The Knife Thrower's Assistant: Memoirs of a Human Target

Rating:
Summary: Nothing Quite Like It!
Review: I loved Ronnie Claire Edward's memoir, The Knife Thrower's Assistant. It is beautifully written and filled with wisdom, compassion and wit. Read it now! There's nothing quite like it!

Rating:
Summary: Nothing Quite Like It!
Review: This book clearly deserves more than five stars.

To write a book this funny, you have to have good material and be a brilliant story teller. Ms. Ronnie Claire Edwards has both to draw on, and makes wonderful use of them in this madcap memoir of summer melodramas in mining towns, being taken by gypsies, carnival acts, and alligator farms. Just when you think that you have been entertained royally, she switches the stories into a theme of who she is. The result is a brilliant portrayal of a talented actress.

Many people will primarily know Ms. Edwards from her role as Corabeth Walton Godsey in the television series, The Waltons. Her friends, however, know her better by her wonderful stories. In a foreward by Ms. Fannie Flagg, you find out that Ms. Flagg has "constantly dogged Ronnie Claire to sit down and write her always keen and hilarious observations . . . ." I, for one, am glad that she prevailed. I think you, too, will be. To give you a flavor for the book, Ms. Flagg characterizes it as "Oklahoma Gothic -- if there is such a thing. And if there wasn't, there is now." The reference to Oklahoma is because Ms. Edwards is from Oklahoma, and many of the stories relate to Oklahoma.

The book begins with the true tale of how Ms. Edwards became a knife thrower's target. She was 15 and had run off to work with a carnival as a ticket taker. The knife thrower was Great Shoshone Mahaffee, "half Indian, half Irish, and all drunk . . . particularly troublesome in a knife thrower." Her predecessor, Fifi, was starting to twitch. Apparently, she didn't need to worry about the cuticle on one of her pinkies any more. So Mr. Mahaffee "was looking for new blood." In that brief tale, you get a sense of the amazing wit, story telling ability, and writing skill that Ms. Edwards brings to her material.

As interesting as her experiences were, her family's were often even more unusual and humorous. "My family's ecentricity was God-given . . . ." It will spoil the story if I tell too much, but consider that her mother and father called her by totally different names. To her mother, she was Ronnie Claire. To her father, she was Sophronia Gertrude or sometimes, just Gertie. She looked for her birth certificate to check, and her mother said it had been lost. Her father said the mother was wrong, and she was suffering from "transient apoplexy." The mother said the father was doing this "just to be perverse."

When her mother and father die, her siblings take whatever possessions they want and send what they cannot bear to throw away to Ms. Edwards. She takes you through these dusty boxes and shares the memories they bring. After you learn more about her family, their friends and neighbors, and those they help, you will agree with her statement that "is it any wonder I became an actress?"

My two favorite humorous sections here were Uncle Homer's trunk (you won't believe Uncle Homer) and a series of letters from her father describing her mother's false teeth.

Then at the end, she finds a bundle of the earliest photographs and other keepsakes about her own life in a scrapbook. In there is a birth certificate. And what do you think it says? You'll just have to read the book to find out, but it's well worth the read just to find out the answer to that one question.

Ms. Edwards then sums up nicely about how all of this rich background of humorous human poignancy helped her become the person she is.

After you have finished enjoying this remarkable book, I suggest that you take a look at the legacy that you will be leaving your children through the perspective of their experience in opening up your possessions after you are deceased. What will they find? What will they think about? Then, go out and make some new and better memories with them.

Find the brilliance and fun in every moment!

Rating:
Summary: A Hilarious Memoir of a Most Eccentric Family
Review: This book clearly deserves more than five stars.

To write a book this funny, you have to have good material and be a brilliant story teller. Ms. Ronnie Claire Edwards has both to draw on, and makes wonderful use of them in this madcap memoir of summer melodramas in mining towns, being taken by gypsies, carnival acts, and alligator farms. Just when you think that you have been entertained royally, she switches the stories into a theme of who she is. The result is a brilliant portrayal of a talented actress.

Many people will primarily know Ms. Edwards from her role as Corabeth Walton Godsey in the television series, The Waltons. Her friends, however, know her better by her wonderful stories. In a foreward by Ms. Fannie Flagg, you find out that Ms. Flagg has "constantly dogged Ronnie Claire to sit down and write her always keen and hilarious observations . . . ." I, for one, am glad that she prevailed. I think you, too, will be. To give you a flavor for the book, Ms. Flagg characterizes it as "Oklahoma Gothic -- if there is such a thing. And if there wasn't, there is now." The reference to Oklahoma is because Ms. Edwards is from Oklahoma, and many of the stories relate to Oklahoma.

The book begins with the true tale of how Ms. Edwards became a knife thrower's target. She was 15 and had run off to work with a carnival as a ticket taker. The knife thrower was Great Shoshone Mahaffee, "half Indian, half Irish, and all drunk . . . particularly troublesome in a knife thrower." Her predecessor, Fifi, was starting to twitch. Apparently, she didn't need to worry about the cuticle on one of her pinkies any more. So Mr. Mahaffee "was looking for new blood." In that brief tale, you get a sense of the amazing wit, story telling ability, and writing skill that Ms. Edwards brings to her material.

As interesting as her experiences were, her family's were often even more unusual and humorous. "My family's ecentricity was God-given . . . ." It will spoil the story if I tell too much, but consider that her mother and father called her by totally different names. To her mother, she was Ronnie Claire. To her father, she was Sophronia Gertrude or sometimes, just Gertie. She looked for her birth certificate to check, and her mother said it had been lost. Her father said the mother was wrong, and she was suffering from "transient apoplexy." The mother said the father was doing this "just to be perverse."

When her mother and father die, her siblings take whatever possessions they want and send what they cannot bear to throw away to Ms. Edwards. She takes you through these dusty boxes and shares the memories they bring. After you learn more about her family, their friends and neighbors, and those they help, you will agree with her statement that "is it any wonder I became an actress?"

My two favorite humorous sections here were Uncle Homer's trunk (you won't believe Uncle Homer) and a series of letters from her father describing her mother's false teeth.

Then at the end, she finds a bundle of the earliest photographs and other keepsakes about her own life in a scrapbook. In there is a birth certificate. And what do you think it says? You'll just have to read the book to find out, but it's well worth the read just to find out the answer to that one question.

Ms. Edwards then sums up nicely about how all of this rich background of humorous human poignancy helped her become the person she is.

After you have finished enjoying this remarkable book, I suggest that you take a look at the legacy that you will be leaving your children through the perspective of their experience in opening up your possessions after you are deceased. What will they find? What will they think about? Then, go out and make some new and better memories with them.

Find the brilliance and fun in every moment!

Rating:
Summary: Charming book to share!
Review: You'll laugh out loud at Ronnie's wry and sometimes ribald storytelling....and sure enough, you'll want to share this special collection of unique stories with a friend who'll appreciate it, too. A sweet treasure from a Southern Belle!