The Coalwood Way

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Summary: Solves my Christmas present problems
Review: The Coalwood Way is a book for all seasons but it has a built-in Christmas story, too. I'm looking for this one on television in a couple of years. Who could resist that final scene at the Coalwood Pageant when Sonny reads from the Bible except it isn't exactly from the Bible, is it? At every turn, Hickam throws us a curve. I was continuously surprised. I laughed out loud a lot, shed a tear here and there. Hickam is a marvelously gifted story teller. Hope he keeps writing these little gems.

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Summary: A captivating work!
Review: Hickam has managed yet again to captivate the imagination with "The Coalwood Way" by bringing us into his hometown again. This is a wonderful story about a boy becoming a man, and the complex emotions that come into play during such a turbulent period. Hickam brings humor to the story in unique moments that catch the reader by surprise. Bravo!

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Summary: Uplifting
Review: In a time when so much that is published and shown in the media is negative and inconsequential, 'The Coalwood Way' uplifts the spirit with the honest reflections of a young man who discovers the secret of growing up. Homer Hickam reveals the deepest longing of his heart as the book carries the reader through a short but significant period of time that changes his life. Homer's heartwarming self-searching is so reflective of what I experienced as a teen that I'm certain that many others can also relate to his story. The Coalwood Way is not a sequel to Rocket Boys but rather an 'equal' that enlarges upon the relationships and complex personalities of the characters in the town. Homer (who is as sincere and nice as he comes across in the story, and is married to ones of the most beautiful and talented ladies around) seems to unroll the story like a red carpet, encouraging the reader to follow and explore the richness of this coal mining community in southern WV. My husband, daughter and I have visited Coalwood several times and spent time with the gracious people who live there and who are working so hard to bring restoration to this gem of a town. There is a proud spirit among the citizens and that rare closeness that the word 'community' stands for. The reader of Homer's Coalwood books are able to experience this spirit. If you are wondering what exactly Homer means by 'The Coalwood Way' I encourage you to read the book. It's one of those 'life lessons' we need to share with our kids, model ourselves, and encourage in others. Warm, rich, uplifting, thoughtful, and engrossing. It's a rare treat to find an author like Homer who writes with consistent integrity and unashamed joy. I'm so thankful he is working on a third book and can hardly wait to read it!

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Summary: A little piece of pure reading heaven
Review: I'm a big reader. Usually at least one novel a week. This is the best book I've read all year, period. Not too many books leave me feeling as if I am a better person after reading it but this one did. I keep going back and re-reading parts of it. In one place, Little Richard explains to Homer (Sonny) what happens to us after we die. I have to say after hearing all these sermons over the years about that, for the first time I think I have heard the truth. It is toward the end when something awful happens in Coalwood (I have to say it was a big surprise) and I was kind of sad and then there was this great big TRUTH, something I have always wondered about. All I can say is you have to read it to understand what I'm saying.

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Summary: Coalwood, USA
Review: It is the fall of 1959 in the small coal mining town of Coalwood, WV. Sonny Hickam, the author, is a senior at Big Creek High School, and in the last year of his life as a full time Coalwoodian. He paints a picture of life in a community dependent on what has been called the most dangerous occupation. Through the fall, we meet some vividly portrayed residents including a pair of junior engineers, a poor girl from Gary, and Sonny's heart throb(s). We get to know Sonny's parents in more detail than offered in Rocket Boys and they do seem as the heart of Coalwood. And you will learn some WV lingo- I swan. It is a wonderful, warm and at times exciting story, quite different from Rocket Boys. Sonny has an insightful mind and a writing skill that is unique. It is an inspirational story that will make you feel good, and make you want to visit Coalwood. Take the book with you and find most of the memorable sites. Coalwood is alive and well, but still small and hidden 40 years after the events of Coalwood Way.

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Summary: A Wonderfully Warm Book
Review: Although there is certainly some saddness in this book, the overwhelming feeling I was left with was that of warmth. Hickam shares much more than his early efforts at building rockets, he shares life's lessons and the importance of learning from what life gives you. The book is really about people.....and not just those from West Virginia. An easy-to-read, pick it up when you have time kind of book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

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Summary: A great memoir (just like the first one)
Review: Homer goes deeper into his life in Coalwood, the tensions in his home because of his father's love of mining and his mother's fear of the spot on her husbands' lung, and also the mores (the ways) of the tiny mining town. But as with all of Homer's works, there are laugh-out-loud places (I love Chipper the squirrel) and other places that I swear he makes tears come to my eyes. It's not just the story - as good as it is. It is the writing. It is at times lyrical and has an ebb and flow to it I find a bit mesmerizing. In other words, it's just a darn good read and I'm happy to say so. This is my first review.

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Summary: The lost art of memoir
Review: If you're like me and you find the self-absorbed narcissism of recent memoirists like Mary Karr or Spike Gillespie to be fingernails on the blackboard of the soul, you just may adore the good old-fashioned literary sensibility of Homer Hickam. Lyrical, warm, empathetic, inspiring, tragic, funny, earnest, and poignant, Hickam's writing is to be read, savored, and read again. If you've read ROCKET BOYS, or seen the movie version, which was filmed as OCTOBER SKY, you have a sense of the treasures that lie to be discovered in THE COALWOOD WAY.

Ms. Karr built on a successful first memoir by mining her sex life for cheap bathos and brutalizing (in a literary sense) her dysfunctional family. Hickam now builds on a successful first memoir by doing something far more instructive, worthwhile, and readable: he has constructed something meaningful out of his own family dysfunction, drawing lessons out of his painful past and, out of consideration for his reader, one surmises, delivering it in a way that acknowledges that readers today have choices, and need not stay with a memoirist who doesn't give a damn about them.

Hop off of the rat race for a few afternoons, turn off Oprah and Jerry Springer, and immerse yourself in Hickam's fluid, enchanting story. You'll come away touched, and changed.

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Summary: GREAT READING FOR A FELLOW MCDOWELL COUNTIAN
Review: I did not want to put this book down. I just wanted to turn the pages and keep reading as fast as I could. The story is done in detail, giving the true deep-seated emotions felt by each and every character. Being a coal miner's daughter, I could relate to each and every challenge the characters were faced with in reality as well as in their own minds. This gives people of that era some food for thought about the life and times, trials, and tribulations that were common in those days even for the "King of the Coal Mines" (Homer, Sr). The author has a gift for telling a story so that the reader feels he becomes one of the characters. I hope the author will continue to share his gift for many years to come.

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Summary: HE DID IT AGAIN!!!!
Review: As previously stated from prior reviews, I can personally tell you that this is one book that you won't put down until you're finished!! I personally know Homer Hickam and his wife Linda and can assure you that the personality of the book is exactly the personality of it's author. Keep up the good work Homer!! Coalwood, West Virginia and the world are awaiting for the next book. I didn't think it could get any better than Rocket Boys but was I ever fooled. Everyone should try to visit Coalwood WV. We live exactly how Homer writes. Down to earth, loving, caring and couragious folks. West Virginia, especially Coalwood is very proud of "Our Home Town Boys"!!!!