Rating: 
Summary: WOW!!!!! a literary event
Review: a remarkable use of the english language. agee takes you places you thought impossible through his astounding use of language. the prose is exhilirating and mind expanding. he takes free-form writing to new heights and just as aptly tells the tragic story of three alabama tenant families. you must read this book. it is, in a word, significant.
Rating:
Summary: Truly Remarkable
Review: A wonderful book. Agee is an Ameriacn original
Rating:
Summary: A masterpiece of reportage
Review: Agee wrote the text and Evans took the photos for this Works Progress Administration project on sharecropping in the South during the Great Depression. Agee's Faulkneresque ramblings are perfectly complemented by Evans' stark photography. To put it simply, the written word integrated with the visual image has never been more striking.
Rating: 
Summary: Flawed but essential; and pointer to a 1989 followup book
Review: Can't quite give it 5 stars because Agee's self-indulgence does get to me (Evans, though is flawless). The indulgence I speak of is not so much the Agee's overdescription of his own mental states, though this can be intrusive and less than profound, but the too frequent willingness to let language and imagination take flight from reality, when reality, ultimately, is what is so compelling here. Imagination and trustworthiness unnecessarily depart ways, as Agee at times prefers the poetic to the truth. Nonetheless, the decision not to hem in those very flights of empathetic understanding that may depart from specific reality surely allowed him to give the essential breath and life to the portraiture. The perhaps more accurate, but much less illuminating, 1989 followup by Maharidge & Williamson (discussed below) is a useful contrast - all facts, rather little life. And one after all knows, reading Agee, that he probably hasn't quite got everything right; despite the book's inescapable flaws, it (and the marvelous photos) achieves the much deeper task of bringing these people to life and making outsiders understand their dignity in the face of poverty, even where that dignity is expressed in perverse ways (though sometimes seeing dignity when further investigation or more honest reporting, as Maharidge found with the Rickets, would have acknowledged more distressing truths).But just adding a review to point the curious to a 1989 followup, And Their Children After Them, by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson, which traces what became of the Gudgers, Woodses, Rickets, and their descendants (they keep the pseudonyms, though the names are elsewhere widely known - Burroughs, Fields, and Tingle (or Tengle)). The newer book certainly does not have the poetry of the original, and it is out of print, but it's worth checking out of your local library if you're left haunted wondering whatever became of the people Agee made you care so deeply about (and how much he got right).
Rating:
Summary: Finish the book
Review: I can scarcely recall a time when I did not want to read this book. In fact in february of 1996 I read And Their Children After Them, by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson, which is a 1989 sequel to Let Us Now Praise, and examines what happened to the people Agee tells us about in this book, and their children. After reading this, I now want to again read what became of the people Let Us Now Praise led us to come to know so intimately. For many pages of this book reading it was a drag, and only my rigid rejection of the "right" of a reader to quit reading a book he has started caused me to continue reading. But in time I became glad I was reading it. The minute listing of every item in a room did not entrance me, but the cumulative effect of the recital of rural poverty accomplished its aim, Agee has his share of nutty ideas, but they do not overly detract from what he is telling us about Alabama in 1936. I am glad I read the book, and I will have to again look at And Their Children After Them.
Rating:
Summary: Finish the book
Review: I can scarcely recall a time when I did not want to read this book. In fact in february of 1996 I read And Their Children After Them, by Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson, which is a 1989 sequel to Let Us Now Praise, and examines what happened to the people Agee tells us about in this book, and their children. After reading this, I now want to again read what became of the people Let Us Now Praise led us to come to know so intimately. For many pages of this book reading it was a drag, and only my rigid rejection of the "right" of a reader to quit reading a book he has started caused me to continue reading. But in time I became glad I was reading it. The minute listing of every item in a room did not entrance me, but the cumulative effect of the recital of rural poverty accomplished its aim, Agee has his share of nutty ideas, but they do not overly detract from what he is telling us about Alabama in 1936. I am glad I read the book, and I will have to again look at And Their Children After Them.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing book.
Review: I don't agree that the writing is fantastic. I think that at times it bogs down and can be very boring. But the images Agee leaves with you are matched by the photographs of Evans. They are unforgettable. Read the chapter where Agee takes an entire household inventory. Amazing! I've always wanted to know--what happened to these people? These specific families...where are the children now? Did that one little girl live to adulthood? Did any of them "make something" of themselves? Fascinating questions...possibly disturbing answers.
Rating:
Summary: Painfully Good Photos and Essays That Sing
Review: I would recommend this book for highschool kids who can handle more difficult phrasing and literary styles..because it is a great read and depicts life in a time that most of us living today can't imagine: the Great Depression. We've all seen some photos of the horrible ravages of the dust bowl era on farmfields in the 1930's..but the pictures included here by Walker Evans are of the faces that witnessed and were living through that ravaging..and they show it. The passages are bleak, darkly humorous at times..and gritty..and best of all..they're real. The passage on young Emma is flawless. I would recommend to anyone who has already read and enjoyed this book a listen to Richard Buckner's album 'Bloomed'..in which he sets to minimal and appealing tune the words that describe Emma's plight. A perfect antidote for the bland materialism of today's mall culture.
Rating:
Summary: Thick prose & amazing photographs.
Review: I'm surprised that no one has yet to write a negative review of this novel. I personally love it, but it would seem like an easy one to hate. The writing it thick, the storyline flows in an unusual way, and the book itself undertakes an epic task. Be warned: Everyone should read this book, but it takes a special kind of person to really enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: The Famous Men Revisited: and other comments on James Agee
Review: In one of the most edifying ways, James Agee illustrates the life of the Southern tenant sharecropper in the Great Depression. Agee's writings coupled with the eloquent photography of one notable Walker Evans, distinguishes the book in a elite category unparalleled by few if any whatsoever. The circumstances the sharecropper endured during the Depression not only working the land but also at home with family was rigorous and was additionally exposed very thoroughly in Agee's writings. The book is a must read for anyone interested in the History of the Great Depression era/New Dealism. One other book of notable mention for those interested is Larry Nelson's- KING COTTON'S ADVOCATE.
|
