Excellent, thought provoking, shocking and inspiring., 02 Feb 2002
These essays are part poetry, part confessional, part story and part critical analysis. They are an exploration of Dorothy Allison's life, her writing, her beliefs and her sexuality. Each essay treats a different subject, although there are continuing themes seen throughout the collection, and each essay has a unique style. Allison discusses incredibly difficult and private subjects, such as her experience of rape, of physical and psychological abuse as a child, her deep love and desire for women, and her conflicted but very close relationship with her mother, with sensitivity and insight. Allison also possesses an amazing capacity for laughing both at herself and the actions of the world in general.
Well in no way light holiday entertainment I recommend this collection of essays as inspiring read, and a refreshing change from the kind of bestseller novels which glide over both your brain and your emotions without leaving a noticable impact. This book is a lesson in survival, revealing the struggle of an individual against the harsh realities of growing up female, poor, working class, and lesbian in the Southern states of America, and it is not a book to be missed.

Excellent, thought provoking, shocking and inspiring., 02 Feb 2002
These essays are part poetry, part confessional, part story and part critical analysis. They are an exploration of Dorothy Allison's life, her writing, her beliefs and her sexuality. Each essay treats a different subject, although there are continuing themes seen throughout the collection, and each essay has a unique style. Allison discusses incredibly difficult and private subjects, such as her experience of rape, of physical and psychological abuse as a child, her deep love and desire for women, and her conflicted but very close relationship with her mother, with sensitivity and insight. Allison also possesses an amazing capacity for laughing both at herself and the actions of the world in general.
Well in no way light holiday entertainment I recommend this collection of essays as inspiring read, and a refreshing change from the kind of bestseller novels which glide over both your brain and your emotions without leaving a noticable impact. This book is a lesson in survival, revealing the struggle of an individual against the harsh realities of growing up female, poor, working class, and lesbian in the Southern states of America, and it is not a book to be missed.

DARK AND MELANCHOLIC COMING OF AGE STORY..., 26 Aug 2007
This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. We see her world through her eyes, so that the reader gets a skewed version of the world around Frankie. Clearly all is not right with her, as her brother is getting married and Frankie thinks that she will be going off with her brother and his bride. Frankie spins a total fantasy around this concept. She does not think that two is company and three is a crowd.

Why does she do this? There are many reasons. Some of them are rather dark. Frankie's mother died giving birth to her. Her father has remained a widower, letting Frankie sleep in the same bed with him until she was about twelve, when he finally gave her the boot. Her best friend is her six year old first cousin, John Henry. He likes to sleep over, and when he does, he sleeps in the bed with Frankie. She caresses him when he sleeps, and even takes to licking him behind his ear while he slumbers. She also has apparently had a sexual encounter of some kind with a neighborhood boy, an incident about which she will not speak. The author weaves these details into the story, glossing over them, leaving the reader feeling shocked. This feeling is exacerbated by the almost casual interjection of these details.

There is so much emotional trauma in Frankie's life that it is amazing she can function at all. Also distressing to Frankie is the fact that she is isolated from children her own age. The neighborhood girls, who are just a little older than her and whom Frankie envies, shun her. Her father pretty much ignores her, leaving her upbringing to the housekeeper, Bernice. When it comes time to buy her a dress for her brother's wedding, she is sent off to buy the dress by herself. It is little wonder that the dress she ends up purchasing is totally unsuitable. Her feeling of isolation is palpable to the reader.

Although Frankie is somewhat of a tomboy, she likes getting dressed up, slathering on lipstick, and taking a walk through the town, calling herself F. Jasmine, looking older than her years. In this guise, she meets a soldier, who takes her for being much older. It comes as no surprise when it all goes horribly wrong. Yet, Frankie is evidently a survivor and manages to fend for herself.

The moment of truth for Frankie arrives when her brother's wedding finally takes place, but by then that event is almost anti-climactic, as events continue to buffet Frankie, leaving her more isolated that ever before. Still, she continues on, not seeming to have learned anything all from her experiences, an emotionally troubled child suffering a severe disconnection from the world.

This is a thematically complex story told through the jagged fragments of the life of a young girl, one who views the world in a disjointed, unrealistic way, her world view clouded by inner demons that are never given a voice. It is a story that is dark and melancholic, leaving the reader to ponder upon a life so young, yet so despairing.

Slow, funny, touching, 13 Jan 2006
Throughout the authors life she wrote about lonliness and love, usually unrequited. These themes are brilliantly realised in this small novel about a weekend in the life of Frankie, a twelve year old girl unsure of herself and the world. There isn't much plot, and in parts it seems to move on leisurly, taking time over small details, but you are never bored because every detail seems to be whipped up with realistic emotion and perfectly placed within the story. The language is similarily thoughtout, often it boarders on poetic, but than at the moments of highest drama Mccullers draws back into a declarative objective tone. This book feels so real, the charecters, and most of all the things the author puts into words that you have only felt before. I'm blathering, but in short BRILLIANT. Read and read again.

very boring, 24 Mar 1999
This book was very tedious and pointless. Frankie seems very unrealistic and stupid . . .the whole book is based upon a stupid fantasy of hers. It is very tedious reading, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining, 09 Apr 1998
Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

"Death changes everything." So begins Dorothy Allison's sprawling, ambitious and deeply satisfying second novel, Cavedweller. For Delia Byrd, Randall Pritchard's death in a motorcycle accident launches a journey of several thousand miles and almost two decades, bringing about a rebirth of sorts that's also a return to her roots. Years before, the handsome but untrustworthy rock star Randall helped Delia flee an abusive husband; Delia escapes physical danger but leaves her two small children behind. In California, her abandoned daughters haunt her dreams and preoccupy her waking hours, even as she sings in Randall's band and gives birth to another daughter, Cissy. But when Randall is killed in a motorcycle accident, Delia packs rebellious Cissy into a broken-down Datsun, bound for Cayro, Georgia, and the one thing that suddenly matters more than anything else--her abandoned children and the chance to be a mother to them once again.

Cayro's poverty is emotional as well as material; the town is a hard place, full of hard people. To them, Delia will always be "that bitch" who abandoned her babies, "that hippie" living a life of sin. Nonetheless, Delia forges a cruel bargain with her former husband: in exchange for Delia's agreeing to care for him as he dies, he gives her a chance to reclaim her daughters. Like Bastard out of Carolina, Allison's acclaimed debut novel, Cavedweller is a chronicle of rage, strength, and survival. Here, however, Allison is equally concerned with the redemptive power of love and forgiveness, and a novel that began with death ends on an unexpectedly sanguine note: "Yes, it's time for some new songs." There are no victims in Dorothy Allison's work; Delia triumphs through sheer force of will, bringing her family together despite the contempt of almost everyone around her.

The novel has its flaws, including occasionally flat-footed prose, but ultimately it makes compulsive reading and is populated by some of the most memorable characters in recent fiction: tough, prickly, flawed, and deeply human, Delia and Cissy are literary creations of the first rank. In describing the complicated emotions that bind and divide them, Allison demonstrates a profoundly unsentimental understanding of the way the human heart works. Cavedweller is the work of a mature artist, her best fiction to date.

Excellent, thought provoking, shocking and inspiring., 02 Feb 2002
These essays are part poetry, part confessional, part story and part critical analysis. They are an exploration of Dorothy Allison's life, her writing, her beliefs and her sexuality. Each essay treats a different subject, although there are continuing themes seen throughout the collection, and each essay has a unique style. Allison discusses incredibly difficult and private subjects, such as her experience of rape, of physical and psychological abuse as a child, her deep love and desire for women, and her conflicted but very close relationship with her mother, with sensitivity and insight. Allison also possesses an amazing capacity for laughing both at herself and the actions of the world in general.
Well in no way light holiday entertainment I recommend this collection of essays as inspiring read, and a refreshing change from the kind of bestseller novels which glide over both your brain and your emotions without leaving a noticable impact. This book is a lesson in survival, revealing the struggle of an individual against the harsh realities of growing up female, poor, working class, and lesbian in the Southern states of America, and it is not a book to be missed.

DARK AND MELANCHOLIC COMING OF AGE STORY..., 26 Aug 2007
This is a book about Frankie Adams, a twelve year old girl coming of age in the South during World War II. We see her world through her eyes, so that the reader gets a skewed version of the world around Frankie. Clearly all is not right with her, as her brother is getting married and Frankie thinks that she will be going off with her brother and his bride. Frankie spins a total fantasy around this concept. She does not think that two is company and three is a crowd.

Why does she do this? There are many reasons. Some of them are rather dark. Frankie's mother died giving birth to her. Her father has remained a widower, letting Frankie sleep in the same bed with him until she was about twelve, when he finally gave her the boot. Her best friend is her six year old first cousin, John Henry. He likes to sleep over, and when he does, he sleeps in the bed with Frankie. She caresses him when he sleeps, and even takes to licking him behind his ear while he slumbers. She also has apparently had a sexual encounter of some kind with a neighborhood boy, an incident about which she will not speak. The author weaves these details into the story, glossing over them, leaving the reader feeling shocked. This feeling is exacerbated by the almost casual interjection of these details.

There is so much emotional trauma in Frankie's life that it is amazing she can function at all. Also distressing to Frankie is the fact that she is isolated from children her own age. The neighborhood girls, who are just a little older than her and whom Frankie envies, shun her. Her father pretty much ignores her, leaving her upbringing to the housekeeper, Bernice. When it comes time to buy her a dress for her brother's wedding, she is sent off to buy the dress by herself. It is little wonder that the dress she ends up purchasing is totally unsuitable. Her feeling of isolation is palpable to the reader.

Although Frankie is somewhat of a tomboy, she likes getting dressed up, slathering on lipstick, and taking a walk through the town, calling herself F. Jasmine, looking older than her years. In this guise, she meets a soldier, who takes her for being much older. It comes as no surprise when it all goes horribly wrong. Yet, Frankie is evidently a survivor and manages to fend for herself.

The moment of truth for Frankie arrives when her brother's wedding finally takes place, but by then that event is almost anti-climactic, as events continue to buffet Frankie, leaving her more isolated that ever before. Still, she continues on, not seeming to have learned anything all from her experiences, an emotionally troubled child suffering a severe disconnection from the world.

This is a thematically complex story told through the jagged fragments of the life of a young girl, one who views the world in a disjointed, unrealistic way, her world view clouded by inner demons that are never given a voice. It is a story that is dark and melancholic, leaving the reader to ponder upon a life so young, yet so despairing.

Slow, funny, touching, 13 Jan 2006
Throughout the authors life she wrote about lonliness and love, usually unrequited. These themes are brilliantly realised in this small novel about a weekend in the life of Frankie, a twelve year old girl unsure of herself and the world. There isn't much plot, and in parts it seems to move on leisurly, taking time over small details, but you are never bored because every detail seems to be whipped up with realistic emotion and perfectly placed within the story. The language is similarily thoughtout, often it boarders on poetic, but than at the moments of highest drama Mccullers draws back into a declarative objective tone. This book feels so real, the charecters, and most of all the things the author puts into words that you have only felt before. I'm blathering, but in short BRILLIANT. Read and read again.

very boring, 24 Mar 1999
This book was very tedious and pointless. Frankie seems very unrealistic and stupid . . .the whole book is based upon a stupid fantasy of hers. It is very tedious reading, and I'm sorry I wasted my time.

Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining, 09 Apr 1998
Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

Incredibly inspirational and unbearably sad., 09 Aug 2000
The whole idea of people who have lived their dreams, and in later life have to cope with the aftermath, fascinates me. OK, so the small-town hick mentality toward people who commit indiscretions is a tad cliched, but it happens. And, unlike a lot of books you read, the characters you side against in the beginning, you're actually quite fond of in the end. It took me a while to read this book - half because the prose is a little difficult, but also because I didn't want it to end. I'm now hoping that the rest of her stuff is as good...