Charms for the Easy Life

Rating:
Summary: Another Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Review: I was thrilled reading this book a few years ago and it reminded me of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I enjoyed the relationship between the three women and found it very warm, loving and poignant. The words were "charming" as was the content.

Rating:
Summary: A taste of the south comparable to Welty
Review: Gibbons' Charms for the Easy Life captures the lives of three generations of southern women. The tale is interwoven with humor, compassion, and Gibbons' brilliant style. The power of this novel transcend the mere power of the written word - it changes and enriches the reader.

Rating:
Summary: A charming and uplifting story
Review: Kaye Gibbons has a wonderful way of describing ordinary things and making them extraordinary. This book made me laugh and smile and cry.

Rating:
Summary: Ordinary but somewhat unforgettable
Review: For some reason, I liked this book the best of all of her books. Nothing major happens in the story but the connection between three women got me good. If you grew up in a female dominated family with lots of love, you will like this book. It's not the story, but some kind of comforting feeling that made me like this book.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious
Review: The three generations of women in this book are full of gumption and spunk. She really wove them together well. You find yourself relating to the characters. I wish I knew Charlie Kate. She's some woman. I find this book just as good as Ellen Foster although the writing style is slightly different.

Rating:
Summary: I keep coming back to this one.
Review: I truly am surprised by other readers' disappointment in this novel--who says everything Kaye Gibbons produces must be in the same "vein"? True enough, Charms stands apart from Ellen Foster and her most recent (and most excellent) On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon. Yes, it does have a fairy-tale like quality and somewhat jerky cadences, but I enjoy a fairy-tale every now and then!

Rating:
Summary: Not the best book ever.
Review: I had to read this book to do a review on for a college class. It was okay, but not one that had me staying up late at night to get to the end. I thought the story shouldn't have ended the way it did. It just seemed like it wasn't finished.

Rating:
Summary: Plenty of "charm" in this book
Review: I found "Charms For The Easy Life" to be a remarkable book. It is very well-written, and the characters are well-developed and likeable. I originally read this book for a college course several years ago, and I have since found myself rereading it countless times. If you enjoy books about strong women, this one is definitely for you!

Rating:
Summary: This book is not another "Ellen Foster"!
Review: What a desappointment! As soon as I finished reading Ellen Foster, I was hungry for another book by Gibson. I am sorry to say Charms of the Easy Life did not give any insight of teh characters, they are treated very sketchy, I could not have any feelings for any of them (I adored and admired little old Ellen). This book is boring, boring, boring.

Rating:
Summary: This book holds few "charms"
Review: I was vastly disappointed with this novel. I had read and admired "Ellen Foster" and was optimistic when "Charms" was selected by my book club. Unfortunately, the plot was facile, superficial, and unbelievable -- a fairytale with pretensions to reality. The characters were stereotypes, drawn with the broadest brushtrokes, with no remotely "human" qualities. What qualities they did have were repellent, a trio of do-gooders with no compassion for human failings other than their own. In short, I found this novel insultingly smug and sanctimonious, the kind of novel that gives Southern literature a bad name.