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Summary: Classic
Review: If you like Henry Thoreau and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, you gonna love Janisse Ray. Look for her work to have a far greater impact than just enviromental issues.
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Summary: Honest, revealing, sensitive and reflective
Review: It is difficult to capture the everyday incidents of a life and intersperse them into a broader view of world thought, but Ms. Ray has accomplished this. She has presented an accurate picture of a lifestyle in America, in a segment of society often mis-understood and neglected, if not resented by a fast and hedonistic society. Her ability to weave the memoirs of a simple life into a broader world-view. I am impressed with her style, her easy ability to make us see inside her viewpoints, and the reflection that her book has brought to me about a life that is quickly passing us by.
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Summary: The landscape of our heritage
Review: Janisse Ray has written a wildly interesting tale of her upbringing in rural Georgia. But probably the more vital part of this book is its backdrop: the disappearing long-leaf pine forests of South Georgia. Does America really need another tale of its eroding ecology? Absolutely. The remnants of once-great natural wonders do not stand a chance of survival in the modern age of mass consumption unless its story is told, again and again, and we can only be so lucky if someone with the wit and wisdom of Ms. Ray tells it.
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Summary: Lovely Prose
Review: Janisse Ray writes with flair and passion. A thoroughly enjoyable read (even it you aren't a Southerner or an environmentalist).
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Summary: A wonderful combination
Review: Janisse Ray's "Ecology of a Cracker Childhood" is a wonderful mixture of stories about family and the land; certainly the best that I have read since Terry Tempest Williams' "Refuge." None of the melodramatic navel-gazing or pedantic lectures that plague most nature writing here- just straight-up stories about home, heart, and place, and the connections that bind them together. Her tone is empathetic and hopeful, and for that reason I came away from this book with a better appreciation of my own family roots and a renewed sense of purpose. Very highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A unique tale from the South...
Review: Janisse Ray's book is both a wonderful memoir and a plaintive plea to save the enviroment. The chapters alternate between stories from her childhood & stories of the changes in the Southern landscape. I was lucky enough to hear Janisse Ray read from her book at a writer's conference a few years ago. Hearing her read passages from this memoir & discuss her passion for enviromental work was an experience I have not quickly forgotten. If you are a fan of Southern Literature, enjoy reading biogrpahies or have your own passion for enviromental studies, I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: A First Cousin's Constructive Critique
Review: Knowing Janisse as a child and knowing our "clan" firsthand, I believe I have something valuable to contribute to the conversation. You see, I am her first cousin, Charlie Joe Ray, III. I am named after my father and my grandfather, Charlie Ray. Some of the family members were upset by Janisse's graphic and violent descriptions of major events in our clan's struggle with poverty and their familial relationships. There is much truth to her accounts but one must remember that there are three sides to every story: his side, her side, and the truth. The Ray family has had its problems no doubt. However, I would question Janisse's "diagnosis" of "insanity" or "mental illness" since there really is no medical evidence in her book to document what Grandpa Charlie's problem was, if anything. Eccentricity in and of itself does not make one "insane" or "mentally ill." In short, I would not excuse my grandmother's part in the marriage problems so easily. Additionally, her stories seem to border at times upon the southern tradition of using hyperbole and exaggeration in the telling of tales. I think she has inherited that proclivity from Grandpa Charlie and from Uncle Frank, her father. I'm referring in particular to the 'coon dog who practically never touches the ground and to the graphic fights involving my grandfather which she describes. She is reflecting a bit of the code of honor in the south here, an honor that is best expressed as a resort to violence as the best way to resolve conflicts. While I am proud of Janisse's accomplishments and her environmental concerns, I am also disappointed that she did not reflect further on the theological issues of her Christian upbringing. Ultimately, we must face the implications of saying there is no personal being who is completely transcendant and sovereignly in control of time, eternity, and ecology. If there is no God, then the only meaningful conclusion to be drawn is that life is merely a temporal happenstance, a flash in the pan. In the light of eternity and infinity the ecology of our earth is but a split second of time, if that. Only the Christian God can give ultimate meaning to ecology, family, and existence itself. He is a God who is in perfect relationship with Himself as a Triune being, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in perfect relationship with the creation He has made. Moreover, one human lifetime is short. Within a few generations most of the pine forests she loves have disappeared. It is right to fight to preserve what is left of our natural environment. God placed Adam in the Garden to tend and take care of it, not to destroy it. The destruction of our environment is a sinful misuse of the divine authority given to Adam prior to the fall. The fall of man is the first cause of environmental abuse. Therefore, every Evangelical Christian should be concerned about preserving what is left of our environment. But without God even these attempts are but nihilistic exercises in futility. It is God Himself who makes creation meaningful. "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good" (Genesis 1:31, New International Version). In conclusion, I identify with the struggle Janisse expresses with her poverty. I grew up in the same kind of circumstances. I am proud that Janisse has found a way to overcome her marginalization and to make a positive impact on the world and society by raising our ecological consciousness. May she continue to work to save our environment and so bring true honor to our family name. But more than that I pray to our God and Savior, Jesus Christ, that she will return to the one true God who created her and this beautiful world which she so loves and wants to preserve. In Christ's wonderful name, Rev. Charlie Joe Ray, III. M.Div.
Rating:
Summary: A "must read" for everyone who couldn't wait to get away...
Review: Many of us who grew up in the south of the forties, fifties and sixties couldn't get away quickly enough - and when that dream was finally realized we found that there were ties which couldn't be severed. This book seems to capture in print what many of us experienced but were not articulate enough to express. With just enough of the "ecology" woven into the tapestry of Ms. Ray's narrative to foster an understanding of much of what we all mourned... without being quite aware of it. Beautifully written, reassuringly familiar and incredibly comforting... I hope this is only a prelude of more to come.
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Summary: Two Truths
Review: Ms. Ray opened her heart to us in "Ecology Of A Cracker Childhood." Just when you think the expression "tree huggers" is a negative, along comes Ms. Ray with a wonderful explantion of why we should all be so concerned about our woodlands. Ms. Ray's love for her family and particularly the stories of her father are very touching. Truly entertaining and a story well told.
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Summary: A renewing flame for mind and heart.
Review: Ms. Ray presents a refreshing approach to a "growing up" memoir that is simultaneously heart-tugging, entertaining and convicting. All of our personal and family histories are closely linked to the natural history of some place. Ms. Ray gives us a wonderful reminder of that through the interweaving of her personal experiences and the history of the long leaf pine ecosystem. She also tells us just how tragic it is that so much of what should be the current part of that "history" is lost or about to be. Ms. Ray helps us experience the joys and the heartbreaks of her own family, and the dangers and adventures of a junkyard. The uncommon combination of what on the surface might seem to be diverse topics could have come across as disjunct had they not been so wonderfully melded. This book is a renewing flame for the mind and the heart.
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