Miss Ophelia

Rating:
Summary: Small Town Scandal
Review: (Originally reviewed October 1999)
Isabel Anderson, known as Belly to family and friends expected to spend the summer with her best friend Teeny in the little town of Lambertville, VA. Teeny, two years Belly's senior was on a different track altogether. Belly's hopes for swimming lessons and fun were dashed by Teeny's quick departure for the summer because of her untimely and semi-secret pregnancy. Not having Teeny to pal around with she agrees with her mother's suggestion to stay with her Aunt Rachel and Uncle Avery. Her interest is all the more peaked when she learns about her mother's childhood friend, Miss Ophelia, a piano teacher who lives with in the same town as her Aunt and Uncle. Belly's intent, to take piano lessons and learn more about this mysterious Ophelia, a link to her mother's past. What she learned was more than she bargained for but she takes it all in stride.

Ophelia, sweet woman that she was ended up having a scandalous affair and baby with her Uncle Avery while her Aunt Rachel was in the hospital having "female" surgery. Aunt Witchy Poo Rachel, cold as ice and semi-religious had skeletons of her own which Uncle Willie let out of the bag to Belly, who proceeded to read her the riot act at a "reconciliation" dinner with her and Avery. What Belly learns through all of this is that things aren't always what they seem and that love is a little more complicated than first comes love, second comes marriage third comes Susie with the baby carriage.

Burnett Smith's story of small town scandal and family secrets will strike a cord with anyone familiar with small town mores.

Rating:
Summary: Miss Ophelia
Review: Everyone in my book group loved this book! It's pretty outrageousthat this book has become so hard to get. It would be excellentreading for high school American Literature. The book is funny, sad, tender and inspirational. Rarely in this day and age to we find something so interesting, yet clean! This is a fine piece of writing.

Rating:
Summary: Well Written, Well Told
Review: Miss Ophelia is a wonderful, well written coming of age story about young Isabella Henderson aka Belly. When you're eleven years old you still look forward to summers spent hanging out with friends, swimming and staying up late trying to hear snippets of grown folks conversations. Unfortunately, Belly wouldn't have the luxury of learning to swim from her best friend, 13 year old Teeny who is pregnant and being sent away to have her baby. Rather than spending a lonely summer in her rural, small hometown of Lambertville, Va, Belly decides to visit her Aunt Rachel and Uncle Avery for a few weeks. A visit, Belly wasn't initially looking forward to until she heard that she would be able to take piano lessons from Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia is a childhood friend of Belly's Mother and Belly is hoping that she will learn somethings about her mom from Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia and Belly do become friends and it is during their friendship that Belly learns that Uncle Avery is having an affair with her piano teacher. What ensues after that is much more than Belly bargained for and forces Belly to grow up quicker than she anticipated.

Miss Ophelia by Mary Burnett Smith is an enchanting and intriguing debut novel. The storyline has a superb plot, awesome characterization, wonderful pacing and vivid imagery. The characters are engaging and memorable including the secondary characters. Who can forget Uncle Willie! What a delightful character full of wisdom and insightful lessons. Everyone should know an Uncle Willie. Miss Ophelia was a sad, sweet and funny read filled with humor, subtlety and sensitivity. I enjoyed this book immensely and especially liked that it was told in the voice of eleven year old Belly. It's a wonderful story that provides great insight into small town living and family secrets....as seen through the eyes of a child.

Rating:
Summary: BELLY AND OPHELIA
Review: MISS OPHELIA is one woman's recollections of her post World War II childhood in a small, poverty-stricken, rural town. It's about her self-discovery and coming of age when she ventures out and spends the summer with a more affluent aunt and uncle in a larger city. This aunt and uncle have a reclusive neighbor named Miss Ophelia, a piano teacher, who agrees to give lessons to the girl, Belly. Miss Ophelia and Belly becomes friends, and it is during this friendship that Belly learns Miss Ophelia is having an affair with the uncle. The resultant activity is heartwrenching, both very funny and very sad. An added feature is that MISS OPHELIA plays heavily on gossip, superstition, and hypocracy. This is a good book and I look forward to reading more by Patricia Jones.

Rating:
Summary: Growing up with Belly
Review: Revisit childhood and relive it in a marvelous way! I felt that I grew up with Belly during the tale of "Miss Ophelia". After reading how her family interacted with each other, their personalities and histories, I felt like I knew them. I laughed out loud at their antics and conversations. You probably will too!

The book seems to start off a little slow in the beginning, but don't let that fool you. This is one to savor. It takes time to get to know this family and watch Isabel (Belly) come of age. While there were events that many of us could relate to, this book lacked the over-the-top, crazy drama that can be found in some other books about childhood family experiences. How refreshing! Belly actually had a good childhood! It was joy to read about. She also had some tough issues to deal with, and this kept the book grounded in reality.

Belly spent part of an important summer taking piano lessons from Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia left a powerful influence on Belly, and their time together was a "defining moment" in Belly's life. The way the author described their interaction and other aspects of Belly's life before and after was beautiful. I could picture everything, but the writing style wasn't too wordy. The style was very natural, and the characters seemed so authentic.

I took my time reading this book and looked forward to reading it every time I picked it up. I felt so contented while reading it and satisfied even after I'd finished it. I highly recommend this book. Reading it is time well spent.

Rating:
Summary: Growing up with Belly
Review: Revisit childhood and relive it in a marvelous way! I felt that I grew up with Belly during the tale of "Miss Ophelia". After reading how her family interacted with each other, their personalities and histories, I felt like I knew them. I laughed out loud at their antics and conversations. You probably will too!

The book seems to start off a little slow in the beginning, but don't let that fool you. This is one to savor. It takes time to get to know this family and watch Isabel (Belly) come of age. While there were events that many of us could relate to, this book lacked the over-the-top, crazy drama that can be found in some other books about childhood family experiences. How refreshing! Belly actually had a good childhood! It was joy to read about. She also had some tough issues to deal with, and this kept the book grounded in reality.

Belly spent part of an important summer taking piano lessons from Miss Ophelia. Miss Ophelia left a powerful influence on Belly, and their time together was a "defining moment" in Belly's life. The way the author described their interaction and other aspects of Belly's life before and after was beautiful. I could picture everything, but the writing style wasn't too wordy. The style was very natural, and the characters seemed so authentic.

I took my time reading this book and looked forward to reading it every time I picked it up. I felt so contented while reading it and satisfied even after I'd finished it. I highly recommend this book. Reading it is time well spent.

Rating:
Summary: So Beautifully Written!!
Review: This book hit me where the heart is!!! The characters: Belly, Willie, Miss Janie, Miss Rachel, Mama, Uncle Avery, Miss Pheenie, And of course, the lovely and dearest of all, Miss Ophelia. When I first got into the book,( first quarter of the book),It primarily focused on teen pregnancy and the main character (Belly's) best friend, Teenie getting sent away to get "rid of her problem", which hurt Isabel Anderson/Walker.
The way the book portrays Miss Opelia, and her warm and kind personality was so well-written, that in the end, I cried, thinking about the True love that could never be, between...
Oh!!!!! Youre just going to have to read the book and see why most of these people(including myself, of course) rated this book 5 stars.

Rating:
Summary: excellent.
Review: this book was an excellent read. it captured the whole time era and gracefuly put it into words. the author of this book seems to draw the reader into being a part of the novel. she gives you the sense of being there as a bystander, watching and understanding Belly's life that summer. i love the plot, the use of words and the key message. of friendship. i hope this isn't the last piece of work by this author. i highly recommend this book. you'll never want to put it down, and will continuosly find yourself hoping that it never ends.

Rating:
Summary: Those Summer Days
Review: This story is sooooo wonderfully written and told. This is one hot summer that readers will surely enjoy. The summer heat is not just in temperature, the heat also rises from the pages in the form of anger and passion.

This story of young Isabel (Belly) is very endearing. Each summer, Belly visits with her aunt and uncle in rural Virginia. She learns lessons that are never taught in summer school. When Miss Ophelia teaches Belly to play the piano, she also teaches her life lessons about love, friendship, responsibility, and accountability.

Though she appears to be very quiet, Miss Ophelia has deep passions about music and love which she eventually shares with others. You will enjoy the music as well as those who play it!

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Written Book! Endearing!!
Review: Welcome to Mason County, where even the census takers were baffled when they came to a town where blacks looked white. Isabel is the main character in this story. Every one calls her Belly in Mason County. That all changes when a series of events after her childhood friend Teeny got pregnant, led her to Jamison county to stay with her Aunt Rachel. She takes piano lessons from a woman name Ophelia that calls her Isabel, shows her what a real lady is, wins over her heart, and also the heart of Uncle Avery, Aunt Rachel's husband. This causes a lot of problems in Belly's life and causes her to learn a lot life's lessons pretty early. This book was written very beautifully and opened my heart back up to my childhood. I won't tell the rest of the story but all of the characters were endearing and I'll never forget them.