Charms for the Easy Life

Rating:
Summary: Strained credibility but still was a fun read.
Review: Kaye Gibbon's Charms for the Easy Life will be a shock for most of us, accustomed as we are to the doomed, dysfunctional women of Southern literature. The book deals with the lives of three generations of hyperfunctional Southerners: Charlie Kate, grandmother and miracle working midwife, her vamp daughter Sophia and her intellectual grand daughter Margaret. Gibbons used WPA interviews as background to the story, and the closer she adheres to the WPA stuff, the more interesting it is. All in all, it is an engaging read with lots of interesting detail on Southern superstitions and folk cures. After a while though, my B.S. counter started to tick. Here are people who came up from nothing, yet manage to have the literary taste of Boston Brahmins. They sail quite comfortably through the great depression with all the comforts -- including indoor plumbing. Despite being an uneducated midwife, Charlie Kate is firmly in control of all the doctors and hospitals in her area, she has a better success rate than the Mayo Clinic, and Margaret, the clever misfit, never seems to have a lonely moment.

Rating:
Summary: relaxing reading
Review: This book got better as it went along. The three women are so different and so similar at the same time, and the descriptions of the time and the town are great. It was an easy book to read and relax with.

Rating:
Summary: Very Dissapointing
Review: I read this book for a book group and was quite dissapointed. It is on the high school reading list in my town and I thought I'd enjoy it because the town English coordinator who makes up the required and recommended reading lists is a nice man, but I was upset by the characters (except Charlie-Kate), plot, and even the details of the story. I'm not oohing and ahhing over it. You don't need to read it if you don't have to. I hope that by the time I get to high school it's off the list of required reading.

Rating:
Summary: A quick, enjoyable read.
Review: I enjoyed this far more than A Virtuous Woman--it was hard to put down. It was one of those books that takes the reader into the story. I felt I knew the characters, and self-righteous or not, they were fun. Maybe they were the kind of characters that the reader might want to be. I guess I liked the way Gibbons captured the feeling of the era. It was a great story.

Rating:
Summary: A WONDERFUL READ
Review: This book is a joy from beginning to end. Funny and insightful. I've recently reread it and found it more enjoyable than the first or second time. Her best work.

Rating:
Summary: A Perfect Book
Review: Kaye Gibbons at her best. The reader really gets to know, understand and love the characters. Absolutely a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: charming, charming, charming
Review: A light wonderful read about 3 women full of sass

Rating:
Summary: BAD: DONT READ!!!
Review: I had to read this book for my school's reading list. It was by far the worst book that I have ever read. There was no plot at all. All of my friends also thought that it was bad. Even some of my friend's parents thought so too!! My final word is DONT READ IT!!

Rating:
Summary: I didn't want it to end.
Review: I'm a Kaye Gibbons fan, and in my opinion this is the best of her books. The relationships were real and complex and reading this book was just a joy. I've given it to several friends to read and will read it again myself.

Rating:
Summary: I may be 13 but this book rocked!
Review: I read the book on vacation and couldn't put it down. It was one of the best books i have ever read. I almost cried when grama died!