Quite a Year for Plums : A Novel

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Summary: What a charming little book
Review: Bailey White writes a very small, understated story that takes place in a little south Georgia town. The joy of reading this book is spending time with a very unusual cast of characters...a peanut disease specialist, wildlife artist, collector of electric fans, to name just a few. While reading, you get to watch, unobserved, the comings and goings of these quirky people, as they go about the business of their lives. This is a beautifully written book. It's funny and witty, especially the dialogue. How wonderful to spend time with these people. Ms White doesn't disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: Quirky, well written and fun to read
Review: In reading other's reviews it seems people either love or hate this book. For me, it spoke directly to my heart, soul and funny bone. I first listened to it on audio cassette, then read it. Both times I found myself smiling or laughing aloud throughout. Her writing is superb. Her characters were deftly drawn. The plot was subtle. She clearly understands one of the primary premises of writing: show don't tell. Perhaps you have to grow up in a certain place or time to click with this book. (rural America with eccentric relatives and neighors)

Rating:
Summary: Quite a topsy turvy book!
Review: It's one thing to make your readers work, but it's another to make the reader work, and then for nothing.

Thank goodness I got this from the library. White may be good on NPR, but she's definitely not good here. The first chapters had me referring constantly to the list of characters, simply because White throws you a new name every other paragraph. With other books, this isn't a problem, the problem here is the author seems to give us the names, but no other information. Sure, there's dialogue, but I need some kind of identifying characteristic, White! Tell me if their eyes are blue, brown, are they tall, short, thin, have hair, no hair, STUFF!!! It was a pain getting through the first few chapters. I had trouble remembering who was who. The other thing that adds to the difficulty is the fact that there seems to be no plot. (Makes it even harder to remember who's trying to accomplish what) AND, because there's no "plot", halfway through the book, after a fund-raising picnic and a bird art exhibition, I started to wonder what was the point of all this, then I stopped wondering and returned the book to the library.