Helpful Score: 1
The writing is elegant, the characters well drawn, the dialogue finely honed. I enjoyed this book.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed this book mainly because I was raised in Memphis, so it was kind of neat to read the parts the author mentions different landmarks that I'm familiar with. It's not a page-turner, by any means, but a good read, especially if you're familiar with Memphis.
Helpful Score: 1
Lovely book with typical Taylor subject of appearances and genteel Southern ways. A widowed father decides to remarry setting off shockwaves among his daughters and calling his son home. Lyrical and subtly charming.
I make it a point to read Pulitzer Prize winning books whenever I get a chance; this is, I think, only the second one I didn't finish.
Peter Taylor is recognized as a master of the short story, and according to the jacket blurbs, the literary world had been waiting for years for this novel (his second), which is actually a 233 page novella. When it was published in the mid 1980's it was a best-selling literary sensation. I have a suspicion the Pulitzer committee gave it the prize based on his entire body of work, which was extensive and well-received.
The book is very well and clearly written; each sentence is polished like a jewel. Maybe if I had read it 27 years ago when it was first published (and when I felt that as a serious reader I was required to read "Great Literature") I would have enjoyed it more. Fifty pages in, I was thoroughly bored; I kept reading - since it won the Pulitzer, it's bound to get better, right? After 90 pages, I got on-line and checked the Amazon reviews.
Fifteen five-star reviews, as ecpected. Thirteen four-star reviews, most of which carried the same praise for his writing, his clarity, and his attention to detail. The seven reviews with three, two, and one stars were more revealing. Without exception, they found the book boring and long-winded. Many thought the Pulitzer committee had completely dropped the ball - as I do.
Life is too short to spend any more time on this just because somebody else said it's great literature.
Peter Taylor is recognized as a master of the short story, and according to the jacket blurbs, the literary world had been waiting for years for this novel (his second), which is actually a 233 page novella. When it was published in the mid 1980's it was a best-selling literary sensation. I have a suspicion the Pulitzer committee gave it the prize based on his entire body of work, which was extensive and well-received.
The book is very well and clearly written; each sentence is polished like a jewel. Maybe if I had read it 27 years ago when it was first published (and when I felt that as a serious reader I was required to read "Great Literature") I would have enjoyed it more. Fifty pages in, I was thoroughly bored; I kept reading - since it won the Pulitzer, it's bound to get better, right? After 90 pages, I got on-line and checked the Amazon reviews.
Fifteen five-star reviews, as ecpected. Thirteen four-star reviews, most of which carried the same praise for his writing, his clarity, and his attention to detail. The seven reviews with three, two, and one stars were more revealing. Without exception, they found the book boring and long-winded. Many thought the Pulitzer committee had completely dropped the ball - as I do.
Life is too short to spend any more time on this just because somebody else said it's great literature.
Winner of the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Food for thought about family relationships and dysfunction. Well written, with defined characters.
There is some underlining and a few small notes on the page with reviews, the title page and pages 5 & 6.
When Phillip Carver receives on a lonely Sunday evening, two successive calls from his sisters, begging him to leave his home in Manhatten and return immediately to Memphis, he is slow to agree. His sisters, middle-aged and unmarried want his help in averting the remarriage of their father, an elderly widower. Although Phillip wants no part in such manipulations, he finds himself unable to refuse to make the trip South....and into his own past....
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
