Black Mountain Breakdown

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Summary: Like Reading a Piece of Myself, or Someone I Know...
Review: I am from Richlands, VA, the little town neighboring Lee Smith's hometown of Grundy. This was the first book that I read of Lee's, and it inspired me to read the others. They are all wonderful books. It seems like I can actually hear the voices of her characters coming right off the pages at me. I guess it's just because I've actually known people like them. The Appalachian dialect and culture are captured simply, yet eloquently, the way they should be. I am a writer of Southern-Appalachian fiction myself, not published yet, but I hope to eventually. Lee Smith has been a real inspiration for me to continue my own works. I reccomend this book or any of her others to anyone, not just the ones who hail from a rural background. They're sure to give a greater appreciation of Appalachian people and culture, and maybe even ourselves. Thanks very much.

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Summary: Lee Smith captures the essence of the Virgina mountains.
Review: I cannot begin to describe what a powerful and touching book this is. Lee Smith tapped into memories of my childhood in Dickenson County, Virginia with uncanny insight. Anyone rooted in this area should run to get this book. Anyone who wants to know anything about mountain life should run to get this book. Lee Smith is truly a diamond out of the coal county. Read with with Ralph Stanley on the CD. This may give you a brief glimpse of what heaven should be like.

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Summary: well-written, but what's the point?
Review: I waited in vain for Smith to reveal a reason why Crystal Spangler's life and troubles were important enough to dramatize. Smith writes well and creates a vivid milieu, but my overwhelming reaction was, "So what?" Crystal, despite the vast amounts of text devoted to her thoughts and feelings, remains essentially a non-entity and her troubled life contains no redemptive or cathartic aspect. It's an exercise in detailed, adequately-crafted pointlessness.

Rating:
Summary: well-written, but what's the point?
Review: I waited in vain for Smith to reveal a reason why Crystal Spangler's life and troubles were important enough to dramatize. Smith writes well and creates a vivid milieu, but my overwhelming reaction was, "So what?" Crystal, despite the vast amounts of text devoted to her thoughts and feelings, remains essentially a non-entity and her troubled life contains no redemptive or cathartic aspect. It's an exercise in detailed, adequately-crafted pointlessness.

Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: If novels dealing with sexually troubled young women who are suffering from great mental trauma are your bag -- go ahead and read this one. Although it is well written, the constant fall from sanity expressed in the character Crystal is more than a little depressing -- it is very tiring to read. I loved Fair and Tender Ladies - perhaps because of the character's ability to progress instead of regress. I am not dumping this book altogether -- it was primarily well written; however, a book about the demise of someone who is not written to be a likeable character is like hearing news about someone who does not even qualify as an acquaintance: it is news you do not need to hear. I also saw a lot of similarities in subject in Faith Sullivan's Empress of One, which I did enjoy a bit more than this novel, due in part to the main character having more going for her than just looks and overt sexuality.

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Summary: Smith again manages the demise of her protagonist.
Review: Smith... how I love her engaging writing style; her prose embraces me. While this author has the ability to verbally paint her characters as well as their environments, the tragic endings leave me feeling depressed and lonely. I have read only two of Smith's novels, Black Mountain Breakdown and Saving Grace, and both of these fit this description. I am afraid to read more! Does her literature ever have a less tragic ending?

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Summary: I agree with others..
Review: this book just didn't do it for me. I still don't see the point and the ending left me feeling like "so what". Lee Smith is a talented writer so I won't give up reading other books by her, but this one won't be on my list of saves.

Rating:
Summary: I agree with others..
Review: this book just didn't do it for me. I still don't see the point and the ending left me feeling like "so what". Lee Smith is a talented writer so I won't give up reading other books by her, but this one won't be on my list of saves.

Rating:
Summary: Too long...
Review: Well, I'm a huge Lee Smith fan, so I'm surprised to find myself giving only 3 start to one of her creations. But this one just didn't live up to what her readers have come to expect from her.
I couldn't really get behind Crystal Spangler and her remoteness. It's clear to readers what her problem is from close to the beginning, but it takes the rest of the looooong book for Cristal herself to figure it out, and when she does, she just becomes more passive and decides to die.
I gave up real interest in the outcome long before I came to the end.
The one I'd have found more interesting was Agnes, her across-the-street friend, through whose eyes we see Crystal over the passage of years. She was a much stronger character than Crystal herself.