Rating: 
Summary: Funny, well-written, and incredibly true-to-life
Review: Although I live now in Chicago, was educated at Yale and the University of Chicago, and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, nearly all my relatives are small town and rural folk exactly like Raney. There are many, many things to praise about this book: the voice of the narrator, the consistent excellence of the prose, the humor that pops up at every point, and the critical yet affectionate portrait of what life in the South is truly like, but the thing that most stands out for me is the extraordinary veracity of the characters.If I could choose a book to add to a time capsule to be opened on July 4, 2376, to show people living then what life in the south truly was like way back in the late 20th century, this is the book I would select. It might not deal with the big themes, like slavery in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, or the mystery of evil as in the writings of Flannery O'Connor, or possess the literary marvels of Faulkner, but it shows in vivid fashion exactly what small town life in the South is like in our time. I just reeled from the detail. For instance, many of my country cousins, when they wash dishes, do it precisely like Raney does: filling a sink with soapy water, and removing each dish or utensil after washing it in the same water that one uses for everything else. As a practice, it is indefensible from a hygienic point of view, yet it is a widespread cultural custom. Edgerton nails detail after detail. I don't want to make this sound like a thinly disguised anthropological study, or suggest that this attention to detail is what makes the novel special. What makes this a great novel is the loving portrait Edgerton crafts of Raney herself. Although she possesses her own quirks and country foibles, she is throughout the book an adorable, sweet, lovable human being, believably and memorably brought to life by a master novelist. It is easily one of the finest novels about the South that I have ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: In which our little Raney grows up a bit...
Review: Heartbreaking and funny, this is a superb tale of the first two years in the marriage of a couple of naive young people. I know many Raneys...who have always baffled me. This helped me understand the world through their eyes. Read this book if you'd like a little insight into your cousins from the small-town south.
Rating: 
Summary: YUCK
Review: I despise this book. I was forced to read the whole entire thing for school, unless I wanted to fail my English class. All you professional book critics, call it a "fine piece of literature" whatever you want, but I call it stupid.
Rating:
Summary: So when is a wink not a nod?
Review: I don't know. Maybe it is my background (raised in N.C. in a Baptist community), but I found myself uncomfortable with the winking going on here. So many reviewers found this book to be funny -- I'm just not sure why. What do I mean? Just like people in my childhood who made racist or other cruel remarks about people who were "different", the majority of adults just winked at it. "Oh he didn't mean it that way" -- or some other such weak excuse. Hey -- people got hurt! Don't excuse it! The secondary characters in this book are just as guilty. Oh, Aunt so-and-so this and Uncle so-and-so that -- that's just how they are, I guess. I heard this whitewashing of unenlightened behavior far too many times in my life to allow it to slip by unnoticed. Ignorance is no excuse! The main characters, Raney and Charles, are sad affairs as well. They don't belong together in so many ways. We see them bumble along in a less than dramatic (much less amusing) story. I wanted to like them, but the author doesn't win me over. I found both Raney and Charles uninteresting and blind to their strengths and weaknesses. Sorry, but too painful for laughter on my part.
Rating:
Summary: This is my favorite Clyde Edgerton book!
Review: If you grew up in North Carolina in the 50's, (although RANEY takes place in the 70's) don't miss this book! It will remind you of so many silly things from that time period. It was a delightful read!
Rating:
Summary: Lessons in marriage
Review: It was interesting reading the other reviews, in that the general focus is on life in the South or Raney's fundamental Christianity. I loved this book (listened to it on audio cassette) but I thought the essence of it was communication in marriage. How marriage takes two people from different backgrounds, both of whom believe to the core that their way of viewing the world is right and how they try to learn to find commonalities and listen to the other. If only every couple would do as Raney and Charles did and see a "psychiatric" when the differences become clear, we would have fewer divorces. I grew very fond of both of the main characters and I think their baby is very lucky.
Rating:
Summary: Satire with a Cruel Bite
Review: On the surface, yes, this book is a giggle-- but make no mistake, it is also a sharp, Swiftian satire. The author, Clyde Edgerton, pulls off the very difficult feat of using the first person narration to slowly reveal to us the true character of his leading lady. On the surface, Raney is loveable: a pretty, newlywed, Southern belle who seems very innocent and naive. But as she tells the story of her first year of marriage to Charles, a librarian from Atlanta, she reveals herself to be an undereducated, hypocritical, fundamentalist Christian who cannot understand why everyone can't think and act exactly like herself. I don't love Raney-- I don't even like her very much-- but I have to admit she is very amusing.
Rating:
Summary: An insightful, funny Southern love story!
Review: The story of a North Carolina small-town girl who marries a liberal, book-loving Atlantan had me laughing, but also, I saw the shadows of people I know. I was raised in SC as a Southern Baptist, and I understand both Raney's and her husband Charles's worlds. They both got more than they bargained for when they fell in love and got married. I disagree strongly with the reviewer who thought that the book was "winking" at racism. Discerning readers will know that Raney's views do NOT reflect the author's views -- the book shows that there is more than one way to look at things, and that marriage can be confusing. I enjoyed the too-brief look into Raney's life. I would LOVE to read a continuation of the story.
Rating: 
Summary: offensive
Review: This book ridiculed the south. It ridiculed small town women. It was offensive to women and to the south. All the compromise was on Raney's part. Charles may have been a sweet man in many ways, but he was entirely inflexible and rude to Raney's family. to me raney, but for her racism, was an endearing character. I don't see why she needed to be reformed in every sense of the word. why should she have to have her baby baptised when her religion clearly did not believe in it and charles was hardly even religious. ridiculous?
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious and charming lesson in love and tolerance
Review: This happens to be one of my all-time favorite books, picked up on a whim in an airport shop when my plane was delayed. What a find! Read it, and you'll become an instant fan of Clyde Edgerton. It's side-splittingly funny as it chronicles the early days of the marriage of Raney, a small-town Baptist, and Charles, a city Episcopalian. Though both are Southern, they are cut from different cloth, she from calico, and he from tweed. Raney is appalled to find that her husband wants to have his good friend, a black man, be their baby's godfather, and her husband is appalled to find that Raney intends to raise their daughter calling her breasts "dinners."
Don't miss this one.
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