The Member of the Wedding

Rating:
Summary: Shallow, overated, worn out theme of "Coming of Age"
Review: This is the first book we have read by Carson McCullers and we were disapointed by the lack of action. Through McCuller's lack of in-depth analysis of Frankie's problems, the plot grew increasingly tedious. The kitchen discussions with Bernice, the cook, were insufficient to resolve Frankie's inner conflict. The novel seemed extremey unorganized, constantly jumping around, maing the reader's perception of time completely incoherent. Perhaps McCullers' other works are not as disappoitning, however, we were not pleased with Memebr of the Wedding.

Rating:
Summary: Undeserving of its place in american literature
Review: This book is one of the books of the twentieth-century cannon whose reputation I find underserved. The slow pace of the book and its annoying lead character are its two main faults. They work in conjunction to create a book that is neither an enjoyable nor a memorable experience.

Rating:
Summary: very interesting presentation of the growth of a teenage gir
Review: I enjoyed the novel very much. It reflects with a crude reality the changes a girl has to undergo in order to achieve maturity. The imaginative world she creates and the neccesity to belong to someone or something is deeply moving. I would like to see what other people think of the novel, especially, the characterization of Frankie Addams.

Rating:
Summary: Member of the Wedding- VERY entertaining
Review: Carson Mccullers creates a masterpiece in the adaptation and writing of The Member of the Wedding. Memorable characters are created through the dialog, and the significant meanings in the play are tied up wonderfully in an entertaining storyline. Frankie epitomizes youthfulness and insecurity, while still presenting herself as a unique character. Her mother figure and houskeeper, Berenice, not only teaches Frankie about life, but about living life as it should be lived. John Henry is pure mischevious innocence, and all the other characters complete the story of a family with problems that still manages to function. Mccullers tackles the issue of acceptance versus taking action to change ones situation through the events that surround Frankie and her friends, T.T. and Honey. The issues of adolescence are placed in a humorous light in the aftermath of Frankie's spoken thoughts and actions, while T.T. and Honey must face bigger challenges of prejudice and inequality. Personally, I thought the play was really funny, but sad at the same time. That's why I'm giving it a ten. It was a fast, entertaining read.

Rating:
Summary: The teen angst of a bored Frankie Adams to find her calling.
Review: It was a fairly decent book with fascinating characters. But it dragged on a bit long about Frankie Adams tamptrums.

Rating:
Summary: Great characterizations of children
Review: Not many writers can characterize children realistically. Somehow a stylized silhouette emerges and the child fades in the background and the plot or adult characters take over the storyline and the children characters end up being nothing more than fluff. This is definately not one of those novels. Carson mcCullers writes almost with artistic persicion on her two most elaborate characters, F. Jasmine and John Henry West. I really cannot think of another story, maybe, A Good Man is Hard to Find, by Flannery O'Conner, where the writer can get inside the mind of a child; evoking their unique thoughts and feelings with a sense of ease. John Henry West is one of the most well rounded and well written children I have ever read, and that is a great homage to her writing ability.

*I first read this at ten, can see that age or older reading it. Will have a intense impact on a sensitive pre teen reader.

Rating:
Summary: English teachers, PLEASE NOTE
Review: If you are an English teacher (particularly high school) PLEASE don't make your students as part of their literature assignment write an amazon.com review. Most, if not all, of the negative reviews here were written by students who are clearly incapable of appreciating such literature as "The Member of the Wedding." For them to then be forced to write a review is just plain wrong, chiefly for the reason that it may steer others away from reading a novel that they ought to read. I wish I could place this note in an obvious place on the amazon.com website.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I thought it would be
Review: I read this book because it was on the Publishing Triangle's List of 100 Best Lesbian and Gay Novels. It was the first time I'd read McCullers and her writing style, her ability to put together a beautiful sentence, is fantastic. The story reminded me of unhappy, subdued, female-character based version of Ray Bradbury's _Dandelion Wine_. However, I found the end of the story abrupt and out of character with the rest of the story: 100+ pages of slow story telling then a jump into the future for the ending, which comprises all of 3 pages. However if you are looking for glbt content, it is not really here; sure, Frankie is a tomboy, but that is as close as the story comes to glbt content.

Rating:
Summary: Mind-numbing garbage.
Review: I've read all sorts of books throughout my educational career...from James Joyce to dry sociological texts. I've read books so dull I could feel them sapping my life energy.
Never before, though, have I had to suffer through a book as mind-numbingly awful as 'Member of the Wedding.'
Mere words cannot communicate how bad this book really is. It follows the pathetic, worthless existence of Frankie, the most unlikeable, irritating, sorry excuse for a human being ever to disgrace a piece of literature.
This book reads like a bad Linkin Park video, and consists largely of Frankie whining about wanting to belong, and wanting to travel with her older brother, who is about to get married. The ONLY thing I can say for this book is that it is relatively well-written...obviously, Carson McCullers was a good writer. But Thomas Harris wrote 'Silence of the Lambs' and the he wrote 'Hannibal.' 'Hannibal' is a god-awful book, and it STILL doesn't approach the level of putridity reached by this claptrap.
Of course, many reviewers would have you believe that this book is about the awkwardness/isolation/loneliness of acolescence. Bull. I was an awkward/isolated/lonely teen, and I did strange things, but Frankie's actions are downright bizarre, inexplicable, and only serve to make you loathe her further.
For absolutely no reason, the author kills off a couple characters at the end, just to make sure that if you weren't suicidally depressed by the book by that point, you sure wouldn't have a reason to live after finishing the whole book.
Like I said, think bad Linkin Park song: garish, whiney, needlessly depressing, and completely pointless. There is no message here except that there is no hope, no moral except that life is empty, pointless, isolated, and lonely. I'm a big fan of literature/music/art that emphasizes such themes as isoltation and abandonment...and thus, I tend to enjoy such works even if they're pretty lousy.
This, however, was the bottom of the barrel in cheap, exploitative, pathetic, useless literature. If you want to read something that deals with isolation/abandonment/loneliness, read Eugene O'Neill's 'The Iceman Cometh' 'Long Day's Journey into Night' or 'The Hairy Ape' I promise you will find all much more well written and moving than this garbage.
In conclusion, when I finished reading this vile book, I hated the main character, I hated the human race, I hated the author responsible for my suffering; but most of all, I hated myself, for subjecting myself to this bloated corpse of a novel.
Read it on the toilet, or better yet read something GOOD and save this to use as toilet paper. Consider it an appropriate afterthought.

Rating:
Summary: Depressing, but worthwhile
Review: This book presents a very bleak view of coming-of-age with a style that seems to be deliberately suggestive of a child's nightmare. The prose is impressionistic, almost dizzyingly so at times. The plot isn't much to brag about, but I suppose she wasn't going for plot. It was worth reading once, but I don't think I'll come back to it too often.

(As an aside, the reviewer who claimed it was unrealistic that a soldier might try to pick up a 12-year-old girl irritated me a little bit. First of all, some soldiers simply do want 12-year-old girls--just ask some of the folks in the Phillipines, Japan, Okinawa, Vietnam etc. Secondly, McCullers makes it abundantly clear that F. Jasmine is taller and looks older than she is. I'm not sure how anyone could've missed that.)