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Bret Lott ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
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Bret Lott Jewel (Oprah's Book Club)
Washington Square Press 0671038184 / 9780671038182 PAPERBACK Good
0671038184 Editorial Reviews n nAmazon Review nOprah Book Club? Selection, January 1999: The year is 1943 and life is good for Jewel Hilburn, her husband, Leston, and their five children. Although there's a war on, the Mississippi economy is booming, providing plenty of business for the hardworking family. And even the news that eldest son James has enlisted is mitigated by the fact that Jewel, now pushing 40, is pregnant with one last child. Her joy is slightly clouded, however, when her childhood friend Cathedral arrives at the door with a troubling prophecy: I say unto you that the baby you be carrying be yo' hardship, be yo' test in this world. This be my prophesying unto you, Miss Jewel. n nWhen the child is finally born, it seems that Cathedral's prediction was empty: the baby appears normal in every way. As the months go by, however, Jewel becomes increasingly afraid that something is wrong with little Brenda Kay--she doesn't cry, she doesn't roll over, she's hardly ever awake. Eventually husband and wife take the baby to the doctor and are informed that she is a Mongolian Idiot, not expected to live past the age of 2. Jewel angrily rebuffs the doctor's suggestion that they institutionalize Brenda Kay. Instead the Hilburns shoulder the burdens--and discover the unexpected joys--of living with a Down's syndrome child. n nBret Lott has written a novel that spans decades, follows the lives of several characters, and cuts back and forth between Mississippi and California. Given these challenges, a lesser writer might lose focus. Lott, however, has wisely chosen to keep his eye trained on Jewel--a narrator who is smart, perceptive, and above all, honest. He has also bucked the trend toward political correctness by allowing his characters to think, feel, and talk the way white Mississippians of that era would have. (Mongolian Idiot, nigger, cracker, and buck are just a few of the epithets sprinkled throughout the text.) The language may be discomforting to some readers. Few will deny, however, that Bret Lott has crafted a clan that is all heart in this bittersweet paean to the enduring strength of familial love. --Margaret Prior n nFrom Publishers Weekly nJewel Hilburn, the strong-willed narrator of this acutely affecting work, lavishes the parental love she never received upon her own exceptional child. Her adult life in rural Mississippi with two daughters, three sons and a devoted husband, Leston, has been one of domestic stability until the arrival in 1943 of her sixth child, Brenda Kay, afflicted with Down's syndrome. Brenda Kay becomes Jewel's, and necessarily her family's, sole focus: Leston's dream of owning a lumber company dies as medical costs mount, a lifelong friend is spitefully and unjustly blamed for an accident involving Brenda Kay, Jewel's decision to move the family to California to ensure the child's education sparks an excruciating battle of wills with Leston. Lott ( A Dream of Old Leaves ), who based his main characters on his own grandmother and aunt, expertly realizes a stubborn, faithful mother and her phenomenally unselfish, supportive family. Readers will suffer with Jewel, share her enthusiasm at Brenda Kay's progress, turn against her as she deliberately tries to break Leston's spirit. This haunting novel, imbued with an almost unbearable authenticity, runs the gamut of emotions associated with marriage and parenthood and acknowledges love's limitless potential. nCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Price:
2.00 EUR
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Bret Lott The Man Who Owned Vermont
Washington Square Press 0671038206 / 9780671038205 PAPERBACK Very Good
0671038206 Editorial Reviews n nFrom Publishers Weekly nSnaring the reader in the very first sentence with the narrator's distinctive, totally credible voice, Lott has written a gripping novel about ordinary people that rings true with an uncommon resonance. After his wife, Paige, miscarries their first baby, Rick Wheeler blames himself for the disaster and stops talking to her. He carves out for himself, away from her, an increasingly separate domain, of which the emblem is Vermont (he claims it "for myself," because Paige has never been there). Paige leaves him, and now he's doubly bereft. For a time he finds solace by throwing himself into his job as a soda pop salesman with Northampton, Mass., as his base. But it isn't enough. In the end, Rick learns a crucial lesson from a deer-hunting plumber named Lonny and begins to put his life back together. One of the best things about this affecting first novel is its strong regional pungency. Lott's bits of country are the parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont threaded together by Interstate Highway 91 and the Merritt Parkway, a territory not often explored in serious fiction. nCopyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. n nReview nColumbus Dispatch Fully realized and memorable....Anyone who picks up this book will be moved. -- Review
Price:
2.00 EUR
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