Rating: 
Summary: Totally Untrue
Review: I can't believe they let this woman write anything. It was horrible. For one thing there are many lies in this book. Newell is a wonderful place. This woman only lived there for maybe 1 year a very long time ago. She has no right to talk about something she knows nothing about. Plus her grandmother was no Miss America as you can see on the cover. She was stuck up and to put it nicely easy for men to get to know. I think if you right a book you should actually know what you are talking about.
Rating:
Summary: ick............
Review: I found the the story excruciatingly boring, virtually pointless. After Jean marries Don, the next sixty years of their lives are dealt with in ten pages. Ms. Glock may be a gifted writer, but she is a poor storyteller.
Rating: 
Summary: The author speaks
Review: I just wanted to thank everyone for taking the time to read my book. It means a lot to me and I appreciate your interest, even from the few of you who didn't ultimately enjoy the experience. (Although I will admit it hurts to be called "garbage" by a stranger.) For those of you who also wrote reviews, thanks again. Your feedback matters.
Happy reading,
Allison Glock
Rating:
Summary: I've got a mother just like this
Review: I read the first reviews that came out about Beauty Before Comfort, and, to quote Yogi Berra, it was deja vue all over again: this book could have been written about my mother. In fact, I could have written it!
Although my mother stuck, more or less, with one main man (my father) from the time she turned sixteen, I couldn't help comment on the similarities between Aneita Jean and Mary Churchman (my mom). Those many points of comparison made this delicious reading. I believe anyone with a flamboyant female relative in her background would find this book a delight. For me, it filled in many areas of my mother's life during that same era (30s and 40s) that she has pulled a gauzy curtain over - now that preserving her self-image as a devoted wife and mother is more important to her than creating the well-bred hussy image.
Beauty Before Comfort - what a great title! It sort of says it all, and this book reads as well as a pair of beautiful and sexy sling-back high-heeled pumps: even if the shoes were borrowed from a cousin, aren't quite the right size, and pinch horribly by the end of the evening, by God, they sure look great!
Rating:
Summary: Touching Book
Review: I read this book a couple of weeks ago and have read many since and this one still sticks in my brain. I really enjoyed this book. Allison's grandmother reminded me a lot of my paternal grandmother. I really enjoyed her writing and look foward to reading more books by her.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage
Review: I think most of Jean Thornberry's dissapointment in life came not from the town/area, but instead within herself. She seemed insecure and unsure of herself, grasping at men in a desperate fashion. Not receiving the love and attention at home from her own Mother, too weak to stand up to a "dictator" of a husband, and a Father, whom was self-centered, cold and hateful. What a pitiful childhood. Robbing Jean of her self confidence and self esteem. Thusly, she comes into adulthood blaming not only the valley and people, but indeed the very heart and soul of the area. Why did she spend her entire life, in the town?? Strength and perciversance may of delivered her from the detested town. There is poverty, alchoholism, bigotry and the seedier side of life in every town, county and state across this nation, around the world. Alchoholism crosses every line of wealth and nationality. The area does indeed produce lazy, ignorant, slovenly people.
But is also a birthplace of some of the finest folks on this earth. People who value nothing more than family and friends.
Hardworking, caring folks with high moral standards. Thrifty, honest people who provide for their own, care for their elderly, raise their young to dream and fly. Self sufficient people who can perservere through the hard times, and find joy and happiness in every day life. The area itself is a site of splendid beauty. The gentle foothills, seem like velvety mounds with the deep green leaves of summer. The gently flowing Ohio River, dales and glens, winding country roads, and slow and easy pace, comfort and soothe the soul. A sense of peace and serenity abound. It is an area with pride in it's rich and vital heritage.
Life is what you make it from the deserts of Arizona, to the beaches of California, the mountains of Colorado, to the foothills of West Virginia. Happiness and contentment come from within. And it all boils down to the half empty/half full glass.
Rating:
Summary: Half full/Half empty
Review: I think most of Jean Thornberry's dissapointment in life came not from the town/area, but instead within herself. She seemed insecure and unsure of herself, grasping at men in a desperate fashion. Not receiving the love and attention at home from her own Mother, too weak to stand up to a "dictator" of a husband, and a Father, whom was self-centered, cold and hateful. What a pitiful childhood. Robbing Jean of her self confidence and self esteem. Thusly, she comes into adulthood blaming not only the valley and people, but indeed the very heart and soul of the area. Why did she spend her entire life, in the town?? Strength and perciversance may of delivered her from the detested town. There is poverty, alchoholism, bigotry and the seedier side of life in every town, county and state across this nation, around the world. Alchoholism crosses every line of wealth and nationality. The area does indeed produce lazy, ignorant, slovenly people.
But is also a birthplace of some of the finest folks on this earth. People who value nothing more than family and friends.
Hardworking, caring folks with high moral standards. Thrifty, honest people who provide for their own, care for their elderly, raise their young to dream and fly. Self sufficient people who can perservere through the hard times, and find joy and happiness in every day life. The area itself is a site of splendid beauty. The gentle foothills, seem like velvety mounds with the deep green leaves of summer. The gently flowing Ohio River, dales and glens, winding country roads, and slow and easy pace, comfort and soothe the soul. A sense of peace and serenity abound. It is an area with pride in it's rich and vital heritage.
Life is what you make it from the deserts of Arizona, to the beaches of California, the mountains of Colorado, to the foothills of West Virginia. Happiness and contentment come from within. And it all boils down to the half empty/half full glass.
Rating: 
Summary: Storytime with Grandma
Review: My girlfriend was reading this book and I just happen to start thumbing through it after I grew tired of the morning paper. Instantly it was like I was seven again and my grandma had asked my brothers and sisters to gather around and listen to the way it used to be. But this book blows the traditional "I had to walk to school in four feet of snow" story out of the water. This book is the story our grandmas'were trying to tell us when we were too young to understand or appreciate it. Thanks to Allison Glock who knew enough to listen intently to her Grandmother while she still had the chance, and then sharing it with us.
Rating:
Summary: Davis Grubb lives!
Review: No author since Davis Grubb (Night of the Hunter and many other titles)died 20 years ago has communicated the essense of the West Virginia panhandle pottery and mining towns and their people with such vivid and compelling accuracy... and eloquence. Allison Glock has a stunning talent to come up with words that bring her characters and pages to life. This memoir of her grandmother doesn't duck the bawdy intimate details, which are compellingly, almost Jerry Springer-ish funny, and reveals with impact the bleak kind of John Steinbeck depression era drudgery and unfulfilled aspirations of the lives she articulates with such feeling. I think she will become a hugely successful author if that's what she chooses to be. I loved this book!
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: This book has a heartbeat. The easy and beautiful flow of Allison Glock's words coupled by a truly engaging tale made this memoir impossible to put down. I read it in just two days and was upset when the reading experience had to end. I still can't stop thinking about Aneita Jean Blair's story. How there where so many woman like her that longed to leave their depressive environments but found themselves trapped.
Glock does not glorify her grandmother's personality. She is not portrayed as a hero but simply an extraordinary character. Making this memoir both unique and haunting.
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