Music of the Swamp

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative...a great read
Review: Buddy Nordan teaches at the Unveristy of Pittsburgh where i am a writing major. He came to speak to my writing class about Music of the Swap. I loved the book, and hearing him talk about how he came upon the characters and his process of writing deepend my appreciation for the stories even more. It brings back the feel of being young so vividly. I highly recommend this book!!

Rating:
Summary: Poignant and hilarious
Review: I suppose I am now some sort of Lewis Nordan "groupie." I first loved "The Sharpshooter Blues" and went on to enjoy all the rest including "Lightning Song." But, tonight I think that "Music of the Swamp" is my favorite. (Or, is it just that I read it today and so it is Nordan's work most fresh on my mind?) Sugar Mecklin is a very special character - but only as special as his family and friends. Sugar has a dad who has worn yellow plastic shoes and lived to talk about it. Read this book and read Lewis Nordan.

Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I'm sorry to those who apparently loved this book, but I didn't! I thought it was awful how he strung sentences together, using commas, so that 7 sentences would become 1, making a paragraph! He was not a good author, and I definitly didn't need to hear about "The Time In the Life Of A Hormonally Charged Boy"! All in all it was a complete waste of time, so don't read it! =)

Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I'm sorry to those who apparently loved this book, but I didn't! I thought it was awful how he strung sentences together, using commas, so that 7 sentences would become 1, making a paragraph! He was not a good author, and I definitly didn't need to hear about "The Time In the Life Of A Hormonally Charged Boy"! All in all it was a complete waste of time, so don't read it! =)

Rating:
Summary: Powerful, disturbing, funny, redeeming.
Review: Powerful, disturbing, funny, redeeming. Those are four words to describe this, Nordan's finest work. It's a back-and-forth foray into the past of Sugar Mecklin, one of the most likeable Southern boys since Huckleberry Finn. Sugar tries to come to grips with love, life and geography by returning to the stories of his late childhood in Mississippi with his lovelorn mother and drunken, Elvis-jacket-wearing daddy. It's painful at times, but so beautiful that it's the kind of book you wish you wrote.

Rating:
Summary: Magical, heart-warming and heart draining at the same time.
Review: This is a masterpiece of work, it takes the reader of a young boy and leads you throughout his life, filled with many downs and a lot of very bleak humor. Once you pick it up it will be very hard to put down until the last page is turned.

Rating:
Summary: Southern magic realism at its best!
Review: This is one of the best books I've ever read. It's hilarious! The reason (as one reviewer noted) that all those thoughts are strung together with comma making long sentences is because that's the way Southerners talk, and Lewis Nordan has captured the sing-song music of Southern language beautifully! Faulkner did the same thing, but Nordan is more fun to read and easier to understand. If you don't like Southern literature, pass this one by. But if you do like Southern writers, it's a must!