Notebooks

Book Description

Tennessee Williams’s Notebooks, here published for the first time, presents by turns a passionate, whimsical, movingly lyrical, self-reflective, and completely uninhibited record of the life of this monumental American genius from 1936 to 1981, the year of his death. In these pages Williams (1911-1981) wrote out his most private thoughts as well as sketches of plays, poems, and accounts of his social, professional, and sexual encounters. The notebooks are the repository of Williams’s fears, obsessions, passions, and contradictions, and they form possibly the most spontaneous self-portrait by any writer in American history.
Meticulously edited and annotated by Margaret Thornton, the notebooks follow Williams’ growth as a writer from his undergraduate days to the publication and production of his most famous plays, from his drug addiction and drunkenness to the heights of his literary accomplishments. At one point, Williams writes, “I feel dull and disinterested in the literary line. Dr. Heller bores me with all his erudite discussion of literature. Writing is just writing! Why all the fuss about it?” This remarkable record of the life of Tennessee Williams is about writing—how his writing came up like a pure, underground stream through the often unhappy chaos of his life to become a memorable and permanent contribution to world literature.

Customer Reviews:

A Brilliant Mind.......2007-09-25

Thornton, Margaret Bradham, ed. "Tennessee Williams Notebooks", Yale University Press, 2007.

A Brilliant Mind

Amos Lassen

What a job it must have been compiling the notebooks of Tennessee Williams. They cover almost every aspect of the playwright's life and Margaret Bradham Thornton has done an amazing job. Through his own words and Thornton's meticulous editing, we get a look into the unique life of an American literary titan. The man who penned such beautiful works for the American theatre led quite a life. He suffered from his only internalized homophobia even though he was himself a gay male--he felt somewhat out of place in a world that did not approve of his sexuality. He was haunted by his sister, Rose, and the guilt he felt about allowing her institutionalization and with these two strikes that he felt he had against himself, still managed to write some of the most endearing drama ever seen on the stage.
Williams' notebooks take us behind the scenes of the man and his writing. Williams tells us, in his own words, so much about himself that at times it is staggering to read. His view of the world fascinates and enthralls.
In reality, this is two books--one, a look at the man's private life and the other a look at the mind of a genius. Thornton provides on each page. The thoughts and the background to those thoughts placed opposite the pages of his journals. To get a glimpse of the mind of such a man of letters is a wonderful treat. The book is filled with notes and photographs, copies of poetry written by hand and entries from the diaries as well as biographies of those people that Williams had contact with. On the right hand side of the book are the notebook entries and on the left hand side are the notes. Also included are Williams' own criticisms of his dairies.
Thornton provides a very readable and detailed narrative and her research is nothing short of amazing. She does not spend a great deal of time oh is sexual proclivities with other men but neither does she ignore them. There is no question whatsoever that Williams' homosexuality influenced his writing and world view and that is all carefully explained by the editor. It is a book that you do not want to stop reading even with its 800 plus pages. And it is more than just a look at the playwright; it is a look into American culture and how all of the worlds of the arts come together.

Diary of a Horny Artist.......2007-06-03

This is one of the handsomest books I have read in years. The notes by the author/editor, who has annotated the daily diaries of playwright Tennessee Williams, are spectacularly thorough, covering virtually every actor, director, known and unknown, Williams ever met. Loads of fun reading the notes, and the diaries themselves on facing pages, with marvelous and copious photographs, goofy illustrations, maps - you name it. Williams hasn't much to say about his writing life, but lots to say about his state of mind, which is usually spinning out of control along with his life. Williams was part of that first real jet set, living in a given year in a dozen places. The first and last question on his mind was how to find "trade" by which he meant pick-ups for casual sex. Fascinating and then really boring like most pornography.

An Incredible Look into the Mind of a Literary Genius.......2007-05-07

Margaret Bradham Thornton is to be commended for compiling Tennessee Williams' journals with such painstaking attention to detail, in-depth analysis and thorough research. Her efforts afford the reader an amazing, unique glimpse into the life of an American literary giant -- a man whose plays, including The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and A Streetcar Named Desire, have become classics for the ages, not to mention a man who led an intriguing life in and out of the public eye. There is no shortage of skeletons to be found in Williams' closet; his homosexuality is a particular source of angst to him in a world that did not approve of such a thing. He dallies with male prostitutes, and in one instance gets severely beaten for his troubles. Meanwhile, he is haunted by his sister, who underwent a frontal lobotomy after being institutionalized (it is his guilt over leaving her to pursue his writing that drove him to write "The Glass Menagerie," which features a very Williams-esque young man desperate to escape his dreary life with a crippled sister and needy mother in order to pursue his dreams).

Through his notebooks, Williams provides you with a backstage pass to one of the most thrilling talents Broadway has ever seen, and through extensive footnoting Thornton puts it all into a clear narrative for you to follow along. She also includes countless photographs and pieces of artwork. There are moments when what Williams writes does not match up with what other interviewees recall, forcing Thornton and the reader to speculate as to which version is closer to the truth, but in "Notebooks" Williams does nothing short of bare his soul to the reader. It is utterly fascinating to experience his artist's-eye-view of the world, and I would highly recommend this book.
Grade: A+

Excellent.......2007-04-10

Item was in mint condition, will not hesitate to buy from this seller again.
Keep up the good work

Not To Be Missed.......2007-02-23

This is a magnificent book, really two books, as Tennessee Williams' journals are powerfully augmented by Thornton's meticulously researched and engaging annotations. Opposite every page of journal entries, one finds the sources and background on Williams' musings; Thornton gives us a map to Williams thoughts, and her notes enhance the journal entries immeasurably, making this book essential reading. It's tough to put down, and almost impossible to read properly, that is, in order-- no matter where one opens the book you are transported into the private life of this playwright whose works are so much a part of our literary and theatrical heritage. Thornton has also included a fascinating array of photographs which place Williams in the context of his time and his peers, and scribbled illustrations which add a whole other element to understanding this great writer-- this book is not to be missed.

Average customer rating:

A real find.
One of the best
Confirmation
My all-time favorite
A must read book

The Education of Little Tree
Forrest Carter
Manufacturer: University of New Mexico Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0826328091

Book Description

The Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression.

Â“Little TreeÂ” as his grandparents call him is shown how to hunt and survive in the mountains, to respect nature in the Cherokee Way, taking only what is needed, leaving the rest for nature to run its course.

Little Tree also learns the often callous ways of white businessmen and tax collectors, and how Granpa, in hilarious vignettes, scares them away from his illegal attempts to enter the cash economy. Granma teaches Little Tree the joys of reading and education. But when Little Tree is taken away by whites for schooling, we learn of the cruelty meted out to Indian children in an attempt to assimilate them and of Little TreeÂ's perception of the Anglo world and how it differs from the Cherokee Way.

A classic of its era, and an enduring book for all ages, The Education of Little Tree has now been redesigned for this twenty-fifth anniversary edition.

The Education of Little Tree tells of a boy orphaned very young, who is adopted by his Cherokee grandmother and half-Cherokee grandfather in the Appalachian mountains of Tennessee during the Great Depression.

Customer Reviews:

A real find........2007-07-21

This book was loaned to me by a wonderful lady that I was doing some work for, because she loved it and wanted to share. I am still buying it as gifts.
I have been an avid reader for 67 years. This is certainly in the top ten books that I have read. It's Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Angela's ashes etc. all with a flair that they didn't reach. The language, phrasing is unique. I almost never read a book twice or more. This is the exception.

One of the best.......2007-05-12

I read this wonderful book to my children when they were younger. They loved it as much as I. We laughed and cried together. Now, I have given a copy to my oldest son to read to his son who will be born this month. It is a book to be shared and cherished. What a lovely gift Forrest Carter has given to the world.

Confirmation.......2007-02-10

Greetings,
This book took my soul on a journey. The content of this book will confirm that all White Americans motives are not pure. My heart aches because I know that Little Tree's story is the same story of so many other ethnic groups. People have been conquered, destroyed and forced to accept ways and beliefs that were not their own.

The book is about a little boy whose parents die so he has to go live with his grandparents who are Indians. While living with his grandparents they eventually they teach him their way which includes living off the land, catching wild animals and learning what plants and bushes to avoid.
He is eventually forced to go to school with white children because it is the law that all children must go to school and there he quickly discovers how much Indians are hated. He is physically abused, teased, forced to cut his hair and forbiddened to acknowledge or pratice his ways.

In the end, he returns home to the arms of the people that love him and the mountains that he knows so well.

I see you Little Tree!

Enjoy!

My all-time favorite.......2007-02-02

Like another reviewer suggested, this book should be required reading. I had to read it for a class in college and put off starting it because it didn't seem that interesting. When I finally got around to it, I read the whole book in one night, alternately laughing hysterically and crying my eyes out. My roommate must have thought I was insane. Since then I've reread The Education of Little Tree many times and always seem to find something new in it. The story of Little Tree's "education" and the book's narration from a five year-old's perspective is priceless. Even knowing the author wasn't really raised by Cherokee grandparents doesn't detract from the book at all. Buy it now or go to the library or borrow it from a friend, tape up your ribs so you don't bust them from laughing, grab a box of tissues, and find a cozy spot to get to know Little Tree.

A must read book.......2007-01-12

This book can be enjoyed by a young audience, as well as adult. The book takes readers back to a time of hardships during the great depression and the discrimination against American Indians at that time. It also takes a harsh look at the part that religion played in fostering the mistreatment of the Indian youth.

Average customer rating:

The Glorious Bird's iconic melodrama
A Streetcar Named ... Classic
A tragic story that illustrates the pitiful life of a lost woman
The Streetcar
a great classic delivering a moving message about being comfortable in your own skin

A Streetcar Named Desire
Tennessee Williams
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451167783

Book Description

Published in 1949 by John Lehman. Very good copy in a very good dust jacket with slight wear. There are minor foxing, nicks, and wear to the dust jacket, with an ink inscription. The basis of the 1951 film (winner of three Academy Awards) starring Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden, Williams's play is one of the works by which 20th-century America defines itself. First English edition of this landmark, Pulitzer-Prize-winning play, featuring Williams's riveting creations.

Customer Reviews:

The Glorious Bird's iconic melodrama.......2007-06-18

This is probably the most famous piece of literature from the US that I hadn'd read yet, until now. Nor watched as a play or movie. And still I seemed to know everything about it.
Having just read Gore Vidal's memoirs, where he calls TW the 'glorious bird', I was motivated to finally get acquainted with the streetcar. What fun. It is Gone with the Wind updated for the 20th century. It is the downsizing of rural gentry. It shows downward social mobility in a narrative framework of Southern Gothic. It is powerfully vulgar and perceptive. It is so politically not correct. ('Polacks are like Irish, only less highbrow.')
But with all the mad fun, let's be clear about this: despite the popular use of the term 'tragic' for the descent of Ms. Blanche into madness, this is not really a tragedy in the full sense of the word. Being a piece of stage writing makes it one only in the sense of not being a comedy. What it is, it is a really great melodrama.
A word about the genius casting for the movie: Marlon Brando dominated it more than the text justifies. Gore Vidal says in his memoirs that Kazan actually destroyed the play by pushing the Blanche character into 2nd row. He says that TW did not mind, since it made him famous.

A Streetcar Named ... Classic.......2007-06-12

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."

Blanche's final decree before being taken away to the insane asylum is an ironic remark which Tennessee Williams uses to harshly criticize the promiscuous lifestyle of Miss DuBois in his classic "A Streetcar Named Desire." Moreover, it is a testimony to how Blanche sets herself up for disaster.

Blanche DuBois is the southern belle whom the play revolves around, and she is certainly a character to be remembered for the ages. She escapes her deeply immoral past by fleeing to her sister Stella's homely apartment in New Orleans, only to discover that it is a complete cultural departure. A high-maintenance chauvinist upon arrival, Blanche is critical of everything in Stella's life, from her husband to her living arrangements. Blanche is dishonest about her past, lies about her alcoholism and covers up affairs with students--the complete opposite of moral perfection. Her constant affairs with unknown men back in Laurel caused Blanche to be kicked out of a two-bit hotel, and her affair with a teenage boy lost Blanche her job, illustrating Blanche as a wanton woman.

So where is this "kindness of strangers" that Blanche so respects? The irony lies in that Blanche has not always been treated well by strangers, and that her relationships with these sorts of people often fare poorly, and so the fact that she relies on them for the welfare of her life is paradoxical. Williams condemns Blanche of her loose lifestyle, sleeping around with various men whom she does not know, and ultimately sentences her to the insane asylum, demonstrating that those with lifestyles like that of Blanche will merit the same fate. The southern belle image which Blanche allegedly epitomizes soon fades, and Williams takes this fact and emphasizes it to the audience. All of this adds up to a cornucopia of shameful aspects which Blanche attempts to hide from by deluding herself in fantastical images. Blanche has always differentiated herself as being more idealistic than realistic, and so her retreat into her fantasies is no surprise--she needs to escape the harshness of the real world. She herself is fading, and so her mentality follows.

It is an important lesson which Williams teaches us about distinctions between reality and unlikely fantasies. Despite the fact that the real world may bring obstacles and roadblocks, as shown through the relationship between Stanley and Stella (which I won't delve into as my focus is on Blanche), living in reality is always a better idea than drowning yourself in fantasies. Blanche carries with her a whole plethora of stigmas and taboos that Williams deems necessary for her loose character, so that he may, in turn, teach lessons of morality to the audience. Blanche is a complex character that we can all learn from, and Williams makes that clear through the intricate development of Blanche. "Streetcar" is certainly one of the most interesting plays that I have ever read, and it is definitely a necessary component to the shelf of American classics.

A tragic story that illustrates the pitiful life of a lost woman.......2007-06-12

Despite its strange title, this book is a guaranteed to motivate you to appreciate your own life by learning of the tragedies of others. In the story of "A Streetcar Named Desire," the plot follows one particular character, Blanche, who is constantly struggling to accept the conditions of her current, impoverished conditions. Even after becoming homeless and being forced to move into her sister Stella's home in order to re-invent her life after her troubled past, she continues to lie to cover up her past's secrets and ironically ruins her chances of ever starting anew. Throughout the story, a reader can witness how her lies cause her to lose a potential husband and all in all, lose her sanity. Because of her reluctance to inform even her sister of a shameful past, she causes distrust amongst her peers which leads her to be unable to lead a normal relationship with society. Her distrustful nature even causes her peers and even her sister to become suspicious of the stories she desperately tells to cover up the failures of her life. Follow the pitiful character, Blanche, as she deals with the struggles of her life, her family and her peers. Thus, the author illustrates that by understanding your mistakes, circumstances and the need for change, you could always change your destiny, Can Blanche ever come to her senses? I highly recommend "Streetcar Named Desire" because anyone can draw an important lesson from the mistakes of Blanche and the simple message of reality over fantasy can easily be seen in this book.

The Streetcar.......2007-06-12

Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire is an excellent tragic play focused on the pathetic lifestyle of the play's protagonist, Blanche DuBois. Blanche is annoyed and obnoxious on all levels; but the way she demeans herself and essentially destroys her own dignity demands the readers' sympathy.

Blanche is forced to travel to New Orleans to stay at her sister's house ever since her plantation Belle Reve (beautiful dream in French) was lost. The name is important, as Blanche completely submerges herself in these beautiful dreams and freely throws away any ounce of reality she refuses to see. Once we see her sister Stella, we immediately know that they are extremely different as Stella is the realistic sister who moved on from a turbulent past. Personalities collide when Stella introduces Blanche to her husband, the infamous Stanley Kowalski. Yes, his is blunt, brutal, and barbaric. But his personality adds complexity to the novel as he is the foil of Blanche, which ends in some major tragedies.

Marlon Brando fans will probably revere the way he acts out Stanley in the film adaptation. I prefer reading the book.

a great classic delivering a moving message about being comfortable in your own skin.......2007-06-12

The play as a whole representing the trials and tribulations of reinventing oneself is a caveat to those that attempt to achieve this remarkable goal as the characters in A Street Car Named Desire are shown as incapable of fixing their own lives. This is shown none more than in the protagonist, Blanche DuBois, who struggles continually with the battles of her past actions, signifying the decline of the American Dream that she had previously believed to be attainable.

America was once thought of as a place where anything could be achieved with ease, no matter how severe the obstacle; but Tennessee Williams proves this idea wrong as no matter how far Blanche goes to start over in life, her past always haunts her. Blanche has made some brutal mistakes in her life and tries throughout the entire play to escape from them. She leaves her hometown after being forced out and decides to start anew by living with Stella in New Orleans. Once there, she lies about her mistakes to try and escape from them. She is able to do this for a while, but her secrets are soon discovered. Once Stanley confronts her with the truth, Blanche realizes that this dream, this American dream she had had is unattainable. She cannot run away from her past no matter how hard she tries.

What Blanche does not realize, however is that maybe she cannot rely on the American Dream to save her, but she could have decided to change by recognizing her mistakes and moving on from there. Many people make the mistake of thinking that by coming to America, things will just work out in their favor. They do not realize that this takes much work to do. In this sense, the traditional American Dream has died, leaving many people helpless in the world, just like Blanche. The reason that this fails though is that Blanche's one method of starting over is to simply lie. She does not change herself so she is bound to make those same mistakes again, as she eventually does.

Blanche's actions are intended to warn those against simply trusting it to faith that they will be able to start over in life. Not everything can be forgotten because sometimes one's actions affect others around them. It is not just their own lives that they are gambling with but also anyone's who is in close contact with them. It is not enough to rely on the idea of an American Dream to save oneself. Actions must be taken to benefit lives. A sense of apathy will go nowhere in life. Ultimately, change brings about change, so that is what it needed.

Average customer rating:

Illusion and Escape
Glass Menagerie
hits all the right notes
A sad story that preaches family unity and self sacrifice
more than just readable material

The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams
Manufacturer: New Directions Publishing Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0811214044

Book Description

No play in the modern theatre has so captured the imagination and heart of the American public as Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie. Menagerie was Williams's first popular success and launched the brilliant, if somewhat controversial, career of our pre-eminent lyric playwright. Since its premiere in Chicago in 1944, with the legendary Laurette Taylor in the role of Amanda, the play has been the bravura piece for great actresses from Jessica Tandy to Joanne Woodward, and is studied and performed in classrooms and theatres around the world. The Glass Menagerie (in the reading text the author preferred) is now available only in its New Directions Paperbook edition. A new introduction by prominent Williams scholar Robert Bray, editor of The Tennessee Williams Annual Review, reappraises the play more than half a century after it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award: "More than fifty years after telling his story of a family whose lives form a triangle of quiet desperation, Williams's mellifluous voice still resonates deeply and universally." This edition of The Glass Menagerie also includes Williams's essay on the impact of sudden fame on a struggling writer, "The Catastrophe of Success," as well as a short section of Williams's own "Production Notes." The cover features the classic line drawing by Alvin Lustig, originally done for the 1949 New Directions edition.

Customer Reviews:

Illusion and Escape.......2007-08-23

"Glass Menagerie" provides a surreal tale of the Wingfield family and their diverse struggles with fantasy and reality. Set in St. Louis during the Great Depression, the play revolves around Amanda and her adult children, Tom and Laura, struggling to make ends meet in a St. Louis tenement. Although each cannot grip the realities of the modern world, they seek escape in different ways. Amanda deludes herself into thinking she is still a Southern debutante with many gentleman callers. Laura escapes into her fantasy world ruled by delicate glass animals, her "glass menagerie." Tom, constantly accosted and criticized by Amanda, seeks escape through movies and booze.

Doubtless, the theme of abandonment looms large throughout the play. The presence of their father, although only his picture is seen, plays on all their emotions. Unfortunately for them, he "fell in love with long distances" and abandoned them at an early age. This instills fear in Amanda that Tom would follow the same path and she tries to control his every action. Indeed, her smothering of Tom and her incessant accusations of selfishness lend her an unsympathetic aura.

Williams uses unusual cues and images for a play, as he forsakes the illusion of reality. Indeed, the novel is almost a dream-like existence, as it is contrived from the deep memories of Tom. Although reality may not have a firm hand, the theme of control and a yearn to escape is a biting reality that many people face today. Indeed, Tom seeks to escape the "coffin" of his existence, as he attempts to break away from the iron hand of his mother. Unfortunately for him, this also means abandoning his sister Laura if he chooses this path.

Although it is a short novel and quick read, "Glass Menagerie" provides a powerful message that is applicable today. It has not been lost in a time warp. This, and the fact that it is one of the first plays of Williams, should put this on a short list of "must read" classic American plays.

Glass Menagerie.......2007-06-12

When I first bought the book, the name sounded really interesting, but I didn't understand what "menagerie." After I flipped a few pages, I notice
how dysfunctional, yet almost normal, family the book portrayed. In a way, many people can relate the situation with their personal life.
During the 1940's and after the World War II, many people were in desperation trying to find jobs and create a better life. However, as a result of this mindset, some did not succeed and ended up living in a life of disaster. Such calamity resulted in not only financial misfortune, but also social and mental failure. Everyone seemed to scramble to quickly find a great life, but little did they know, the truth of the reality was that not everyone could succeed at the same time. As a result, many hoped for too much, plunging in a world of delusion. Avoiding reality, several other were just assuming fortunes would find them, creating self-fulfilling prophecies.
In Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams wants to depict exactly that tragedy resulted from constant escapades to fantasy by employing Amanda as the typical woman who just lost her grip on reality. Amanda has lost control ever since her husband had left her, destroying the family. Unable to cope with that reality, she just drifted onto another world. She refused to believe that fact and tried to impose her ideals onto her daughter, Laura. Amanda has always boasted that she was the most popular girl attracting all the find young men. She lived a life of glamour, while everyone stared enviously at her success. However, success took a u-turn and even a crash into the wilderness of failure. Amanda was distraught, devastated by the fact that her husband had left her and her family was filled with shame and quirk. Unable to get a grip of reality, she loses her control and drifts into a fantasy, where everything seems to work out perfectly. She puts too much emphasis on being popular and attracting all the rich suitors. She superimposes all her ideals onto her daughter, Laura, so she could be just like her mother. Unintentionally, she forces her daughter to achieve exactly what she has. Despite Amanda's genuine push, she actually forces Laura off the edge, but she changes and matures into a woman, more open to the world around her. Although Laura grown to be less inclusive and more open to the world, the family has broken apart as a result of Tom's escape. Ultimately, as a result of Amanda's fantasy world, the family has been torn apart into bits and pieces, revealing the notion that the escape to fantasy would only ruin one's life.
Tennessee Williams argues that fantasy is only a false depiction of the world in its most rudimentary image, which causes one to lose control of the complications of reality, inevitably resulting in a disaster.

hits all the right notes.......2007-06-12

3 things make this play stand out as truly spectacular: 1. the stellar plot, 2. the engaging and interesting characters, 3. it's ability to move the reader with its sadness and despair without asking for it. this play is truly a mus read for anyone who loves American literature.

In the story, Tom is a young man given the burden of caring for his mother and sister, Laura. Working at a dead-end job in a warehouse, Tom longs for the day he can be like his father and desert the family, to go on the quest for his own dreams and ambitions. he often writes literature during work and attends the movies every night as a way to escape from his otherwise monotomous life. Tom refuses to accept reality for what it is, and instead dwells in his own wishes, having no regard for his family. Laura, a shy girl who is crippled at the leg, does not interact with anyone outside of her family.

now, i must resist the temptation to say anymore, because i do not want to give away the ending, thus keeping any of you from reading this spectacular play. Set during the Great Depression, Williams oes an excellent job of placing the plot in historical context, because it was a time during which people were depressed and wanted to get out of "the hole", such as Tom. There are many symbols to be found throughout this play, such as the glass menagerie and the unicorn, which makes the play that much more engaging and interesting to read, as you try to decipher them. Williams' tone and style are also very appropriate with each changing character, giving the reader a better view of the characters. All while Williams achieves his rhetorical brilliance in the play, there is an underlying message of the dangers of dwelling in memory and fantasy rather than accept reality and deal with the present. I must recommend this book to anyone who is literate.

A sad story that preaches family unity and self sacrifice.......2007-06-12

This story is a must read! Despite the boring title, it's a true eye opener that questions your ethics and provokes you to contemplate on the troubles of society. Throughout the book, the characters struggle to come to terms of their reality.
One of the main characters is Laura, who is handicapped and is constantly nervous about what society thinks about her and her condition. Her poor understanding of who she is as a person and the exaggerated difference believes she has between others prevents her from ever being fully comfortable around others and even herself .Although Laura believes that society has shunned her from the acceptance that she deserves, Laura has actually shunned herself from the possibility of retaining friendships because of the paranoid thoughts in her own mind. Amanda and the pressure she places on Tom is also a large issue in the play which ultimately leads to Tom's tragic abandonment of the family at the end of the story. Because of her dependency on Tom's paycheck, she placed a huge burden on Tom who soon comes to the conclusion that if he would ever want to achieve his dreams, he would have to completely abandon his family. So, read the book and watch the predicaments unravel in the Wingfield family from Amanda's refusal to accept reality of Tom's dreams , Tom's desperate plea to be free from his obligations as breadwinner of the family, and Laura's personal struggle with being comfortable with her disability. Will Laura ever break out of her shell and lead the normal life she deserves? Read the book and contemplate on the effects of a judgmental society and the dangers of holding on to the past being ignorant of the present.

more than just readable material.......2007-06-12

This book focuses on the individual struggles of the three main characters of the book, but I personally enjoy the story of Tom and Laura who have to cope with problems that many can relate to.

Tom is a young man who has great dreams. This is not hard to imagine because many of us or many of the people we know dream of pursuing great goals in life. This is how we are programmed, what we are taught. But as a young man with a father who has abandoned the family, he must decide between pursuing his dreams or staying home and supporting his mother and sister. Such an interesting situation made me want to sit down and read to see what choice he would make.

Laura is the typical shy girl. However, because she is so self conscious about her crippled legs, she has grown to isolated herself so much that her mother has to worry whether or not she will marry since she refuses to talk to even other women. Instead, she turns to a glass collection for friends and company. Pretty crazy. Now when his hermit of a lady suddenly is forced to meet and converse with a normal human being outside of the household, the conclusion is waiting for you to read and find out. It is not your typical type of ending but it is nonetheless something that was satisfying and compatible.

The play is filled with symbols, which is a real good plus because it make the book all the more interesting to read and dig through. You will notice things like the glass collection, the fire escape, and the unicorn all representing something more than what they are. These are what makes the play more than just a browse through a story--it is more like an adventure or a mystery waiting to be torn apart.

Average customer rating:

Who are you Kidding?!
Good history, poor love story.
Outstanding! Simply Outstanding!
A Gem The Restless Can Relate To
Interesting perspective changes

The Widow of the South
Robert Hicks
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0446697435

Amazon.com

Before the battle begins, Carrie's house is commandeered for a field hospital and all normal life is suspended. Carrie is anything but normal, however. She has buried three children, has two living children she pays little attention to, has turned the running of the house over to her slave, Mariah, and spends her time dressed in black walking around in the dark or lying down lamenting her loss. She is a morbid figure from the outset but becomes less so as the novel progresses. The death going on all around her shakes her out of her torpor, but death is definitely her comfort zone.

One of the soldiers who is treated at the house is Zachariah Cashwell, who loses his leg when Carrie sends him to surgery rather than watch him die. They are inextricably bound in some kind of a spiritual dance from then on. Their reasons for being drawn to each other are inexplicable, apparently, because they remain unexplained, and when Cashwell tells Carrie he loves her, she beats him nearly to death because she loves him too. At least, that is the reason Hicks gives. He violates that first caveat given to all writers: "show us, don't tell us." There is doubtless something deeply flawed in Carrie and screamingly symbolic about her behavior; it is surely elusive. Too bad, because Carrie was a real person whom Hicks lauds for her compassion and ability to grieve without end. Then, he throws in this gratuitous "love story" and confuses the issue. Carrie's relationship with her husband and children remains unexamined. Hicks is better at describing death and "the stink of war" than he is at life. If you read War and Peace and loved all the war parts and were bored senseless by the peace parts, this is your cup of tea. --Valerie Ryan

Book Description

In an Author's Note at the end of his book The Widow of the South, Robert Hicks tells us that "when Oscar Wilde made his infamous tour of America in 1882, he told his hosts that his itinerary should include a visit to 'sunny Tennessee to meet the Widow McGavock, the high priestess of the temple of dead boys.'"Carrie McGavock, The Widow of the South, did indeed take it upon herself to grieve the loss of so many young men in the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, which took place on November 30, 1864.Nine thousand men lost their lives that day.She and her husband John eventually re-buried on their own land 1,481 Confederate soldiers killed at Franklin, when the family that owned the land on which the original shallow graves had been dug decided to plow it under and put it into cultivation.Before the battle begins, Carrie's house is commandeered for a field hospital and all normal life is suspended.Carrie is anything but normal, however.She has buried three children, has two living children she pays little attention to, has turned the running of the house over to her slave, Mariah, and spends her time dressed in black walking around in the dark or lying down lamenting her loss.She is a morbid figure from the outset but becomes less so as the novel progresses.The death going on all around her shakes her out of her torpor, but death is definitely her comfort zone.One of the soldiers who is treated at the house is Zachariah Cashwell, who loses his leg when Carrie sends him to surgery rather than watch him die.They are inextricably bound in some kind of a spiritual dance from then on.Their reasons for being drawn to each other are inexplicable, apparently, because they remain unexplained, and when Cashwell tells Carrie he loves her, she beats him nearly to death because she loves him too.At least, that is the reason Hicks gives.He violates that first caveat given to all writers: "show us, don't tell us."There is doubtless something deeply flawed in Carrie and screamingly symbolic about her behavior; it is surely elusive.Too bad, because Carrie was a real person whom Hicks lauds for her compassion and ability to grieve without end.Then, he throws in this gratuitous "love story" and confuses the issue.Carrie's relationship with her husband and children remains unexamined. Hicks is better at describing death and "the stink of war" than he is at life.If you read War and Peace and loved all the war parts and were bored senseless by the peace parts, this is your cup of tea. --Valerie Ryan

Customer Reviews:

Who are you Kidding?!.......2007-08-10

The historical portions of the novel are researched and present a clear picture of the battle of Franklin and the futility of the Civil War as it was being pressed by the South at this juncture. The war was essentially lost after the fall of Atlanta and the graphic and accurate description of the needless deaths of so many on this battlefield cause pain to me even after over 150 years.
The writer lost me with his "romance" between the two main characters. I could have accepted an attraction, magnetism, fascination, etc., between them. But having Carrie crawling around on a dirt floor of a cellar exchanging a kiss with someone seriously unwashed and whose breath had been described two or three pages before as having the smell of rotten hay?! I doubt it.
This could have been a great book.

Good history, poor love story........2007-08-01

THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH BOOK REVIEW
By Mary Olivera

On the eve of November 30, 1864, Carrie McGavock was languishing in her home over the deaths of three of her five children, unprepared for a battle that would take place at her doorsteps the next day. She would be abruptly awakened from her depression to come face to face with the realities of a war she did not care for and had wanted to hide from. Instead, she found within herself a strength she did not know she had and became a person with a purpose.

"The Widow of the South" by Robert Hicks is the fictional account of the Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, one of the last battles of the Civil War, and its aftermath. Confederate General John Hood, against the advice of fellow officers, marched his army against the well-fortified forces of Union Major General John Schofield into the town of Franklin, Tennessee. Confederate soldiers charged through about two miles of open field to be slaughtered by the entrenched Union forces. By the end of the day over 9,000 soldiers, both Union and Confederate were dead or wounded on the fields, including six Confederate generals.

The story centers on Carrie McGavock, whose home was commandeered into a field hospital for the Confederate soldiers. The book highlights Carrie's efforts to nurse the wounded soldiers in her home and later her efforts to re-inter over one thousand Confederate soldiers in her family's cemetery. Because of these efforts and the fact that she maintained this privately owned cemetery for the rest of her life, Carrie became nationally known as "The Widow of the South".

The book's style is very vivid and eloquent. The author relies on flashbacks from different peoples' perspectives to take the reader through the story. I enjoyed this approach but others may find it difficult to follow. It is apparent that Hicks did his research before writing this novel. His scenes of the battlefield were especially grim and his anti-war stance is evident. The description of the death of a young Confederate soldier is difficult to forget:
"I watched a little rebel boy, couldn't have been more than 12 years old, suffocate under the weight of the dead piled atop him. Suffocated. I had never considered the possibility. Only his head stuck through the pile, and I thought for a second that he was looking at me and trying to say something, only he didn't have the air to do it. He couldn't breathe, and God knows where he'd been shot. His jaws moved, and his eyes welled with tears. The last I saw of him he was closing his eyes just as another body landed on him covering him completely. It was as if a wave had crashed over him, and he'd been pulled out to sea." (Page 84)

Mr. Hicks pays a great amount of detail to Carnton House, Carrie's home. It's only fitting since he has served on the Board of Historic Carnton Plantation and wrote the book to bring the Battle of Franklin, Carrie McGavock, and Carnton House to national attention. Some readers may feel that more information about the Civil War should have been included, but this is Carrie's story, and it wasn't important to her.

I felt that the book could have worked better as non-fiction. I enjoyed reading the Author's Note and would like to see that fleshed out more, especially why Carrie felt that she had to re-inter the soldiers' bodies on her land. Still, historical fiction lovers, especially Civil War aficionados, will enjoy the tale.

My next issue was the "love story" between Carrie and Sergeant Zachariah Cashwell, a patient in her home. Although the romance was important to the novel, the reason why remained unclear.

The Widow of the South is a tribute to Carrie McGavock's strength of character. It shows how a person so unprepared for the horrors that suddenly surrounded her persevered and found a purpose for her life. Carrie selflessly sacrificed her own life in order to honor the memory of the men who died outside her doorsteps.

Outstanding! Simply Outstanding!.......2007-07-26

I would give this one 6 stars if possible. Robert Hicks has written a wonderful book. He intertwines fact and fiction in a manner that will hold your interest from beginning to end. I have been to Franklin, Tennessee and to Carnton, but will never look at them the same way. This work is based on a true story about a remarkable woman with passion unequaled; a passion for the dead and those facing death. You will ride an emotional roller coaster throughout this book. I have read Civil War books for many, many years and can truthfully say, "This is one of the best."

A Gem The Restless Can Relate To .......2007-07-13

My daughter and I picked up several books a few months back when Border's was having a buy 3 get 1 free sale. Ky picked this one out and I figured that simply based on the cover I'd give it a trial read. Wow, I did more than a chapter! I crawled into this novel and couldn't believe that it was from a first time writer who is not a historian. Hicks focuses on the human element of the Civil War which is not far from Gone With The Wind, but with far more depth and less dramatic angst. The story of Carrie McGavock and her place during and well after the Battle of Franklin is told from many different perspectives, with multi characters telling the story. None of the carnage of war is lost here, but more importantly neither is its long term effects on the individual. Carrie is a real person and her feelings, short-comings, fears, and revelations are moving and timeless. As a women who often feels lost in the world, I could relate to this brave women who lived and died a century and a half before me. Her reasons may have been odd to her contemporaries or even to those who read the story now, but they were not lost on me. I cannot recommend this book enough if for any reason than to learn about the Battle of Franklin. Robert Hicks should be commended on his work and research and most importantly his preservation of this story and these real American Heroes. As a historian my final opinion is, at the very least it can inspire more interest or study of an important time in our nation's history.

Interesting perspective changes.......2007-07-09

Having lived in Thompsons Station, TN, I was familiar with the Carnton Plantation and the "lay of the land". The style of this book was different from any I've read previously. I was first annoyed by how the perspective kept changing back-and-forth from the point of view of Carrie and Zacariah. As the book progressed however, I enjoyed and anticipated what the other's perspective was going to be as I was reading the first account. It was an "interesting" book.

Laughing in the Dark: A Comedian's Journey through Depression

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Great Read
Excellent
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Couldn't put it down.
Highly recommended

Laughing in the Dark: A Comedian's Journey through Depression
Chonda Pierce
Manufacturer: Howard Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1582296413

Book Description

A Kind Friend to Walk with You...

For many, depression is associated with shame and humiliation -- even a lack of faith. But in this refreshingly honest and oh-so-very-real revelation of one woman's journey through depression, you'll hear the voice of a kind friend. And in her words you'll find hope and renewed confidence that will guide you through your own darkness and into the light.

If you are currently suffering from depression -- this book will help you realize you're not alone.

If you have a loved one dealing with depression -- this book will help you understand.

If you are a mental-health professional -- you now have a new tool to encourage your clients.

Along with the humor, Chonda shares practical insight, biblical teaching, emotional support, and sympathetic concern. Whether you've experienced depression in your own life or in the life of someone you love, this friend has something to offer you: help, hope and, believe it or not, plenty of laughter.

Customer Reviews:

Great Read.......2007-10-04

This book flowed well, and I really appreciated Chonda's candid and honest look at her journey through depression. While the church sometimes implies if you suffer from depression, you must not have enough faith or you are making it up, Chonda is not ashamed to share her story and her faith. Thanks for sharing.

Excellent.......2007-10-02

I recently saw Chondra on stage. I knew with her type of humor, I needed to read her book.Being diagnosed with Clinical Depression myself, I felt we had something in common. I was not disappointed, her book is excellent. She is able to put into words thoughts and feelings just like mine. It seems God put people into her life just like He did me. This is a must read!!!!!

books.......2007-09-21

I love Chonda Pierce. I have been to see her in person. This is a must read book

Couldn't put it down........2007-09-17

This book just really hit home with me. I could relate to so many things. Chonda is such a funny lady and it left me so optimistic. Passed it on to a friend that is traveling down that dark road. She loved it also.

Highly recommended.......2007-07-08

Laughing in the Dark: A Comedian's Journey Through Depression is the true story of comedian, Christian, and depression survivor Chonda Pierce, in her own words. Pierce recovered with help from close friends, therapy, and a Zoloft prescription; she candidly shares her story as affirmation that "depression" is neither shameful nor a sign of faltering faith. Though the author's abiding faith in God is quite evident, Laughing in the Dark is intended for readers of all belief systems. "When your mind has been captivated by the dark for a long time and you finally experience some healing - whether instantaneously through an act of God or gradually through the gift of medicine - you feel liberated... But there's more work to be done. It's like having any other serious, debilitating injury. You're excited when you make it through all the surgeries, but you still have to battle through rehabilitation in order to learn to walk, talk, and feed yourself again." Highly recommended, especially for the personal shelves and reading lists of anyone suffering depression or their friends and families.

Lust in Translation: The Rules of Infidelity from Tokyo to Tennessee

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A good qualitative analysis
Anecdotal (but not funny)
Infidelity around the World
EXCELLENT book!
Unique & humorous perspective on cultural differences

Lust in Translation: The Rules of Infidelity from Tokyo to Tennessee
Pamela Druckerman
Manufacturer: Penguin Press HC, The
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1594201145
Release Date: 2007-04-19

Book Description

An irreverent and hilarious journey around the world to examine how and why people cheat on their spouses; this global look at infidelity reveals that Americans are uniquely mixed up about being faithful.

It's an adulterous world out there. Russian husbands and wives don't believe that beach-resort flings violate their marital vows. Japanese businessmen, armed with the aphorism "If you pay, it's not cheating," flock to sex clubs where the extramarital services on offer include "getting oral sex without showering first." South Africans may be the masters of creative accounting: Pollsters there had to create separate categories for men who cheat, and men who only cheat while drunk.

In America, however, there is never a free pass when it comes to infidelity. According to our national moral compass, cheating is abominable no matter what the circumstances. But do we actually behave differently than everyone else? Pamela Druckerman, a former foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, decided to delve into this incredibly taboo topic. She interviews people all over the world, from retirees in South Florida to Muslim polygamists in Indonesia; from Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn to the men who keep their mistresses in a "concubine village" outside Hong Kong.

Druckerman talks to psychologists, sex researchers, marriage counselors, and most of all, cheaters and the people they've cheated on, and concludes that Americans are the least adept at having affairs, have the most trouble enjoying them, and suffer the most in their aftermath.

Lust in Translation is a voyeuristic, statistics-packed, sometimes shocking, often hysterical, worldwide glimpse into the endlessly intriguing world of extramarital sex. It may be politically incorrect to say so, but who knew infidelity could be this fascinating?

Customer Reviews:

A good qualitative analysis.......2007-10-17

Despite the lack of quantitative data, Pamela Druckerman is giving an interesting perspective of what adultery is and means over the world. Even though the author's perspectives are a bit culturally biased (she is American), she points rightfully elements of culture, of sociology, of moral, of religion which explain at least what is considered as "cheating" or not.

The limits of this book lie in the fact that it sometimes fall into cultural cliches and a certain ethnocentrism. The author, a former Wall Street Journal journalist based in Paris (France), remains partially prisoner of her own culture.

However, this is a stimulating reading, which opens interesting perspectives for cross-cultural couples, but also our unformulated conceptions of what is a "good couple".

Anecdotal (but not funny).......2007-10-17

Pay attention to that one sentence from the Publishers Weekly: "Druckerman (the author) offers an anecdotal rather than a scholarly exploration of the international etiquette of adultery." What worse, and other reviewers noted that already, that anecdotal treatment is not especially interesting.

Infidelity around the World.......2007-09-01

In March or April, Lust in Translation received a glamorous review in The Economist and sparked my interest. It's an informative book about the cultural aspects of affairs... Pamela Druckerman somehow researches this thorny subject and presents rare insights into cheating in the US, France, Russia, Japan, Indonesia, China and South Africa.

Having had exposure to the cultures in the USA, France and Russia, I did not find the chapters about these three countries surprising. In a way, the book just confirmed what I already knew or suspected. In contrast, what goes on (or doesn't go on) in a Japanese bedroom was completely novel to me.

I would not necessarily recommend this book to an American cheated or cheating spouse. It is neither a self-help guide to appeal to the former nor a manual on how to have affairs to satisfy the latter. Nevertheless, if you are looking for an easy, interesting read and want to be culturally informed about the subject, this book is one of a kind. Just be prepared for your spouse's raised eyebrows and have an answer to the question "Why on Earth are you reading THIS book?"

EXCELLENT book!.......2007-07-24

As an American who lived in Japan for several years, I believe that Ms. Druckerman's observations of the culture surrounding marriage, courtship, and extra-marital affairs in Japan are very accurate. I also enjoyed reading the rest of the book, and found it to be well-researched, well-analyzed, and well-written. This book does not aim to be a self-help book; rather, it is more of a sociological perspective on a universal issue. The book's description of cultural differences and personal perspectives regarding infidelity are fascinating. Overall, the book is interesting and enjoyable to read, and I highly recommend it.

Unique & humorous perspective on cultural differences.......2007-06-30

I decided to buy a copy of "Lust in Translation" by Pamela Druckerman because way back when (mid 1980s), Pamela and I were US House of Representatives pages together. Other than an occasional email contact, I had not directly heard much from Pamela. I had read several of her Wall Street Journal articles over the years.

As someone who thoroughly enjoys reading about other cultures and people, this book fit my occasional non-fiction reading habits. I wasn't looking for anything "heavy" - as in, full of facts, figures, dates, or history. And, I certainly wanted to stay away from anything that seemed academic or dry.

It's fair to say that if you're looking for relatively creative non-fiction spanning several cultures that are not frequently bunched together or compared (including Hasidic Jews, French, and Chinese), you'll find it hard to put down this book.

In my opinion, Druckerman's writing style mirrors what you would expect from a former Wall Street Journal reporter. She mixes interviews, statistics, and commentary in a nearly seamless manner. In a sense, it's a collection of long articles - each relating to a different culture's practices and perspectives relating to infidelity.

There are many funny tidbits (using words you usually don't see in serious non-fiction) about how each culture covered refers to affairs in their language - often using slang terms. I laughed out loud a few times.

To me, the best contribution of the book is comparing the stereotypes regarding infidelity for each culture to how it is currently viewed within the culture. I was left surprised that anyone would share some of the details described in the book - even on an anonymous basis.

My overall conclusion is that this book falls into the category of "Truth is stranger than fiction." The way Druckerman handles this topic, it's possibly more funny than fiction, too.

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales

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Death's Acre : Inside The Body Farm
Great read - couldn't put it down
Watch out where you step
Gotta brag
A Must Read For Everyone!

Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensic Lab the Body Farm Where the Dead Do Tell Tales
William Bass , and Jon Jefferson
Manufacturer: Berkley Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0425198324
Release Date: 2004-10-05

Book Description

Dr. Bill Bass, one of the world's leading forensic anthropologists, gained international attention when he built a forensic lab like no other: The Body Farm. Now, this master scientist unlocks the gates of his lab to reveal his most intriguing cases-and to revisit the Lindbergh kidnapping and murder, fifty years after the fact.

Download Description

In this memoir, Bass, a premier forensic anthropologist, recounts how a life spent studying dead bodies led to the creation of "The Anthropolgy Research Facility" (aka the Body Farm), a plot of land near the University of Tennessee Medical Center where Bass and his colleagues monitor the decomposition of human corpses in various environments. The book is structured around the 1981 creation of the Body Farm, and the early chapters focus on some of Bass's trickier cases to demonstrate his need for more information about the science of forensics. The later chapters take a closer look at how the scientific analysis of Body Farm corpses has helped Bass and other anthropologists solve some of the toughest and most bizarre cases of their distinguished careers. Though professional and conscientious when describing the medical facts of each case, Bass, writing with journalist Jefferson, proves to be a witty storyteller with a welcome sense of humor. He also does a nice job balancing accounts of death and decomposition with decidedly not-so-morbid tidbits from his personal life. Furthermore, the poignancy of how he reacts to the deaths of his first two wives reflects the compassion he feels for the dead and their surviving family members he encounters in his working life. Bass may deal with the dead, but he has a lust for life that comes across in his writing. While the grisly details may not make this a must-read for everyone, those who do pick it up might just be pleasantly surprised by how Bass brings death to life. Foreword by Patricia Cornwell

Customer Reviews:

Death's Acre : Inside The Body Farm.......2007-10-11

If you are interested in forensics, this is the book for you! It tells how the study of forensics developed and how Dr. Bill Bass was involved in devoloping and establishing it as an instrument to solve crimes and identify bodies. It is very readable and easy to understand without a medical or legal background. The book however is not for the squemish or faint of heart. It gives extremely detailed descriptions of bodily decay and crimes in the recent past. I found the book to be very interesting and informative. Well worth my time and money!

Great read - couldn't put it down.......2007-09-09

For all you csi fans, this is a great book. Wonderful history of how it all began along with chapters of stories about real dead people. Congratulations to Dr. Bass and all his staff who have made inroads into helping the police and other entities solve crimes.

Watch out where you step.......2007-08-24

Another great Kay Scarpetta book. Not as good as some, but better than others. Cornwell's earlier writings are her best, her later books seem to lack heart, and detail. This one is in the middle. It is a good read, but not her best one. I wish she would take writing seriously again, and find the "eye of the tiger", or whatever she needs to get herself back on track. Maybe someone is giving her bad advise, or something has distracted her. She needs to return to whatever she was doing, when she first started writing. I miss her good books, and hope she can snap out of it soon. I should have given this one a 3, but I respect her so much, I gave it a 4. This is really her last good book she has written.

Gotta brag.......2007-07-13

I got to attend a personal tour of the Body Farm with Dr. Bass. It was an experience of a lifetime (is than an oxymoron?). Dr. Bass is the real deal. He knows his stuff and has a no-nonsense approach to his profession. It would be hard to estimate how many criminals have been removed as threats to society based on the work of Dr. Bass and his associates. He's a true pioneer.

A Must Read For Everyone!.......2007-06-08

Though some readers might be apprehensive due to the subject matter that the title insinuates, Death's Acre tells the story of the unsung heroes and an autiobiography as well. This is truely insightful to every person as Dr. Bill Bass shares stories that educate us on the people who help the deceased tell their story. The story of the author himself narrorates with humor and makes for a facinating read. It doesn't take a science buff to read this or be touched by it.

Average customer rating:

Dark But Entertaining
Wait, that's how it ends?
Great book for McCarthy fans
Compelling Read
The Wasteland and the Grail King

Outer Dark
Cormac Mccarthy
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679728732
Release Date: 1993-06-29

Book Description

Outer Dark is a novel at once fabular and starkly evocative, set is an unspecified place in Appalachia, sometime around the turn of the century. A woman bears her brother's child, a boy; he leaves the baby in the woods and tells her he died of natural causes. Discovering her brother's lie, she sets forth alone to find her son. Both brother and sister wander separately through a countryside being scourged by three terrifying and elusive strangers, headlong toward an eerie, apocalyptic resolution.

Customer Reviews:

Dark But Entertaining.......2007-09-19

Cormac McCarthy was born in Rhode island and grew up in Tennessee, but now lives in Tesuque, New Mexico. He is viewed by many as one of the more unusual and most talented of the current American writers. For example, Harold Bloom has written a number of things about McCarthy. I selected this book after reading pretty Horses. I was interested in some of his early work.

This is McCarthy's second novel published in 1970. The story is about a very poor brother and sister living in the rural south some time around 1900. The sister has a baby and the brother, Culla, does not want the baby and tells his sister it died and leaves it in the woods. The sister, Rinthy, does not believe him and sets out on a journey to find the baby. Simultaneously, Culla sets out on his own "dark" trip.

McCarthy has developed trademark prose, and some might not like it. He writes long rambling sentences to describe the natural setting and between he uses spartan narrative and dialogue.

The prose is complicated by design. I thought the prose was very effective in the middle of pretty Horses. He uses the same technique here but in a less developed way. He opens the book with just three sentences in one page, including one sentence 12 lines long. He reminds me a bit of the opening of Farewell to Arms where Hemingway tries to set the mood through the use of prose: Hemingway uses a narrative of the natural surroundings. McCarthy uses expressions such as "the sun sat blood red and elliptic" in his late book Pretty Horses" and here again we find the similar expression. Sometimes this prose seems out of place when compared to the spartan dialogue of a father and son talking over a breakfast of eggs and coffee.

Also, in later books McCarthy uses what is called polysyndeton, or the use of several conjunctions in close succession, especially where some might be omitted. It is a stylistic scheme used to slow down the tempo. As pointed out by others, polysyndeton is used extensively in the King James Version of the Bible. For example:

"And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark." Genesis 7:22-24

We see a bit of that here in the early work.

So, this a pretty dark novel about some poor people traveling around rural America set around 1900 or earlier. It is a short but entertaining read and gives us a picture of the young McCarthy as a writer.

Recommend: 4 or 5 stars.

Wait, that's how it ends?.......2007-07-10

I was/am very intrigued with Cormac McCarthy's writing style and prose. Right from the beginning you get a sense that he knows his craft and he knows it well. His clipped, descriptive sentences add much more color than you would think could be added to such a desolate setting. For example, "Holme swallowed the leached and tasteless wad of meat, his eyeballs tilting like a toad's with the effort." I was drawn into this book from the beginning.

At first there seemed a general theme to Outer Dark. Many abandoned buildings in a desolate and poor countryside and yet every person they met offered them food or a place to stay. The exception being Culla Holme, who invariably seemed to be chased by bad circumstances for what he did with his incestuous child. A kind of retribution was being enacted on him.

But this is where it got confusing. All of a sudden there would be a quick excerpt or scene of violence and death. You don't know why it happened or who did it, but it always happened just before or after a Culla chapter. So conclusions are drawn. We soon find out that it isn't him, that it is the villains of the novel. Culla himself runs into them several times as part of the retribution enacted for the incestuous relationship coupled with the attempted murder of his newborn son. Then the novel goes haywire and turns macabre and horror like, leaving you finishing the book not understanding anything, not understanding what the book was about. Perhaps I missed something.

I am definitely intrigued with McCarthy's style of writing and I will definitely read some of his other books. And I think I would find that this is a book more for the diehard McCarthy fans than it is for someone like myself who has never read any of his other novels. I would recommend McCarthy, but not necessarily this book.

3 stars.

Great book for McCarthy fans.......2007-06-20

"Outer Dark" is the story of a brother and sister and their child. The child is born in a desperate cabin someplace in the Appalachian Mountains. The brother, Culla Holme, takes the newborn while the mother/sister sleeps and sets the child in the night woods. The child is found by an iterant tinker. The sister/mother, Rinthy Holme, awakes. She confronts her brother, they argue, and eventually both set out separately on the road--the sister to find the child and the brother for no reason other than perhaps desperation.

Once they are on the road, the book follows a classic journey narrative. The landscape is dark and strange. The people they meet even more so. A few of the chapters are perfectly written. There is a chapter about halfway through the book where Culla meets a snake hunter. Now there is nothing particularly important in this chapter as it relates to the rest of the novel--no important aspects of character revealed, not important action or theme, it is just a beautiful handful of pages that form a perfect circle. The dialogue is brilliant. The snake hunter talks about his well, his wife, his hounds, the neighbor with whom he still carries a feud despite the fact that the neighbor has been dead nearly a decade. The chapter is a great example of Faulkner's observation, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." This is true among certain communities in the South, but I also think it belongs to a broader class and generation of people; people who frame their individual and collective lives as narratives to live, relive, and pass along. And I suspect that the reason this chapter stands out for me is that unlike other chapters that rely on strangeness and cruelty for much of their emotional tension, this small chapter is, at least by McCarthy standards, benign. There are no corpses hanging from trees, no drooling mutes or eyeless crones or murdered infants. And I believe that these moments, moments that lean on something other than the weird or cruel, are McCarthy's best. And it is unfortunate that they are often overlooked for the sheer spectacle of his violence.

There are several things I found problematic in this novel. Firstly, there is a triad of evil men prowling the land. They are composite characters that we find in other McCarthy novels. There is the sentient evildoer, the learned man who pontificates the meaning of mankind. There is the cadre mutants, misshapen and nameless--in this case, one man is actually nameless. McCarthy never tells us where they come from or what motivates them. They are just there, a part of the landscape perhaps--a force birthed by the landscape. I don't know. I can only speculate and with very little evidence from the text. Now perhaps they are a reflection of real life, the evil we hear about on the evening news or witness through history. But so what, as I've heard time and again in workshop, life does not good fiction make. Perhaps my problem is that I do not necessarily believe in evil, but rather in motivation--in that people can be motivated to do some awful things. And good fiction is in that motivation. And it does not have to be much. I found the motivations toward evil in Blood Meridian convincing--racism, imperialism, greed, desperation, ceremony. But evil simply for evil's sake, or even as a reflection of some aspect of the human psyche, collective or individual, does not work and detracts from the overall effect of the work.

Then there is the issue of coincidence--or perhaps it is meant to be fate. Either way, the key events of the novel depend upon happenstance that felt incredible and I must say a bit contrived. The first time that Culla Holme meets the triad of evil, he is washed from a ferry on a flooded river. He stumbles into their camp to warm by the fire. And I am trying to figure out why this meeting feels so forced. I suspect that it has something to do with the needless drama of the ferry scene, a drama with no narrative significance other than to put Culla within view of the triad's fire. It would have felt more credible if no great event or drama preceded the meeting, or if some event of greater significance, an event tied inextricably to the progression of the novel, preceded their meeting. As it stands, the action packed ferry scene serves no purpose other than to position the characters.

And then it happens again. McCarthy creates an interesting, high drama scene involving a hog drive, thousands of animals driven through the mountains. One of the hog drivers is forced off a bluff by stampeding pigs. He dies and the blame is assigned to Culla. It is an interesting scene, the dialogue is sharp and the characters of the itinerant preacher and the hog drivers are vivid. They plan to hang Culla but don't have a rope. They march him back to camp for the proper hanging equipment--as one of the characters explains, it is the Christian thing to do. Culla jumps from the bluffs and into the river to escape. And guess where the next chapter finds him? Another river drama, another visit to the evildoer's camp.

A terrible act of violence beings the book to a close. It is turely awful, but it does complete the novel. And were it not for the questions raised by the unmotivated evil, and the coincidences that brought the characters together, the novel would be nearly perfect.

I can't help but wonder how McCarthy could solve the problems of the novel, though I suspect, given his other work from this period, he preferred to leave certain questions unanswered. And these things I label problems are in fact intentional. In any event, I believe an answer resides somewhere in that perfect chapter in the middle of the novel, the chapter with the snake hunter. The thing that makes this chapter work is what Charles Baxter calls rhyming action: "When narratives move in reverse--when they come dramatically or imagistically to a point that is similar to the one they already seemingly passed." I sense that is perhaps something of the intention in this work--much of it doubles back upon itself. One of the reasons the murder is so disturbing is that it had already been committed at the beginning of the work, when Culla left the newborn, naked, in the night woods. But the dramatic events, the river dramas, that bring about the final rhyming murder, ring dissonant with all that came previously. Even though they are repetitive, they stand out from the rest of the work and seem to develop in their own direction--a misplaced rhyme--until the writer pushes Culla into the river and gets him drifting in the right direction.

Compelling Read.......2007-05-13

This is a great book- almost as good as 'The Road'. I didn't want to put it down. The natual slowness doesn't hurt the urge to continue to read. If you like The Road, you will like this!

The Wasteland and the Grail King.......2007-01-03

=Outer Dark= describes a barren Wasteland and Holme is the Grail King, complete with a wounded "leg" as a symbol of his inability to love acceptably. In a Wasteland where women are not valued, children are not nurtured either, and the child ends up burned and half-blinded, in the way that its father and his culture are blind to his disregard for his sister and their child. I love the poetic prose of this writer. And the words-- where does he get those words? Cormac McCarthy is the best writer writing in America today, similar to but better than Steinbeck and Faulkner.

Tennessee Williams: Plays 1937-1955 (Library of America)

Average customer rating:

One of the greats
Dragon Country.
Tennesse Williams: Pulitzer Prize Winner
The plays are great, but a misleading description
A Wonderful Book to Own, to Treasure

Tennessee Williams: Plays 1937-1955 (Library of America)
Tennessee Williams
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1883011868

Customer Reviews:

One of the greats.......2005-12-03

Tennessee Williams is in the top ranks of American playwrights. His works are a MUST for serious students of the American theatre. Moreover, they are wonderful works for actors to read and learn from -- some of the finest characters, most poignant scenes, and brilliant insights on human nature AND theatrical staging that you can find anywhere. Cheerful? No. Uplifting? Usually not. Brilliant, stageworthy and gripping? Always. This collection, both volumes, gives you all the plays, plus some very worthwhile notes and prefaces from Williams himself.

Dragon Country........2004-06-14

"It is only in his work that an artist can find reality and satisfaction, for the actual world is less intense than the world of his invention and consequently his life, without recourse to violent disorder, does not seem very substantial," Tennessee Williams wrote in the 1948 essay "The Catastrophe of Success," eventually added as a preface to the "memory play" that catapulted him to stardom, "The Glass Menagerie" (1945). Prophetic words of a man who drew heavily on his own experience, on life in the economically depressed South, homosexuality, alcoholism, physical and mental infirmity, violence, passion, desire, love and loss, but most of all his profound sense of humanity and his understanding of the drama of everyday life to create Dragon Country, that uninhabitable and yet inhabited world, that land of unendurable but nevertheless endured pain (also the title of a 1970 collection of plays) of unforgettable pieces such as "The Glass Menagerie," "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1947), "Summer and Smoke" (1948), "The Rose Tattoo" (1951), "Camino Real" (1953), "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955), "Orpheus Descending" (1957), "Suddenly Last Summer" (1958), "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1959), "The Night of the Iguana" (1961) and "Not About Nightingales" (set in 1938 but only brought to the stage 50 years later).

Born Thomas Lanier Williams to an overbearing, hard-drinking, abusive, frequently absent father and a doting mother, Tennessee acquired the sobriquet he later chose as his first name in university, where his Deep South accent made him an easy target for his classmates. A writer since his youth, he saw his first short story ("Isolated") published in a high school newspaper; and after several other prose publications, his second play "Cairo! Shanghai! Bombay!" was produced by a Memphis amateur company in 1935. (His first play, the unstaged "Beauty Is the Word," had been a 1930 University of Missouri drama class assignment which, submitted to the school's Dramatic Arts Club contest, won the first honorable mention ever to be awarded to a freshman). After a stint with his father's shoe company, where he had gone to work at parental insistence, he graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938. His big breakthrough came with "A Glass Menagerie;" the story of fading Southern belle Amanda Wingfield (who, like many of Williams's most memorable characters, frantically clings to the illusion of a world gone by), her crippled daughter Laura (the owner of the titular glass figurine collection), "gentleman caller" Jim (Laura's suitor), and Amanda's son Tom, Williams's thinly veiled alter ego who, like the playwright, sees his vocation as a poet crushed under his daily job at a shoe factory. Yet, looking back at his struggling life preceding "Glass Menagerie," Williams later came to regard that time as more real than the life made possible by fame and fortune: in fact, "it was the sort of life for which the human organism is created," he wrote in "The Catastrophe of Success."

The present compilation, one of two volumes in the magnificent "Library of America" series, brings together the more significant works of Williams's early years and of his peak as a playwright through 1955, including inter alia his two Pulitzer Prize winners ("A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"), the only recently-rediscovered "Spring Storm" (1938) and "Not About Nightingales," the initial, unsuccessful version of "Orpheus Descending" ("Battle of Angels," 1940), as well as excerpts from the one-act play collection "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" (originally from 1945, augmented and republished 1953), among them the collection's title piece plus "The Lady of Larkspur Lotion," "Something Unspoken," "This Property Is Condemned," and others. The second Library of America volume covers Williams's creative period after 1955. Neither tome is all-inclusive; a fully comprehensive compilation would easily have required three volumes for the plays alone, not to mention his poetry and prose; and a 1955 caesura certainly does make sense. Still: completists will have to look elsewhere in addition. Among the more significant omissions in this first volume are "Cairo! Shanghai! Bombay!" (which I would have liked to see included if only because it was his first-ever staged play) as well as the modestly successful "American Blues" (1939) and the remaining one-act plays from "27 Wagons Full of Cotton." Volume 2 similarly focuses on Williams's more significant later plays; omitting, e.g., "Gnaediges Fraeulein," "In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel," "The Red Devil Battery Sign," "The Notebook of Trigorin" - his adaptation of Anton Chekhov's "Seagull" - and his infamous "Baby Doll" screenplay, as well as its stage adaptation "Tiger Tail."

Although many of Williams's works reached audiences not only on stage but also on the silver screen, beginning in the 1950s he came under increased scrutiny due to his unconventional lifestyle. Even in his plays' most successful screen adaptations, the more controversial elements, such as Brick's unavowed homosexuality in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and the sexual tension between Stanley and Blanche in "A Streetcar Named Desire," were either muted or censored entirely; and particularly in later years, criticism leveled against his plays was often truly motivated by objections against the man himself. - "The bird that I hope to catch in the net of this play is ... the true quality of experience in a group of people, that cloudy, flickering, evanescent - fiercely charged! - interplay of live human beings in the thundercloud of a common crisis," Williams wrote in a stage direction in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." But while his own life's thunderstorm did eventually prove fatal (he choked to death on a medicine bottle cap in 1983), over the course of his life he revolutionized Southern drama in a way only comparable to Faulkner's impact on literary fiction, and set a shining example for generations of later playwrights. All-encompassing or not: the Library of America's collection of his works is an excellent place to begin a journey of appreciation into his Dragon Country.

Tennesse Williams: Pulitzer Prize Winner.......2004-04-05

Tennessee Williams is one of my favorite playwrights, and he was one of America's best. I think he was clearly also one of the 20th Century's best. Wonderful poignant tragic storyteller with memorable characters, like the frail southern belle Blanche in his classic play "A Streetcar Named Desire", or Stanley her uncouth brother-in-law who destroys her last shot at happiness. Another great play is "The Glass Menagerie", his first hit, which was an enormous success and catupulted him instantly into the forefront of emerging young playwrights at the time. It's a very entertaining story, very readable, I highly recommend you read it. Another is "The Rose Tattoo"--also see the film of the same name. And Williams' last great play was "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."

David Rehak
author of "Love and Madness"

The plays are great, but a misleading description.......2002-07-14

The plays contained in this volume are wonderful and interesting (especially in terms of his development) to any fan of Tennessee Williams... but I purchased the book believing it was the COMPLETE collected plays 1937-1955, which it is not. It is a group of "selected" plays. I bought it hoping to get more of the one-acts and historical oddities. It contains some of these, but mostly consists of his the more well-known plays, which anyone who would buy this book likely already has (e.g. Cat. Streetcar, Menagerie). Perhaps Amazon.com might want to place a line of explanatory commentary to that effect on the product description.

A Wonderful Book to Own, to Treasure.......2001-02-12

The new Library of America volume "Tennessee Williams: Plays, 1937-1955" is the first of two volumes. (The second volume covers the plays from 1957 to 1980.) This is a magnificent book, beautifully printed and bound. It is comprehensive (over 1000 pages) and has extensive notes and a complete chronology of Williams's life. Several of the plays are printed with commentaries by Tennessee Williams himself, essays that are very informative. This book belongs in the library of any fan of American theater.

If you have only seen the several movies made in the 1950's from his plays, reading these will prove a revelation for you. Because of the restrictions put on movies in the 50's, most of his works were deeply expurgated, especially any overt references to homosexuality. So reading the original plays here often reveals underlying previously obscure motivations/conflicts of some of the characters: why, for example, Blanche DuBois had fallen from being a privileged Southern Belle to the pathetic wretch who appeared on Stanley and Stella's doorstep.

Unlike many playwrights, Tennessee Williams tended to give long, detailed stage directions. This gives the reader of the plays a novel-like narrative, making them wonderful experiences for readers who do not ordinarily enjoy reading plays. The sensuous atmosphere, the classical -- almost Greek sense of tragedy that looms in almost all of these plays, and the exquisite use of language make this a unique reading experience. The writers who had influence over Williams's style are never named but seem apparent, at least to this reader. For example, when reading "The Rose Tattoo" I was reminded of the great Spanish poet/playwright Garcia Lorca's "House of Bernarda Alba." The cackling, vicious, vindictive neighbors, like some Greek Chorus, echoed many of the women in Lorca's work.

This volume even includes the play "Not About Nightingales", a play never performed in Williams's lifetime, but which was recently brought to Broadway in a Tony-winning run. "Not About Nightingales" is a stark prison drama that is quite different from the style he eventually developed. Among the "great" plays included here are "The Glass Menagerie", "A Streetcar Named Desire", "Summer and Smoke", and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof." Like all volumes in the Library of America series, this book has been given first-class treatment. Beautiful bindings, ribboned marker, and fine acid-free paper for permanence. It is meant to be owned and treasured forever. You will love this book....

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