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Summary: Take a Step Back in Time
Review: The Persian Pickle Club is comprised of a group of women who meet weekly to quilt, gossip and "improve their minds". Times are hard in Harveyville, Kansas in the 1930s. A drought has stretched on for years and work is hard to find. Farmers are losing their farms and unemployed families drift in and out of town. The "Pickles" have formed an informal support group during their quilting sessions, and like true friends, they are there for fellow members during good times and bad. Aside from Depression related problems, life seems good until the newest member starts to unearth a dark secret. This is a story about the meaning of friendship.
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Summary: Austerity and Adversities of the Great Depression
Review: Welcome to the austerity and adversities of the Great Depression in Kansas, with this rag tag bunch of quilting farm women. Queenie Bean is earthy and child like and with a serene sense of goodness as well as a level headed approach to life and married to a gentle giant, Grover. When Rita, a new bride and aspiring reporter, arrives at a nearby farm, she sets everything at cross purposes, but Queenie just loves her anyway. This gentle book hits some hard topics, seems well researched and kind. The writing and characterization are excellent and very much in tune with the times. Makes you wonder how very much we've changed, and how very much we stay the same. As you set aside this book, you wonder if you are as blessed with supportive women friends, and mourn the community feeling most of us have lost. You will also look about at the conspicuous consumption of these times with more than a little embarrassment. Well done and thought provoking.
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Summary: Paisley will never be the same again
Review: My second venture into the writing of Sandra Dallas took me to Harleyville, Kansas, again in the depression era, and into the lives of the farm community there with its tightly knit quitting club. My curiosity about the title of Dallas' book led me in, and once again I discovered her artful way of meshing a group of women, friends by community links, and introducing a mystery that seems dangerous to solve. Queenie and Grover are the rocks of the novel's community. But Rita's determination drives the story to a surprising solution. I wondered if this book would in any way link to Butte and the location of Dallas' first book. I was delighted to know that it did, in the most subtle of ways. I believe that Sandra Dallas knows what makes for good reading for women. I highly recommend this book as well as her first. Her obvious knowledge of people makes her characters both real and memorable. A comfortable read.
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Summary: What's in a name?
Review: As a hook, the title is sufficiently intriguing to entice readers to this book. The "Persian Pickle" is Kansas jargon for the paisley pattern; a piece of paisley fabric is cherished there by a group of women who regularly get together to make quilts, just as their mothers had done before them and they expect their own daughters to do in turn. This is a short book dense with emotion and import. The characterizations are excellent and the writing is lyrical. The Pickle ladies do more than quilt, of course, they comfort and support one another through all of life's vageries. Since the story is set during the Depression, there are plenty of tough times for them to rise above and, in fact, they accept those hardships with grace. When the bride of a local farmer's son joins them, their insularity and unthinking acceptance of their community's rhythms gets held up for examination through her far more worldly eyes. The picture painted by Sandra Dallas is a detailed one of life on the prairie at the beginning of modern times. The women are real enough to feel like a reader's friends, and the book--and the relationship--ends much too quickly. But the story has been told, the secret the ladies shared revealed. In the greatest tribute to any author, the tale lingers on in the mind of her reader. And in the process, Dallas' readers even learn quite a bit about the fine art of quilting!
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Summary: Wonderfully Effortless Read
Review: Dallas has created a wonderful story to curl up with and finish in the same evening. A delightful tale of a group of women who bond over a quilting club, and the secrets they keep.The Persian Pickle is a lovely book, and I would recommend it to anyone who would like to truly relax while reading.
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Summary: A Gentle Read with a Touch of Mystery
Review: This is a read for those of us who enjoy the comraderie of fellow beings....not beset on high society or ladder climbing. We return to the past, the depression years, the search for what truly is valuable---the comraderie of our friends. I figure that if an author is able to instill in us a yearning for the times she writes about, she is a success. Pick up this book for a relaxing entertaining read. She adds a touch of suspense and mystery--and a tad of violence. I highly recomend this stragely titled book.
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Summary: Even better than "Diary of Mattie Spenser!"
Review: I picked this novel up right after finishing Dallas' "The Diary of Mattie Spenser" (my first experience with Dallas -- loved it!). So, I was extremely happy to discover that Persian Pickle is even BETTER than "D of M S"! This one is set in a small rural Kansas town during the Depression, where a close-knit community is struggling against the hard times together. The women are particularly close as they all belong to a quilting club they call "The Persian Pickle Club" (I'll let you read the book to find out what a "persian pickle" is). Their quiet town is shaken up a little when the son of one of the local farmers returns, bringing his fiery new wife Rita with him. Rita aspires to be a journalist so she can get a job in the city (she hates farming) and when the bones of a man are found buried in a field, she jumps at the chance to get the scoop. Her investigation, however, brings her dangerously close to a secret the Pickles (who by this time have come to adore Rita and have made her a member of the club despite the fact she's wretched at quilting) have sworn to keep. She eventually has to decide whether her loyalties lie with her career goals or with her new friends. The characters in this story are wonderful (in fact, the narrator of this one, Queenie Bean, reminded me a lot of Mattie Spenser, which is a good thing) and by the end I was actually very envious of their friendships and their community (born too late). I highly, highly recommend this and can't wait to read the one remaining Dallas novel I haven't gotten to yet (forgot the title). I'm thinking I'll save it, though, as her next book isn't due out until October, 2000.
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Summary: Bleech! Don't bother...
Review: I was eager to read this after loving the Ya-Ya Sisters and Cold Sassy Tree. We read it for my book club, and no one could get into it. The characters were incredibly flat, and the story contrived. The twist at the end was such an artificial plot device, it seemed more of an afterthought than a closure. I was truly amazed to see people liked this book in the other reviews. I hated it, and our book discussion was about 10 minutes long.
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Summary: This Book's A "Humdinger!"
Review: My review of this book can't begin to describe how wonderful it is. Although only 196 pages, the characters and story are fully developed. I found these women and their lives fascinating, and I eagerly flipped the pages to read more about them. And the ending, where I discovered the extent of their friendship, was very moving.
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Summary: Wonderful descriptions
Review: I really enjoyed reading The Persian Pickle Club. It helped me "see" how things were in the 1930's in the mid west, and appreciate better those who went through those tough years. The group of women and the descriptions of their lives meshing together is well written, drawing me into the story. It would be nice to have friends like some of them come to my home and quilt together.
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