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Title: Clear Springs : A Family Story by Bobbie Ann Mason, Random House Inc. ISBN: 0-06-095629-1 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 25 April, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (16 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Magical and nostalgic
Comment: Bobbie Ann Mason has written an honest and wonderful book dealing with her growing-up years in Western Kentucky, with her leaving the rural life and entering the urban world, only to return in her later years to Kentucky. The book will trigger a lot of similar memories in many readers, and should take its place alongside books by Russell Baker and others as a true and accurate picture of bygone eras.
Rating: 5
Summary: Memories of Bygone Times
Comment: I really enjoyed this book a lot! I didn't just read it; I pored over it and savored every word. "Clear Springs" is the family history of Bobbie Ann Mason, a woman born and raised in Kentucky. It explores not only her own memories of growing up in rural Kentucky, but also those of her mother and grandmother--three generations of women. The details are wonderful. Reading this book makes you feel as if these women are people you know - maybe your neighbors or relatives in your own family. This book takes you back to a time when life was simpler in some ways, but more complicated in other ways. I especially enjoyed the photos of Bobbie's family members in the middle of the book. I would be reading the story and then go flip back to the pictures to envision these people in my mind as I thought about their lives. It really brought the characters to life in a more vivid way. What a valuable way of preserving her memories of a people, a place, and a way of life gone by in the words of this book! With all of the millions of people in the United States, one might think their own life is fairly insignificant; however, when you read this book, one realizes that everyone has a story to tell, their own personal history from their special era in which they lived. This book is like a little slice of America. I recommend it to all! Happy Reading!
Rating: 4
Summary: The way it was, for some of us, in childhood...
Comment: When writing a memoir, authors are advised to write the first draft as if everyone is dead - and then to prune the damaging parts in subsequent rewrites. Perhaps Mason pruned a bit too much. This otherwise lovely and affectionate memoir of how it was to grow up in a small, working-class town in Kentucky in the 40s and 50s is a bit long on respect and caution - and a bit short on grit.
Otherwise, I loved it. I grew up in Kansas in the 50s and can relate to the pace, small-town values, and lack of danger (except from the "evil Communists" and "the bomb") that Mason portrays as such inherent parts of her roots. Her language, esp in the first part of the book focusing on her own childhood memories, is rich and multi-layered and pulls readers into every scene right along with her. In the rest of the book, she uses the techniques of creative nonfiction to weave a background narrative that spans the lives of three generations of women within the community.
A worthwhile read; it won't change your life, but it might make you think, and it's certainly a pleasant trip to take with this accomplished author.
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Title: Feather Crowns by Bobbie Ann Mason ISBN: 0060925493 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 03 August, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: In Country RI by Bobbie Ann Mason ISBN: 0060913509 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 22 October, 1986 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason ISBN: 0375758437 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 07 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Elvis Presley (Penguin Lives) by Bobbie Ann Mason ISBN: 0670031747 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Zigzagging Down a Wild Trail : Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason ISBN: 037576061X Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 02 July, 2002 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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