A professional storyteller and performer of Appalachian ballads
attempts to bring to life in print her small mountain community in
North Carolina. While some are barely anecdotes and others longer
narratives, Adams's 32 tales are meant to add up to a portrait of a
people and a place. Not surprisingly, they succeed when
particularized and ring hollow when riddled with platitudes.
"Granny" - based on the author's great-aunt Dellie Chandler Norton,
a famous balladeer in her own right - is the strongest continuous
thread, although as a character she often falls victim to the
veneer of sentimentality that overwhelms the weaker sketches. In
"Answers to Life's Questions," for example, Adams calls Granny,
blandly, "...the most exciting person I had ever known." Overall,
the second-hand stories, passed down for generations, are the most
effective: In "Marking a Trail," Adams's grandfather "Breaddaddy"
tells of The High Rock and its seven holes so that it seems a
living fairy tale; in "Grubbing Out the Stump," the secret of a
60-plus-year marriage is revealed with humor and genuine warmth;
and the charming but edgy "Bertha and the Snake Handlers" is a real
tour-deforce. But tales told from Adams's adult perspective lack
the tang of the burnished "histories": "Off to Ivydale," for one,
could be Anyteens in a Rural Setting, USA. And when Granny's old
age and eventual death are the subject, the writing turns wholly
sentimental: Phrases like "I will miss her as long as I live" -
from "Ending Granny's Story" - come straight out of Hallmark-land.
The end note, though, "Weather Breeder" (which returns to Adams's
childhood), has the sensory specificity that distinguishes the best
of the batch. A whole isn't quite provided by the sum of these
parts: What may be missing in Adams's first collection is the sound
of her own voice. (Kirkus Reviews)
Sheila Adams has been performing Appalachian ballads and telling
stories for over twenty years. A native of Madison County, North
Carolina, she was introduced to the tale-telling tradition by her
great-aunt 'Granny,' well-known balladeer Dellie Chandler Norton.
This collection of Adams's stories provides a rare portrait of a
distinctive mountain community and charts the development of an
artist's unique voice. The tales range from stories of heroic,
sometimes fierce, mountain settlers to the comic adventures of
local drifters and tricksters, from magical childhood encounters to
adult rites of passage. We meet Bertha and the snake handlers,
local preacher Manassey Fender (who 'looked like a pencil with a
burr haircut, in a suit'), and Adams's beloved grandfather
Breaddaddy, who taught her about life and death with an enchanting
graveyard dance. But perhaps the most powerful character depicted
here is 'Granny,' whom Adams calls 'the most exciting person I have
ever known and the best teacher I would ever have.' By weaving
these remembrances into her stories, Adams both preserves and
extends a rich artistic heritage. |A history of Austrian
anti-Semitism--and the Jewish responses to it--since the Middle
Ages, with particular focus on the 1914-1938 period. This study
identifies many sources and varieties of the anti-Semitism that has
pervaded Austria.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
Welcome to Loot.co.za!
Sign in / Register |Wishlists & Gift Vouchers |Help | Advanced search
(1)
