Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow?

Rating:
Summary: "...this river remembers its source..."
Review: After a recent visit to Archer City (Thalia) Texas, I read Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow, expecting a light-hearted rebuttal to Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show, a sort of "comin' back atcha" kind of book. This work, however, is at once, a serious reflection of a life, a social and cultural commemtary, and a source of great wisdom, insight, and humor. I was unprepared for the depth of emotion that it triggered, and for the way I interacted with it. I was not simply an observer, but a participant. I sat up late at night thinking of my own story, and the stories of my mother and grandmother. Ceil's memoir has encouraged and helped "this river remember its source". I read many reviews that claim "the book will be remembered long after the last page is turned". I usually scoff at that because it is often untrue. However, it is surely something that should be written about this one...it is being remembered and continues to be thought-provoking. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: "...this river remembers its source..."
Review: After a recent visit to Archer City (Thalia) Texas, I read Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow, expecting a light-hearted rebuttal to Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show, a sort of "comin' back atcha" kind of book. This work, however, is at once, a serious reflection of a life, a social and cultural commemtary, and a source of great wisdom, insight, and humor. I was unprepared for the depth of emotion that it triggered, and for the way I interacted with it. I was not simply an observer, but a participant. I sat up late at night thinking of my own story, and the stories of my mother and grandmother. Ceil's memoir has encouraged and helped "this river remember its source". I read many reviews that claim "the book will be remembered long after the last page is turned". I usually scoff at that because it is often untrue. However, it is surely something that should be written about this one...it is being remembered and continues to be thought-provoking. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: A memoir that reads like a fine novel.
Review: As a peer growing up down the road in northwest Texas, I experienced Ceil's accurately picturing the sparse environment - geographically and intellectually. In the late 19th Century, men came seeking new beginnings in an area nearer the frontier mindset than with emerging sophistication of urban areas and gentility of the South. The women struggled to keep a foot in each camp. The result was dreams embedded in daughters and granddaughters - sometimes taking the third generation to fulfill their most inner longings. Rearrange the characters, add and subtract and Ceil has told my story of painful growth. Sadly, some didn't survive.

Rating:
Summary: Tediously finding out whatever happened to Jacy Farrow
Review: The tiny town of Archer City produced Larry McMurtry isn't that enough? I can only hope Ceil has purged herself from those Texas demons with this book and has now taken up skydiving or something other than writing. Gee, now I wished I hadn't found out what happened to her.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, moving, insightful
Review: Through word of mouth, this book is slowly becoming a classic. I ran across a whole classful of university students reading this book in New York recently. I just re-read it recently, and still find it funny, moving, insigthtful, full of thoughtful philosophical musings on the vagaries of life. A profound book cast in three phases: the author as a young girl; the author in her thirties, and the author in her fifties. A unique life, a unique voice. Highly recommended.