The Float Plane Notebooks

Rating:
Summary: Southern Lit at its Best
Review: "The Floatplane Notebooks" tells the story of the Copelands, a typical Southern family that gathers every year to clean up the family cemetery. Using the narrative structure of Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" (a series of single-narrator chapters), the family experiences a devastating event that threatens to unravel the family fabric. In the end, all is well, and powerfully bittersweet.
The story has what is easily one if the funniest scenes I've ever read (regarding a well and a flashlight), and the way the story is resolved at the end is truly touching (the careful reader will see that the two scenes are closely related). Another notable feature is the observations of one of the book's main characters - a wisteria vine. This may seem strange, unless the reader realizes that the vine is essentially the theme of the story, for it represents death (a ubiquitous theme in all great Southern literature). The Copeland family could easily solve the problem of cleaning the family graveyard by just killing the wisteria vine. But, if they do, they then have no real reason to gather every year. This is a family that is united by and finds strength in death.
This is a truly unique and great story, though not appropriate for younger readers. Skilled readers will find much to appreciate. "The Floatplane Notebooks" is Southern Lit at its very best. READ THIS BOOK.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Gosh Darn Awful!
Review: I believe this book to be truly underappreciated. Most people tend to think it is just a story about some quirky southern folk. It is that but it is also much more. It is "Our Town" reborn. It should definitely be studied in our classrooms instead of all the novels that are so hard to grasp and seem irrelevent. This one has a meaning to each and everyone of us, no matter how young, old, rich or poor. It is life.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Gosh Darn Awful!
Review: Nothing happens in this awkwardly constructed little book. The characters just talk (for a page or two)...and talk and talk. If you like this sort of thing (plotless yammering) you should hang out at the local diner and listen to the folks carry on.

Rating:
Summary: My All-Time Favorite
Review: This is absolutely my favorite book, I truly wish it was my family he was writing about.
Edgerton is by far the best Southern author writing today.