Quite a Year for Plums

Rating:
Summary: You will love it or hate it
Review: Delightful! My grandmother, who died in 1983 at the age of 87, was just like that. Young people might not like it so much because people these days don't have the opportunity to think. I'm grateful for being old enough to appreciate it. I'll go buy the rest of her books now.

Rating:
Summary: Boring, Unless You're Into Birds & Chickens
Review: I really hate to write a bad review about a book, because I'm sure this book might appeal to someone. It just didn't appeal to me. In fact, I couldn't make myself read the entire book. I was soooo confused with the characters, I just felt lost most of the time. Although, the parts about the woman who thought aliens were drawn to her letter combinations was amusing. And I just did not get the "celebrity" status of the peanut man who every woman in town just felt obliged to protect from other "preying" women; in a big sister-like fashion. I guess I'm just weird!

Rating:
Summary: Quite a Year for Plums is Quite Disappointing
Review: I usually love Bailey White's own brand of charming Southern vignettes. She captures the essence of her family and her people in a light and entertaining way. This book, however, is confusing to read: characters are introduced before the book starts, and I still got confused as to who was who. Laborious reading, baffling story lines, puzzling characters: none of the sweet stories found in the Starlite and Mama Makes Up Her Mind Books. Snippets of the the Starlite and Mama books are noted throughout this book, making the reader yearn for the humorous tales told in White's previous stories. A peculiar premise for the entire book: several odd people who intermingle throughout the storyline. White's "odd" people are usually quaint and entertaining, but this set of oddballs is just plain strange and annoying.

Rating:
Summary: Quirky-Realistic
Review: My father is an agriculturist who lived in retirement in South Georgia; many of his relatives are Southerners. Thus, Bailey White's treatment of the character of Roger seems realistic, grounded, as do the characters of "the aunts" Hilma and Meade, especially. (Who else has written so trenchantly about the odd charisma of short-sleeved agricultural scientists and the intelligence of elderly women?) We don't get inside Ethel's head, however--and she seems to be the most interesting of all, with her series of obsessed men and boats in the house. And what's with the bland, mild, "You're a good man, Roger," ending? Otherwise, I found the book to be laugh-out-loud funny in certain places: "Birding," "Tossing Flowers into the Swamp," "The Silver Thread," "The Dying House." And why doesn't Roger take up with Lucy, who is clearly sanest of all?!

Rating:
Summary: Quite a Year For Plums
Review: I love it! One of my favorite books of all time. I recognized the red-cockaded woodpecker biologists - Bailey has them pegged. I would like to tell her how much joy she has given me with this book. The part about the new subdivision and the eagles is so funny.

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: laughing out loud
Review: I just listened to Quite A Year for Plums on audiotape and found myself laughing out loud as I drove down the freeway! I am not from the south but from Utah but we must have some things in common because I could hear my grandmother and great aunts in Mead and Hilma. What a treat to go back in time to when rural agriculture was a constant topic of discussion. I felt close to my roots and introspective of what matters in life as I listened and enjoyed.

Rating:
Summary: Started out funny and then...stopped
Review: When I started reading it, I kept thinking that I had found a writer I could read again and again. After page 143, I knew I couldn't finish this book unless someone put a gun to my head. The contrast between the beginning and the middle was not dramatic, there just wasn't one. The puns stopped being "punny" because we had read them too many times and the story started to drag and become dull like dish water. The characters were quirky, but nothing happened in the book and the lack of a plotline couldn't hold my interest in the quirky characters. We get to know a lot about Georgia and chickens and birds and forests and peanuts and oscillating fans and... But information does not make up for the snapshot this book is. Instead of moving along, it stays static.

Rating:
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: What is this?
Review: I was not expecting a plot in this 'novel' and there wasn't one. What I did hope for was some coherency and perhaps even that the chapters would stand alone as in her other books. What I found was a bunch of stories along the lines of 'well my mother-in-law's cousin's brother said...'. It was like listening to your typical bore (we all know the type) spout verbal diarrhea. Really, really disappointing.