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Title: Losing Battles by Eudora Welty ISBN: 0-679-72882-1 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 11 August, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.43 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Southern Heratige Shines Once Again
Comment: Eudora Welty truly shows her Southern heratige in the novel, "Losing Battles." Three generations of Granny Vaughn's family come to celebrate her nineteth birthday. The family is also celebrating her grandson, Jack's, return home from prison. Welty writes this novel almost entirely in dialouge. At first it is very hard to keep up with all of the aunts, uncles, grandchildren, etc. talking, but as the novel progresses, it gets easier to read and you learn about each individual character. Even though this technique gets easier as the plot unfolds, it gets very tiring. It takes away a certain zest by not telling how the characters are feeling and thinking. Welty shows the great value of small towns. This novel brings about the closeness that communities should have. Take for example the fact that Jack ends up helping the judge who sentenced him to prison. The Banner community is very welcoming to other people, like Jack's new wife. The jargon used by Welty also creates a sense of closeness you feel toward the audience. "Losing Battles" reveals the importance of your roots and the people in which you come in contact with. On the day of the reunion a teacher who had taught three generations of Banner inhabitants passed away, giving the family more reasons to reminence about the old days. This part of the story created a twist and it allowed the novel to become more closer to heart. The laughter and the tears associated with the novel make it a 'losing battle' if you try to put it down. Even though it isn't my favorite novel in the world, it is well-written and one worth reading. So pick up a copy soon so you will be lost in the Southern heraitge that shined once again!
Rating: 4
Summary: Resistance to the wit and warmth in this novel is futile
Comment: In "Delta Wedding" Eudora Welty explored the dynamics of a family wedding; "Losing Battles," which greatly resembles her earlier novel, is a similar yarn about a family reunion. The cause for the celebration is Granny Vaughn's 90th birthday, but the relations also gather for her grandson Jack's return from prison and to learn that the schoolteacher who had taught (and tortured) three generations of Banner's inhabitants has passed away that very morning.
Told almost entirely in dialogue, this novel reads like one of the lengthiest plays ever written. Welty moves from one conversation to the next, recording every word spoken by every character, rarely describing what they are thinking or how they are feeling, and supplying the "action" only when necessary. I can imagine that some might find this technique tiresome, but I couldn't stop turning the pages. Yes, it's a long read, but it's an easy one.
The novel displays Welty's usual small-town humor: townfolk so closely bound that they are unable to hold a grudge (Jack even comes to the aid of the judge who sentenced him), rapid-fire and droll sarcasm among family members ("What's a morning yell for?" "Mainly to show you're still alive after the night."), and rural parochialism and ignorance that are more endearing than disquieting. The one surprise (for Welty) is the pure slapstick of the situation created when the judge's car teeters on the edge of an incline--which it does for most of the length of the novel--and the family's various attempts to bring it safely down; the last chapter is more Keystone Cops than her usual high-brow Faulkner-style wit.
Like the book's many outsiders (Jack's wife, the schoolteacher, an aunt newly married into the family, the judge and his wife), the reader ultimately succumbs to the charm and magnetism of the Banner community. Any attempt to resist is just a losing battle.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Great Book
Comment: This is by far the best book I have read which deals with Southern culture. This book is very funny. At first it was hard keeping all of the characters straight but after awhile it becomes easy and you really get to know them. I am sure for those who have read this book that they thought of certain individuals in their families which reminded them of the characters in the book. There are also just enough twists and turns to keep you interested. However, like someone previously stated, this is the most entertaining book in which absolutely nothing happens. Welty utilizes a sort of Hemmingway-esque dialogue with just enough of a Southern twist to make the characters come to life in a sort of familial (inbred) manner.
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Title: Stories of the Modern South by Ben Forkner, Patrick Samway ISBN: 014024705X Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: August, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: Delta Wedding: A Novel (A Harvest/Hbj Book) by Eudora Welty ISBN: 0156252805 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: March, 1979 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston ISBN: 0060931418 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 December, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty ISBN: 0156729156 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: October, 1967 List Price(USD): $10.00 |
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Title: All the King's Men (Harvest Book) by Robert Penn Warren, Joseph Blotner ISBN: 0156004801 Publisher: Harvest Books Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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