The Member of the Wedding

Rating:
Summary: GREAT BOOK
Review: The Member of the Wedding was overall a good book. It tells of a young girl's childhood naivety. It shows how, being a young misfit, she yearns to grow up and be accepted. Her wild actions are intriguing. It wasn't very realistic, however, that a soldier would try to pick up a 12 year old girl. But, the talk of her dreams were very realistic. All children dream of running away, but then they never actually do it. It shows Frankie's personality great, though, when she does try to runaway, taking her father's pistol with her. Throughout the book, all Frankie wanted to do was be accepted as a young adult rather than a child, and she goes through a lot to try and prove it. In the end, however, she remains naive.

Rating:
Summary: Might like the play better
Review: I just finished this book earlier today as required summer reading for my AP English class. I sort of understand why this book was a classic, and I know that most classic books are unconventional on purpose, but to me this book seemed to have some major flaws. First off: very few events occur in the first half of the book. It is mostly narrative -the constant descriptions of Frankie's surroundings and experience, while profound, are repeated over and over, basically filling up space. The book is short but took almost 5 days to read because it is soo dull at times.I understand that the message of the difficulty of adolescance and not feeling as though one belongs in the world was communicated through the extreme character, so it is probably not for kids to read because most would simply dismiss it as terrible writing(I know all my friends who are still reading it are) because they would fail to identify with Frankie/F.Jasmine/Frances. The play is probably better because the events would be condenced(less talking).

Rating:
Summary: A Novel That Reads Like a Play
Review: I have read some of the other critiques of this novel, and it seems like people do not take into account the fact that this story takes place during WWII in a very small town and involves people of scant financial means and only basic education. With that in mind, it is not unlikely that a character like Frankie would develop and suffer the anguish of growing up. This complex novel would be better left to adults and not forced upon children in high school, for I can see how they would be frustrated in trying to read it. Anyway, this novel was apparently made into a play, and the book reads like one, with the three central characters taking center stage. McCullers' genius shines through this novel as well as The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. I highly recommend it.