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Summary: This is my "signature book"!
Review: I'm new to the "net" and one of my first stops was here. It made my day to find others who share my almost lifelong love of this book. I've read it at least half a dozen times and shared it with my closest friends. It was a must read for my 19 year old daughter. It should be a movie!
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Summary: It took something from me,...I pray it never comes back!
Review: I was supposed to read this book in high school,I didn't, that was 10 years ago. I faked my way through the exam and passed with a good grade. I figured I knew the basic elements of the book from what others had to say about it. Then a classmate that read it was speaking of it with genuine respect and made me curious. When I deemed myself ready to read such a thick book it was gone. I looked for years for a copy. It's been stuck in my craw since. My husband special ordered it from somewhere.(The lovely man) He knew it was important to me that I read it. Yet, I had no IDEA what that read would do to me. I didn't know how biast and judgemental I had been all my life. I think some people are born with a conscience that,well, needs to be kick started into working and others are just born with theirs already in a moral high gear. I am from the first group. The autrocities that went on in that book! I have read books and enjoed them but never before has a book brought me into the story,it...it was like virtual reality. I mean,I could see the fear,feel the hate and hear the tones used. Ernest Hemingway once commented " All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain call Huckleberry Finn. All Amerecan writing comes from that. There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." I wonder if he would need to make an amendment after this book?Lisa Polselli
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Summary: A Book that made me much of who I am today.
Review: The reading of this book in my early teens very drastically affected my outlook on life, love, and the horrible inflation of the miniscule differences between people of differing color. Our hopes, fears, and dreams are all the same. Ann Fairbairn whose real name was Dorothy Tate died on Feb.8, 1972 of a heart attack. She was 70 years old at the time of her death. Other than "Five Smooth Stones" and "That Man Cartwright" she also wrote "Call Him George" published first in London then in the US in 1969. This novel is a biography of New Orleans clarinetist George Lewis. Dorothy Tait was born in Cambridge, Mass. but spent many years in the deep South. Later she was a reporter and editor in print, radio, and TV in California. (she died in Monterey CA). For many years she managed the bookings of George Lewis and his band. Miss Tait was working on her third novel for Crown Publishers at the time of her death in '72.
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Summary: A must read for all
Review: This is the one book that I have consistently re-read every two or three years. While certainly portraying the darker side of race relations and all that occured during the civil rights era, it certainly presents a profound picture of love and possible redemption. I have introduced this book to my children, co-workers, and other friends and all agree that it is something special. I have also read That Man Cartwright and find this, too, to be an exceptional read. Highly recommend. Would like to know if Ms. Fairburn has written any others and any other information you can provide. Theresa; Washington, DC
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Summary: Unforgetable
Review: I read this book for the first time probably 30 years ago. There is only one way to describe the book and that is "unforgetable". The characters have come to life with every subsequent reading. I now think that the time has come for my 13 year old son to read, enjoy, and be appalled at man's injustice to man, just as I was with my first reading. How upsetting, though, that I am unable to find this book in a soft cover edition. I have checked our local libraries and every book store in our area. I have finally found this masterpiece through the internet at a substantial cost. After I make this purchase I know that I will never loan out this copy like I did the last one. I never got that one back!
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Summary: One of the best
Review: Reading this book (about 30 years ago) had a profound effect on my attitudes to the Civil rights issues, not just related to USA. I still think back and remember, issues touched on have a universal message.
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Summary: One of the Finest Books I Have Ever Read
Review: I first read this book about 20 years ago and have always wanted to read (or even write) the sequel. The life of the main character, David, so closely resembles mine that it is uncanny, except that I was born shortly before the time that he died. The other characters in the book are equally real and have compelling lives and stories. I think that a sequel, having his son grow up and carry on with his life in the turbulent years of the 60's and 70's would be a great story. If anyone knows how to contact Ms. Fairbairn, let me know.
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Summary: I can't believe this isn't in print anymore!
Review: I read this book for a high school English assignment; it was the most enjoyable homework I have ever had! It has been a long time since characters in a book have had the kind of impact on me that those in FIVE SMOOTH STONES did. Ann Fairbairn does a magnificent job of inviting the reader into the people's lives to experience the hatred, bewilderment, or passion they each feel. Many times I wanted to jump in and yell, "It's not fair," whenever David, a lawyer from the south who fights for his people's rights, gets into trouble or others pick on him because he is black. A boy growing up in New Orleans during the depression, David faces the challenges of attending a school in the north with whites, fighting for equality, and maintaining a long-lasting love with a white girl. It is really saying something about a book when the author creates such a believable, true-to-life story and evokes such heart-rending emotion from the readers that they are appalled and stricken at the end! THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT!!
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Summary: One of my ALL-TIME favorite books.
Review: This is a wonderful moving story that I first read 30 years ago at the age of 17, and I have continued to read every 10 years. Until now. I can't find it anywhere!! Wouldn't you think the publisher would reprint with so many people looking for it? I always thought this book/story would make an incredible movie. The messages it delivers are as appropriate and impactful now as they were 30 years ago.
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Summary: My favorite book in the world
Review: When I first read this book as a junior in high school, it redefined my ideas of love, striving and success. I have shared it with every important person in my life and buy every copy that I can find in second hand book stores and bargain bins. Five Smooth Stones inspired my collegiate work in literature. When I reread it recently, I found a single complaint. The white characters are often too simply motivated and dismissed. Do not let that stop you from gathering the true value of this story -- love is all that's worth having.
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