Books : Dwelling Places: A Novel (Vinita Hampton Wright)
|
|
In association with Amazon.com
|
by: Vinita Hampton Wright
Amazon.com's Price: $23.95 Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780060790806
ISBN: 0060790806
Label: HarperOne
Manufacturer: HarperOne
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 352
Publication Date: February 01, 2006
Publisher: HarperOne
Release Date: January 31, 2006
Sales Rank: 839017
Studio: HarperOne
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Mack and Jodie have no idea how much their lives are going to change when they decide to give up farming. Mack is hospitalized with depression, Jodie finds herself tempted by the affections of another man, and their teenage children begin looking for answers outside the family—Kenzie turns to fundamentalist Christianity, and Taylor starts cavorting with Goths. Told in the unforgettable voices of each family member, this powerful story of family life reveals the stubborn resilience of love and how sometimes the very thing we're looking for has been waiting at home all along.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Too Slow
This book might be welled written, but it was too slow and boring. I think maybe it did not take on the real stuggle of the husband and wife. I did not feel for anyone except the Rita the Grandmother. The story of Young Taylor really did not develop and I felt I was forcing myself to finish. Read if you have nothing better to do, but there are far better novels out there.
Rating:  - loss of the family farm brings grief and hope
My biggest disappointment with this book was when I turned the page and discovered it was the LAST page. I really wanted the story to continue. Anyone who has ever lived on a farm, or known anyone who has, will identify with the grief that attends the loss of family land and the life of farmer and farmer's wife. Rita, Mack, and Jodi, the adults, are well drawn, but the teens, Kenzie and Young Taylor, are spot on. Young Taylor, in all his goth finery and make-up, is vulnerable and yet wise. Kenzie, ... Read More
Rating: - Tender, Honest, and a Little Too Raw
Slip into the quiet world of Beulah, Iowa, and the private lives of Rita, Mack, Jodie, and Kenzie - a grandmother, father, mother, and daughter who each have their own journeys to take and battles to fight. This is the story of one family and three seasons, seasons of grief and pain and loss and learning and restoration and wholeness. It is a story of farming, of suicide, of misdirected love, of brokenness and healing.
The style of this book is one that made me breathe a little sigh of ... Read More
Rating: - well-written
Wright is an excellent writer, no argument there. However, the story was just too slow for me. And I read long books, so it's not because I need page-turning fiction. I felt it was weighted-down with too much hum-drum detail and it exhausted me at points. It was like, come on, get on with the story. I love details in a story, but there has to be some balance with actual "drama" to keep the pages turning. I got really bored at times and dreaded picking it up, which rarely happens with me. The last quarter ... Read More
Rating: - Brilliant in Understanding and Scope
Vinita Hampton Wright's book packs a great wallop. I chose this book because it is set in my home state of Iowa. It was only after I was well into the book that I realized that although the town of Beulah is fictional, she did base it on Mahaska County. My dad graduated from Eddyville High; my aunt lived in Fremont; and my grandparents moved south to Monroe County in Albia. I have spent a good deal of time in this area. So I felt connected by virtue of the setting to this story. Clearly, Wright uses ... Read More
|
|
|
