make you feel ashamed of the shallowness of your own emotions, vocuabulary, and existence. Oh, and that intensity goes on for almost 20 pages.

****SPOILER ALERT (Sort of)****
And if that gets you revved up, the book escalates the language and shifts to another starcrossed couple, an idiot ward of Flem, Ike, and a neighbor's wandering cow. Here's Ike trying to soothe the spooked cow:

trying to tell her how this violent viloation of her maiden't delicacy is no shame, since such is the very iron imperishable warp of the fabric of love.

The book is worth reading for those two sections. Much of the rest drags. It's filled with stories that Faulkner finds humorous and they are set to the laugh track of Ratliff who is constantly telling the reader what they should find humorous. It's about as effective as Jim smirking into the camera throughout the 3rd season of The Office to let the audience know what a delightful practical joke he's just played.

In all, this is worthwhile, but this falls in the middle of an incredible period of Faulkner's career, and even when you're reading it you come across huge passages that remind you how disappointed you are in him.

Faulkner assembled much of THE HAMLET from short stories, where his themes were courtship, lust, love, and obsession or where the average person succumbs to greed or foolishness and is victimized in business.

Take the subject of love. In THE HAMLET, Faulkner examines obsessive and unrequited love through his characters Labove (an achiever obsessed with untouchable beauty) and Ike Snopes (a retarded man in love with a cow); ambivalent love through the experience of Mink Snopes (a vicious murder) and Jack Houston (a guilty widower); and loveless marriage through the lives of Eula Varner and Mrs. Armstid, who are at the top and bottom of social hierarchy. Each of these characters is unique and fully realized. Yet each suffers from cruel variations of a single force.

Not to be a pedant: But Robert Penn Warren described THE HAMLET as: "...a sequence of contrasting or paralleling stories" where Faulkner's "...movement was not linear but spiral, passing over the same point again and again, but at different altitudes." This is exactly right.

At the same time, THE HAMLET is about Faulkner's writing. Here's one quick example, with this great author writing about the weather. "It was a gray day, of the color and texture of iron, one of those windless days of a plastic rigidity too dead to make or release snow even, in which even light did not alter but seemed to appear complete out of nothing at dawn and would expire into darkness without gradation." Great isn't it?

Even so, I was surprised by one aspect of THE HAMLET. It is: terrible things happen to all the characters. This even includes Flem Snopes who is a winner in the male world of business but surely locked in a loveless marriage. Yet despite their cruel fates, Faulkner's amazing characters persevere. As he said when accepting his Nobel: "When the last ding-dong of doom has clanged, ...there will still be one more sound: ...a puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this...." READ THIS GREAT BOOK

The Hamlet is an episodic, sometimes uneven novel of jealosy, avarice , and poverty. Some of Faulkner's best characters including Flem and Eula Snopes (Varner), Ratliff the cagy sewing machine salesman, an Houston, the luckless cow-owner. All in all good stuff not as difficult to read as some of Bill's stuff.
Unfortunately the trilogy goes downhill from here, it was many years before he wrote The Town. The Mansion I thought was a stronger book. Give The Hamlet a try, some vintage Faulkner here.

Frenchmen's Bend, Yoknapatawpha County--a land so familiar and yet so distant that it could be some wide-encompassing foreign country; not merely a fictionalized South. Faulkner's cadence, description, and narrative that travels dreamily from one place and character to another I found to be initially off-putting, but as I feel under his spell and the colors, and people of the world he wove out of the rough-hewn broadcloth sack, a sack built of a small town, in a place that exists on the outskirts of reality, normalcy; I found myself ensnared, as the residents of Frenchmen's Bend are caught in the snare of Flem Snopes--a man who would, who does, talk the Devil out of the possession of his immortal soul. To travel into the peculiar and yet seemingly real Frenchmen's Bend is to be lost within a surreally stunning place.

I'm not sure how exactly to say this without sounding closed-minded and elitist, so I'll apologize right off the bat for that. But I'm not sure the people who disparage this novel on this website quite "get it," and I think part of the reason might be that most of those people aren't from the South. This is an episodic, rambling, distinctly Southern story, told in an episodic, rambling, distinctly Southern way. That's just how things work down here, and I realize it's not that way in Hoboken (which is fine too). It's also a very rural setting, so that may turn some people off or lead to some misunderstanding.
Having said that, this book is a major Faulkner work, meaning it's great, not merely good. It's his most explicit critique of capitalism and his most explicit commentary on love in all its forms, and it's a very funny one at that -- again, it's from a Southern angle, though; if you've lived in an industrial rather than rural society your whole life, it may not appeal to you as much. Like most Faulkner, you have to settle into the prose and the pace.
The characters The Hamlet introduces are among Faulkner's most memorable: the rapacious Flem, the wonderful Ratliff, the oddly moving (trust me) Ike, etc. Faulkner has been accused of exploiting his poor whites in this novel, but I think his surprisingly sympathetic treatment of Mink in the trilogy counters this charge pretty well.
I've read everything Faulkner's ever written at least once (two to four times, for his major works), and this is my favorite. If you think Anse is funny in As I Lay Dying, or Virgil and Fonzio in Sanctuary, you'd probably really enjoy this book. It's the only time you'll ever hear a teenage girl rebuff her schoolteacher's inappropriate sexual advance with the command, "Stop pawing me. You old headless horseman Ichabod Crane." Priceless.

This book says so much about the American South, about the identity crisis that is America as a whole...as poignant now as it ever was circa the Civil War. This is your string-of-consciousness modernistic writing, yet very palatable (as your ordinary reader, I've been bored, baffled, or enraged by what I perceive as the pretentiousness of other 20th century writers labeled as "modernist"). Faulkner's intrinsic sense of cadence and pace is truly a gift: rather than stumbling / getting lost in the narrator's "hiccups" of subconscious, for lack of better words, the lecture just flows; like a William Carlos William poem (if I may draw a far-fetched comparison), it functions in lieu of a seemingly effortless presentation of universal themes (that should strike a chord in any reader with a pulse). This isn't just a book about race....or is it? _Go Down Moses_ was my first foray into Faulkner's prose and it left me very hungry for more. A must read.

Yes, I know, everyone should read the whole book. But let's get right down to it: you can read "The Bear" by itself. Just make sure you skip over part four.

In my opinion, "The Bear" should be read as a companion to _Moby Dick_. It certainly wouldn't be the same without the influence of Melville's masterpiece. I don't want to give anything away, so go read them both. America's greatest novel and America's greatest novella belong together.

Buy _Go Down, Moses_, read it, and reread "The Bear" again and again.

****

By the way, I often teach "The Bear" to my ninth grade students. They need it.

The Southern landscape of field and swamp and woods becomes a prominent character throughout these rich, complex stories. Indeed, I'd imagine most of Go Down, Moses could provocatively serve an environmental history class. 'Pantaloon In Black' is perhaps my favorite here; this haunting tale, full of powerful, archetypal imagery, is mentioned far less often than some of the other, more well-known works, but it struck me immediately. 'The Bear,' with that sprawling coda tackling humankind's relationship with the land, is rather a reading experience unto itself.

This is in my opinion, not one of Faulkner's best books. It is, however, a beautifully written story of generations of a single exstended family. Because the book is written in that it is made up of several short stories instead of chapters, the story can seem fragmented at times, leaving you wondering what happened to the characters in the last piece. It is difficult at times to keep characters straight, but the best story in the book is by far "The Fire in the Hearth" which follows the Lucas and Molly, this part of the book is often overlooked in the shadow of the long and tedious "The Bear"- but should be read and enjoyed.
Overall the book is a good introduction to Faulkner, but may be a challenging read to some.

Go Down Moses was my latest stab at Faulkner. I'd certainly recommend, as someone before me has, a college course or reading group study of this book, and just about any other great Faulkner work. That being said, even a marginal understanding of this book (like mine) is worth the time and effort.

Go Down Moses is a collection of temporally fragmented novellas and stories concerning the McCaslin family's past, present, and future legacy in a southern town. Thematically, Faulkner tackles a bevy of issues--race, slavery, paternity, masculinity, the natural and supernatural. The stories are loosely centered around Isaac McCaslin, descendant of Carothers McCaslin--a plantation owner.

The best regarded and most complex story is considered to be "The Bear." Over a hundred pages long, it follows (often meandering) the hunting team that includes young Isaac, ex-Civil War officers, and a half Choctaw/half African hunter (Sam Fathers) as they obsessively pursue the invincible bear Old Ben through the years. Bursting with imagery and symbolism, "The Bear" will please Faulkner fans and hunters alike.

My personal favorites are "Was" and "The Fire and the Hearth." Lucas, half-black and the oldest living McCaslin save Isaac, searches for buried gold on Carothers Edmonds's plantation, where he farms, while his wife, fed up with his mania, gives him an ultimatum. An unlikely and graceful story of marital bonds and family values, and the triumph of humanity and dignity over birthright

This book is about the old south, a place of deep-seated segregation and racial bias. It is told through the eyes and voice of a lightly educated white boy named Jeremy whose father despises blacks. Yet, the boy clearly has not had the race hatred deeply ingrained into his persona, as he tries to be friendly and feels bad when the whites mistreat a black man (Josias) for simply stating that he has a job. His father beats Jeremy for simply talking kindly to Josias. The time context is that of the 1930's when unemployment was high, so the whites despise the black man for "taking a job away from a white man."
It is raining hard and the store is also a bus stop. When an elderly black woman arrives to get on the bus, she is accompanied by several of her grandchildren. They are forced to go to the back of the bus and then, when additional whites want to take the bus, the driver forces all the black people off the bus. Josias is physically thrown off into the mud.
However, when the bus slides off a bridge into the swollen creek, it is Jeremy and Josias who are the first responders, Josias doing all he can to save the very people who treated him so badly.
At a time when the Democratic party has nominated a black man as their candidate for President of the United States, it is good to keep reminding ourselves of the significance of this event. Only a few decades ago, blacks were treated in a manner depicted in this book and some were even killed for standing up for themselves. This book should be read by all elementary students as a reminder of the way things were.

The genre of `Mississippi Bridge' is realistic fiction. In Mississippi during the 1930's whites were given special treatment over the other people who were `of color'. The theme is hope because it does get better for everyone at the end. In the story the conflict is that blacks are mistreated and that whites have more `power' over what happens; also that when more people who were white came on the bus Josias, Stacey and their grandmother off the bus in order to make more room. We did like the ending and how the town comes toghter. Though, what we did not like was how the Josias, Stacey and their grandmother had to get off just to make more room for other people who were not in the same `social class' as them. This book was very good and had many exciting parts in the story; all kids would love reading this book.

the book in,nt the best the best book I have read but the book is good .I like the part when the bus falls in the river and they have to rescew the people out of the water and take care of grandma. this is the part that almost made me saub!!!!!!!!!

The main characters in this story are Jeremy Simms, Josias, and Stacey, Cassie, Christopher-John, and Little-Man. It was a hard rainy day by the Wallace's General Store when Stacey, Cassie, Christopher-John, and Little-Man were watching their grandmother off on a trip on the weekly bus. Then Jeremy Simms' friend Josias is taking the bus to find his new job. But in Mississippi in the 1930's, black people can't ride the bus if there is not enough room for the white people. Then when other white passengers arrive at the last minute, the driver sends off Josias, and Stacey's grandmother. Then when the bus slides off the bridge into the Rosa Lee creek, a terryfiying thing happens. The bus floods, flips over and most everyone dies.

Mississippi Bridge is about Stacy Logan, her brothers and sisters, and Josias Williams. Josias Williams is taking the bus to a new job because a flood coming through the town ruined his last job. In the 1930s black people were not treated equally because of their skin color. But then Stacy Logan, her brothers and sisters, and Josias Williams and Stacey's grandmother get on the bus but something happens and the town has a horrifying nightmare that will change the townspeople's lives forever.
The book takes place in Mississippi in the 1930s during the time of the great depression.
The problem is really about how Jeremy Simms always watches as the weekly bus comes from Jackson and goes through his town. But one day on the way from the stop the bus goes over a bridge and a flash flood sweeps the bus into the rivers. The bus ride becomes more than just a daily routine, it becomes a situation between life and death.
The theme of the story is about four kids always being told you can't try this on unless you are going to buy it because they are black. But one day they get on the bus and their friend Josias and Stacy's grandmother get kicked off the bus and the four kids are left alone. The bus driver doesn't know that a flash flood has occurred. Something happens that changes their lives forever.
The main characters are Josias Williams, Stacy Logan, her brothers and sisters, and Jeremy Simms who is trying to find a job.
The mood of the story is very adventurous and can be at some times mad, scary, and sad at one time.
The grade and age group for this book is for 5th grade and from 11-13 years old students/kids.

By Josh

When you pick up a work by Athol Dickson, be prepared to be immersed in a well of thought. "River Rising" is no exception. He weaves his story in a deliberate way, always leaving the reader wondering and questioning.

The introduction is almost silent as we are introduced to the depths of Pilotsville, Louisiana. This is 1927, and this is swamp land. And then we meet a man named Hale Poser, a quiet man with a purpose. He takes a job as a janitor, and he has his questions, all the while keeping his humility. He prays his prayers, and eventually stirs the pot. And we soon learn that while Pilotsville is just a small town, it is no perfect town, even with the white and black church to complete it. And with a small town, there are always assumptions, and there is the fine line between love and hate. But who draws the line between black and white?

Dickson digs into racism, and he does it with a tiny spark. That spark creates a long, slow burn. The question of the way we worship goes to the heart of worship. A good way to get a conversation going these days, and it will get the attention of people. That's another good thing about Dickson. He gets your attention, and keeps you coming back for another mind-boggler with the simplest of themes. Good work!

I've read a lot of disappointing Christian fiction, but I decided to give this book a chance. Not only is River Rising well-written but Dickson has written an original story that made me feel as if I trekked across the bayou in 1927. I'm hooked. I plan to read his other books.

I read many novels per year. Most are entertaining. Only a few bring me to the point of introspection. Having been reared in south Louisiana and in a racially biased society of the 50's and 60's, this well-written, gut-wrenching story reawakened some of the shame and regret of being a middle-class white in an era of racial discord and change. And the confrontation of the denial that exists in seemingly harmonious racial mingling was eye opening even in the present.
The story itself is well-told with enough distance to create mystery but enough detail and tension to keep me riveted and unable to stop reading.
I will definitely read more of Mr. Dickson's novels. He tells a great story and does the ultimate in his reader--he makes you feel the emotions of his characters in the deep recesses of your emotions.

Athol Dickson is one of the most talented writers in the CBA, and River Rising proves it. A masterfully woven tale, the story gripped me from the beginning and only tightened its hold with each turned page. Dickson knows how to tell a story and his writing is clear and succinct. No frills. I highly recommend this book.

River Rising is simply profound! From beginning to end the reader is drawn into a foreign world that exists not far from most of us. There is a richness to this novel that reminds this Louisiana boy of the multi-layered flavors of a good gumbo. Gumbo appears to be a simple dish but is actually made up of many layers of flavors. Such is River Rising.

There is a good mystery, depth of character, and story telling well above average. But in the end, this is a book that makes you think. Read the book to the last word. Don't skip anything. See Hale Poser's world through his eyes and you will be changed just as was Pilotville, Louisiana in "River Rising."

Just to leave absolutely no mystery as to my opinion of this book, I hated reading it. The facts would be very interesting if the author hadn't turned it into sensationalist garbage. Oshinsky did some good research and gives details about many events that *should* be written and read about, however, his snarky tone throughout the entire piece absolutely made my skin crawl. I would almost rather do all of my own research about this subject than suffer through his painfully biased whining, but I was forced to read this for a history course. In short, if you must read this, do it from an aloof and detached perspective - or you'll just want to murder the author.

Mr. Oshinsky, I cannot bring myself to use the titles "doctor" or "Professor" for this man, has published a reasonably good paraphrase of Ron Welch's court brief and has somehow convinced the world it is original research.

Read the book with an eye to what's there and what's missing. What's there are statements from convicts who were parties to the civil rights suit filed against the state by Ron Welch. What's missing is any attempt to determine whether these allegations were based in fact or any effort at balance from opposing points of view. In many cases in, he makes no indication that the interviews were done by attorney Welch instead of David Oshinsky.

Another missing detail is any attempt to fact check. Obvious errors place Winona, Mississippi in the Delta, a reference to a 1930's asphalt highway at the front gate of Parchman, and a reference to blues legend Son House as Eddie James instead of using his actual name, Eddie James House. If Mr. Oshinsky is this sloppy with these details from the opening chapter, how meticulous could he have been with the rest of his book?

Also missing during Oshinsky's research was any attempt to contact anyone connected with the penitentiary aside from the convicts themselves. Although superintendents and camp sergeants from the time period of Oshinsky's book were alive and easily found, the author made no attempt to discuss any of his assertions with them although he did quote heavily from the convict's point of view. He obviously had a story to tell, and anything that disagreed with his pre-conceived narrative was too inconvenient to bother with.

All in all, a waste of time for anyone looking for fact, balance, historical accuracy or scholarly research. It might prove of value to those whose preconceptions need to be reinforced.

David Oshinsky has utilized the stories of convicts who were sentenced to serve time at Parchman Farm in an effort to define the ordeal of Jim Crow Justice in Reconstruction-era Mississippi.

Oshinsky does not focus on the daily operations of the prison, but instead focuses on the intimate daily lives of the prisoners, including those that were promoted to "trusties", and served as guards over the other prisoners (armed guards, no less).

There is no doubt that "justice" in this era was anything but just - as revealed in the book, a large portion of the prisoners at this particular facility were black males, and were often subjected to prison time for minimal offenses against property or the state - offenses that would not land any white person in prison, much less a labor camp such as Parchman Farm.

I think that David Oshinsky has demonstrated a great command of the subject material in this work & has shown how the racism of the era permeated down into the justice system and how the black men sentenced to serve time at Parchman were indeed subjected to a fate "Worse Than Slavery".

This book is a must read on the Jim Crow era. When I was reading it, there were times I felt sick to my stomach. Oshinky lays out the horror and despicable racism of the era better than any other author I have read. Worse Than Slavery focuses on the infamous Parchman Farm, a prison farm in Mississippi. Parchman was work camp you were lucky to survive and the stories of how people got there, why the farm was useful for the Mississippi government and what the experience of life on the farm was like for those unlucky enough to end up there gives you a real sense of both the physical and emotional assault on people of color that was present and the economic impact of the Jim Crow era on the deep south.

This book isn't only about Parchman, though. It is more generally about the total failure of reconstruction, the abandonment of the idea of equality by America, and the very real price too many African Americans had to pay for the nation's lack of guts in the face of southern white racism.

Great writing combined with great scholarship to tell the heartwrenching story of the virtual slavery instituted in the post-Civil War South through the rise of plantation prisons, where thousands of mostly black convicts were worked as hard and treated as viciously as the slaves were during the antebellum years. A shamefully neglected part of U.S. history. Oshinsky's brilliant book is a great work of scholarship and historical literature. A must-read!