The Christmas Letters

Rating:
Summary: Cute!
Review: A quick, interesting, wonderful read! You won't be sorry to pick this one up and you won't want to put it down until you are done! I look forward to reading more of Lee Smith's books!

Rating:
Summary: interesting
Review: A very short book in the form of a collection of Christmas letters. Because of the unusual structure of the book you get glimpses of this family over three generations.

Very unusual, very good. I personally didn't like it quite as much as Oral History or Family Linen (other Smith books), but it was definitely worth the time and money. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The Christmas Letters...
Review: For the most part I liked this book. It's the story of one family told through three generations of Christmas Letters (well, two really, the third generation only writes one letter). Now, it was very difficult for me to get past the feeling of...'why is all this stuff being written in x-mas letters, shouldn't the family have already known about all this stuff? Wouldn't you tell your family these things as they happen?'.

I know it was necessary to include these things in order for the reader to understand everything that's gone on in the family over the years, but it was very distracting. This said, I think this book would have been much better if it were formatted as a regular novel, not in Christmas letters. I believe it would have been a very interesting read.

But regardless, the story itself was good. It kept me turning the pages. I really enjoyed the second to last letter, where Mary (the second generation) sends out the REAL Christmas letter, not the superficial one that everyone gets saying all is peachy-keen and life couldn't be more perfect, blah, blah, blah. This letter tells us the 'good stuff'. I recommend this book as a very quick little Christmas read. It'll help you get into the Christmas spirit.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I actually enjoyed reading this book until I reached the end. I was reading it around Christmas, and it really made me think about what's happened to me this year. It's a quick read, which was nice- I read it in 2 sittings. I also enjoy reading books that are set in North Carolina such as this.

However, the ending was very disappointing. I don't want to reveal it here in case you do decide to check this out. Yet I was reading this book to get in a good Christmas mood, and I wanted a happy ending. I didn't get it here. It's also a bit misleading to say that the letters are from three generations of women, since the third generation only contributes one letter.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: I read this book in one sitting! Not your traditional "feel good" Christmas story, nonetheless, it still grabs your interest and simply will not let go. The recipes are interesting in that they make no attempt at being detailed,fancy or gourmet. Rather they evoke a very accurate image of each generation, from the simple custard representative of long-past generation's idea of what people who are ill should eat through the quick, easy, processed, food of the sixties and finally a back-to-mother-earth ethnic vegetarian recipe that reflects the character's new life(style). What I really liked was that the recipes set the tone without overpowering the story. So many books written in this style are all recipe and no story but that is not the case here. My only complaint is that the story ended with a mystery clouding it. What is up with the twin-thing? And what happend to "Rachel" mentioned in the first few letters from Birdie? She just disappears. Is she the twin to Margaret Hodges Long mentioned in the final chapter by Melanie? If not, then what is the story with the disappearing twin and where, exactly, did Rachel go? Mary tells us something about her sister Ruthie and we get a sense of loose ends tied up, but Birdie leaves us hanging. I sense another story. I hope so! I want to know about the twins from Birdie's generation!

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: I read this book in one sitting! Not your traditional "feel good" Christmas story, nonetheless, it still grabs your interest and simply will not let go. The recipes are interesting in that they make no attempt at being detailed,fancy or gourmet. Rather they evoke a very accurate image of each generation, from the simple custard representative of long-past generation's idea of what people who are ill should eat through the quick, easy, processed, food of the sixties and finally a back-to-mother-earth ethnic vegetarian recipe that reflects the character's new life(style). What I really liked was that the recipes set the tone without overpowering the story. So many books written in this style are all recipe and no story but that is not the case here. My only complaint is that the story ended with a mystery clouding it. What is up with the twin-thing? And what happend to "Rachel" mentioned in the first few letters from Birdie? She just disappears. Is she the twin to Margaret Hodges Long mentioned in the final chapter by Melanie? If not, then what is the story with the disappearing twin and where, exactly, did Rachel go? Mary tells us something about her sister Ruthie and we get a sense of loose ends tied up, but Birdie leaves us hanging. I sense another story. I hope so! I want to know about the twins from Birdie's generation!

Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyed this book
Review: The Christmas Letters is a short novella by Lee Smith; my Mamaw gave me a copy for Christmas and i read it in one sitting. I'd recommend it to anyone, but particularly to anyone who writes her/his own Christmas letters).

It's an epistolary novel told through the yearly Christmas letters of three generations of rural women, and spans the geography of West Virginia and North Carolina. The letters are somewhat typical of that sort of structure, recounting births and deaths and achievements, yet tell the story of the women's lives, their relationships, their struggles to cope with the hardships each generation is given--a husband off in WWII, a brother brokenly and miserably surviving Viet Nam, divorce, loss of a parent, a child leaving home and choosing a lifestyle you can't understand but try to accept. By the end, one of the letter-writers has come to a point where she addresses her letter frankly, and reveals the subtext behind all of her cheery soldier-on previous letters, and you can go back and see exactly how those emotions were definitely present beneath the surface of the writing of the earlier letters (some you'll pick up as you read them the first time around, others will be a surprise).

The book is a lovely quiet holiday read, and one that for me will take its place beside A Christmas Carol as a book to read every Christmas season, to remind me of what I hold dear about the holidays, an embracing of family, heritage, goodwill, charity...in short, the Christmas Spirit.

Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyed this book
Review: The Christmas Letters is a short novella by Lee Smith; my Mamaw gave me a copy for Christmas and i read it in one sitting. I'd recommend it to anyone, but particularly to anyone who writes her/his own Christmas letters).

It's an epistolary novel told through the yearly Christmas letters of three generations of rural women, and spans the geography of West Virginia and North Carolina. The letters are somewhat typical of that sort of structure, recounting births and deaths and achievements, yet tell the story of the women's lives, their relationships, their struggles to cope with the hardships each generation is given--a husband off in WWII, a brother brokenly and miserably surviving Viet Nam, divorce, loss of a parent, a child leaving home and choosing a lifestyle you can't understand but try to accept. By the end, one of the letter-writers has come to a point where she addresses her letter frankly, and reveals the subtext behind all of her cheery soldier-on previous letters, and you can go back and see exactly how those emotions were definitely present beneath the surface of the writing of the earlier letters (some you'll pick up as you read them the first time around, others will be a surprise).

The book is a lovely quiet holiday read, and one that for me will take its place beside A Christmas Carol as a book to read every Christmas season, to remind me of what I hold dear about the holidays, an embracing of family, heritage, goodwill, charity...in short, the Christmas Spirit.