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Loading... Spencer's Mountain (original 1961; edition 1993)by Earl Hamner (Author)
Work InformationSpencer's Mountain by Earl Hamner (1961)
   Best Family Stories (98) Books Read in 2017 (2,392) » 7 more No current Talk conversations about this book.   ) kslade | Dec 8, 2022 |  I rarely wish I hadn't read a book. This one just didn't hold the charm that the television series held. I know there is a movie based on this book, and I'm still very likely going to try to find it to watch. The TV show was fairly uplifting. This book features an accidental death of a key person, but then just glosses over it, like dead, buried, forgotten. I loved John Boy in the show. He always seemed rather flighty to me, and this book allows me to understand that it's the way the character was designed, and that Richard Thomas brought the charm to the character. In the book, he slept with a casual girlfriend without any real consideration. It did not feel genuine to the time, or the storytelling. I feel funny saying that, as I know this is based loosely on Hamner's life. Maybe he did just get naked and run around in a field and then just accidentally have sex with his girlfriend, so who am I to judge? Really, it could've been written much better, if that's what happened. I'm disappointed in the writing more than the lack of character development, since it is based on truth. ( ) BoundTogetherForGood | Oct 10, 2022 | I loved the Waltons but wondered how it would work in book form. I neednt have worried: Hamner's family, while upstanding, are much less cloying and saccharine than their television counterparts. The only child who really features is eldest son Clay-Boy, who is on the cusp of adulthood - yearning to get a scholarship to allow him a college education, and in the throes of first love. When we first meet him, he is off on his first hunting expedition, plunging his knife into the deer's throat while the men pass the whisky around (don't recall John-Boy doing such a thing!) Delightful, folksy tale, but with heart-wrenching moments that make it all believable. (  ) starbox | Jul 31, 2019 |  ) dara85 | Jan 5, 2018 | While The Waltons is more Mayberry meets the Love Boat. The emotion of Spencer's Mountain definitely feels like a real novel. A difference, for starters, is the main character. Clayboy has a hormonal balance missing from John-Boy's more contrived character. Still, the novel clearly presents a familiar outline of the later adapted TV series and still reveals the same heartwarming sense of hope. (Side note: It's a LONG way from 1925 Downtown Abby to 1933 New Dominion, VA. Pat Conroy might say, The Water Is Wide. ) (  ) bikesandbooks | Jan 29, 2017 | no reviews | add a review
Belongs to SeriesSpencer Family (1) Has the adaptationIs abridged in
In this classic novel that inspired the TV series The Walton's, a father struggles to support his large family in Depression-era rural Virginia. For generations, the Spencer's lived on the mountain that still bears their name in the Blue Hills of Virginia. But the hard times changed everything. Now Clay Spencer works at the local mill in New Dominion and lives with his family in housing provided by the company. A proud patriarch, he is determined to build his loved ones a new home in the hills. And he'll do whatever it takes to give his children the best lives possible-including his eldest son, Clay-Boy. The first member of the family to graduate high school, Clay-Boy wants to go to college, but the cost of higher education is too great a burden for the Spencer's to bear. Still, his father is not easily deterred, even in times of great trials and personal tragedy. But to help his firstborn achieve his cherished dream, the elder Clay may be forced to make a devastating sacrifice that could impact the future of the entire Spencer clan. Based on the author's own family background and childhood experiences, and the basis for the classic motion picture featuring Henry Fonda and Maureen O'Hara, Spencer's Mountain is a moving celebration of familial love and commitment in the face of overwhelming odds. Evocative and unforgettable, it is a timeless American classic that will continue to captivate readers for generations to come. No library descriptions found. |
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 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage: (3.85)
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