|
Loading... Fair and Tender Ladiesby Lee Smith
LibraryThing recommendationsMember recommendationsLoading...
won't like
will probably not like
will probably like
will like
will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. This book near to broke my heart. I love Appalachian tales, and this was no different. I was skeptical in the beginning, because the misspellings didn't seem logical and made it difficult to read. Of course, it wasn't long before Ivy grew up a bit, learned a bit more, and spelling wasn't an issue. I wasn't in love with any of the characters in this book, but the storytelling won me over. I had some confusion with a couple of the characters and some dates/ages, but that's probably because I was reading too fast. Somehow, the way the author told the story through letters discussing the "highlights" of Ivy's life made it more real, and made me see the day to day stuff all the more. (  ) melopher | Jul 15, 2009 |  Ivy Rowe, Virginia mountain girl, then mother, wife, and finally, "Mamaw," writes letters "to hold on to what is passing." Her story tumbles out in words that are colloquial and sometimes misspelled as she pens letters to her family and friends throughout her long life. Although her attendance at school is sparse, the teachers encourage her, believing that she is exceptionally gifted in language. As a teenager, she thinks that she does not want to have children "as they will brake your hart." But have them she does, a process which makes her "bones screech," but she comes to see that "children swell up your heart." She learns the difference between lust, "a fiery hand in the vitals" (as in Jane Eyre, a book to which she often refers), and love, which she finds with her husband Oakley. --from a School Library Journal review  TunstallSummerReads | May 15, 2008 | Great Book, tugged at my heart. ( ) sarahfig | Dec 9, 2007 |  no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0345383990, Paperback)"A TOUR DE FORCE"- Los Angeles Times "The story of Ivy Rowe, born near the turn of the century in the Virginia Mountain enclave of Sugar Fork, is told completely through letters that Ivy is forever writing family and friends...Lee Smith exhibits her own understanding and affection for the traditions of the Appalachians. She is at home with the down-home speech and ways of her characters. They come vividly to life, and none more so than Ivy, whose voice and heart and humor sustain Fair and Tender Ladies." - Philadelphia Inquirer "Because of Ivy's narrative ability and her zest for living, Fair and Tender Ladies opens for us like a flower with a gloriously unexpected center. There are unforgettable characters...Few readers will be dry-eyed as they watch this extraordinary woman disappear around that last bend in the road." -Chicago Tribune "These beautiful letters...display Ivy's soul up close, the way a just-caught firefly illuminates a jar. So real does she become that it is hard to believe that Ivy did not actually live to write her letters." -USA Today "This is about a moving a work of literature as has ever been written." ANNIE DILLARD (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:05 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
Popular covers   |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
