<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Lovely Immersion into the South
Review: A page-turner with wonderful insights about life in the South.
Rating: 
Summary: ridiculous
Review: I am alotted 1,000 words for my review. If I had the time I would type 'ridiculous' 1,000 times. I'll settle for one - ridiculous book. Absolutely ridiculous. Woops. Couldn't settle for just one 'ridiculous' because it's just so ridiculous.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT!
Review: I cannot say enough good things about this book. I couldn't put it down! While reading this book, you come to know Verbena very personally, enabling you to feel her every emotion. This is an incredible story of a very strong woman, which is extremly inspiring!
Rating:
Summary: Pick this posey for a memorable Southern read
Review: Nanci Kincaid has the South pegged all right. And her expertise of blending a seemingly straight-path family into the throes of dysfunction is right on. A very Southern comfort type of read, there is plenty to ponder in this tale of Bena Eckerd, the widow of faithless Bobby, who raises her five children while teaching sixth grade at the local elementary school. She is a truly modern Alabama woman, one who must win the bread and yet live with the pity of her community. And amazingly, she survives it all, and engages in a new life, delightful romance with the postman, Lucky, formerly the small town football hero. She gets lucky, or does she? Told in three books, there is plenty of struggle for this family of five children on the brink of adulthood,that is steadily falling away into the real world of living apart. Bena's ability to accept almost anything is almost unbelievable until she encounters one straw that breaks her camel back, her eldest son Joe's choice of a sweetheart. There are laugh out loud sequences in Kincaid's characters'statements about life, with a clear philosophy on the importance of family, extended beyond any traditional conventions. The importance of characters like Sue Cox and Mayfred and Juanita gives the reader a feeling like that found in "The Secret Life of Bees", with strong women who unite and draw their men along with them. There is the humor of a Fannie Flagg, and the blending of races and cultures of "Welcome to Higby" or "Crazy Ladies". And most special is the Epilogue in the voice of Joe, Verbena's second son, and finally the author's acknowledgments, which include "children who challenge us to learn to love the people they love", "anyone who has ever been--or tried to be--a good hearted ex", "whoever said that forgiveness is not a feeling but a decision", and "families who blend, merge, and blur the boundaries in an effort to make room for everybody."
That truly sums it up! I like Nanci Kincaid's "Verbena" enough to buy her other titles and pass them on.
Rating:
Summary: Pick this posey for a memorable Southern read
Review: Nanci Kincaid has the South pegged all right. And her expertise of blending a seemingly straight-path family into the throes of dysfunction is right on. A very Southern comfort type of read, there is plenty to ponder in this tale of Bena Eckerd, the widow of faithless Bobby, who raises her five children while teaching sixth grade at the local elementary school. She is a truly modern Alabama woman, one who must win the bread and yet live with the pity of her community. And amazingly, she survives it all, and engages in a new life, delightful romance with the postman, Lucky, formerly the small town football hero. She gets lucky, or does she? Told in three books, there is plenty of struggle for this family of five children on the brink of adulthood,that is steadily falling away into the real world of living apart. Bena's ability to accept almost anything is almost unbelievable until she encounters one straw that breaks her camel back, her eldest son Joe's choice of a sweetheart. There are laugh out loud sequences in Kincaid's characters'statements about life, with a clear philosophy on the importance of family, extended beyond any traditional conventions. The importance of characters like Sue Cox and Mayfred and Juanita gives the reader a feeling like that found in "The Secret Life of Bees", with strong women who unite and draw their men along with them. There is the humor of a Fannie Flagg, and the blending of races and cultures of "Welcome to Higby" or "Crazy Ladies". And most special is the Epilogue in the voice of Joe, Verbena's second son, and finally the author's acknowledgments, which include "children who challenge us to learn to love the people they love", "anyone who has ever been--or tried to be--a good hearted ex", "whoever said that forgiveness is not a feeling but a decision", and "families who blend, merge, and blur the boundaries in an effort to make room for everybody."
That truly sums it up! I like Nanci Kincaid's "Verbena" enough to buy her other titles and pass them on.
Rating: 
Summary: A STORY RELATED WITH HONESTY AND HUMOR
Review: Nanci Kincaid is a creator par excellence; she creates strong, robust Southern women who may be down on their luck but never defeated. Happy to say this is the case with Verbena Martin Eckert McHale, known as "Bena." Being widowed with five children is bad. It is worse when that widowhood is caused by a fatal car accident, a car occupied by your husband and a woman half his age. Thus, Bena is forced to not only mourn her dead husband, but also to wonder what her marriage had really meant.
However, there's precious little time for musing as there are children to be cared for, a mortgaged house to maintain, and a public school 6th grade teaching job. If fortune were fair, Bena would be in for some good years. Not so, one offspring plants a marijuana field on their property, and two daughters run away with a ne'er-do- wells. Things look up when Bena meets mailman Lucky McHale, and she thinks he's the answer. They marry, but her happiness doesn't last as he disappears after two short months. At its heart this is a story of survival related with honesty, authenticity, and humor. Bena is a woman many will be glad to know. - Gail Cooke
Rating:
Summary: A slice of heartwarming reality
Review: This is an incredible book that gets inside the heart and mind of a strong southern woman. Nanci Kincaid took this character and made her real. I've never cried while reading a book, but this one had me choking back the tears. I was lucky enough to hear Nanci Kincaid read from the book and discuss it with an intimate group at Auburn University... and I left uplifted and inspired. This book should put Nanci Kincaid over the top.
<< 1 >>
| 
