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Summary: Visit Mitford -- you won't be disappointed!
Review: If you cry during reruns of Little House on the Prairie, you'll love this and the other four titles in the "beloved Mitford series." This is the kind of reading that diehard nonfiction readers scoff at: too soft, too sweet. But don't we all deserve to be touched by an angel once in a while? The Mitford series centers on Father Tim, an aging priest who ministers to the small by lively congregation of the Lord's Chapel. He is by turns fussy, funny, and faithful (the kind of faith that is simply there, not overdone, just a part of daily life). And Karon's gift as a writer is that she allows his story to unfold. We discover the characters and the subplots without the heavy hand of a writer who wants to ensure that we "get the message," and we're delighted in the process. Even if your usual bedtime fare is A Brief History of Time, I encourage you to visit this little town for a while. You'll come away enriched.
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Summary: Barnabas and Tim
Review: I really loved this book and all the other books in this series. What I would like to know is if Jan Karon plans to write anymore to the series? I thought I had read somewhere in the book A New Song about her writing two more. If you could let me know, I would really appreciate it. I hope she does continue. The books were a great comfort to me and a change of pace from the Daniel Steele and Anne Rice type books I normally read. I could read them before going to bed and (as corny as it sounds)have pleasant dreams. Thank You, Karen
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Summary: Visiting Mitford is a peaceful retreat!
Review: As a voracious reader, having read hundreds and hundreds of books over the past twenty plus years; I can honestly say the Mitford series has been the best yet! Never has a fictional book touched my heart as these have. As I began reading the series, I found myself making changes in my life brought about by Ms. Karon's writings. Familial relationships, friendships, my faith, and my personal contentment have all been enriched by Father Tim, Barnabas, Dooley, and the residents of Mitford. In her writing, Jan Karon empowers her readers to find peace, happiness, and contentment in their own lives through the lives of her gentle characters.The series of five books begins with "At Home In Mitford" which introduces the reader to Father Tim, a cherished Episcopalian rector in the town of Mitford. The residents of Mitford will surely come to take up residence in your heart as you read through this heartwarming series of miracles, love, mysteries and everday life which take you into the lives of Mitford's charming, eccentric, and lovable citizens including Father Tim's big black dog, Barnabas, who can be instructed to behave with a mere verse of scripture!
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Summary: What am I missing?
Review: I've been plugging away at this book for two months, and I'm not done yet. I'm all for "life in a small town" narratives; small towns can provide the fodder for quirky and interesting plots and characterizations. Unfortunately that is not the case here. My first, and continuing, impression of the characters is that they are all stereotyped caricatures. Everyone talks and behaves exactly as I expect them to after the first page. The charmingly quirky people are unfailingly charmingly quirky. The sweet and caring are unfailingly sweet and caring. The wry and amusing are unfailingly wry and amusing. Even the dog is always lovably funny. No one ever seems to step out of their predefined character, even by a toe. So they are all predictable. I find the writing style intrusive. I kept getting the sense that the author was TELLING rather than SHOWING. The language is often stilted and mannered, and she manages to make sure we never forget that she's telling the story; she isn't invisible, one of the hallmarks of great writing. I had a mental image of her pausing over her keyboard and trying to come up with the next sentence that would reassure us that she's still there. Even her wit seems stilted and self-conscious. I have no problem with books that are essentially plotless, as long as there is character develoment or movement of some kind. In this book, not only does nothing much happen, but no one grows or changes. There is no crescendo-decrescendo; the line is straight and unwavering, page after page. So except for some mildly amusing situations, there's no particular reason to read it. You don't learn anything, there are no thought-provoking ideas, you don't come away changed in any way. Except a little older. So if you have high blood pressure or are a Type A personality or decorate your house in "country" style with gingham kitchen witches, this is a good book for you. Otherwise, unless you have a high boredom threshold, why bother?
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Summary: Sleepy Town Excitement at its best
Review: My aunt raved about this book when I visited her last Christmas. I wish I would have read it right away. This book is fabulous! I could not put it down. The characters could have been my neighbors, the situations were realistic and the solutions to problems were uplifting. It reminded me of Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Anne Burns. It is amazing how much can happen in an "uneventful" mountain village. I can't wait to find out what happens when Father Tim returns.
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Summary: The start of a wonderful, heartwarming series
Review: I have zoomed through the first 4 Mitford books and am now midway through the 5th. The characters grab you and transport you to a town where I think, deep down, we would all like to call home. Father Tim is a "real" person with very human characteristics. Yet his basic goodness will restore your faith in humanity. The theology is not shoved down your throat, but rather is grasped between the lines. All the characters are memorable. Cynthia and Dooley in particular help shape the wonderful story line. The huge dog, Barnabus, who is disciplined only by hearing Bible verse, worms his way into your heart. I am so glad I discovered this series, and I recommend it to absolutely anyone!
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Summary: A great read
Review: Let me say that 50 pages into this book, I knew it was going to be an alltime favorite. As I reached the halfway point, I was sad to know that I'd soon be finished. I am cheered by knowing that I have 4 more books in the series to go. This novel has opened my eyes to the beauty of small town life. I have also looked for ways that I could show such care and kindness for those around me, even though I'm in a big city. The characters are so real--with flaws which just make them more human. I laughed at loud many times, especially at the only thing that controlled Barnabas the dog. If you are a Christian, familiar with church politics; from a small town or with ties to one; a Southerner; a dog lover; or a human being, you will find something that grabs you in this little town.
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Summary: A Truly Wonderful Read
Review: I just finished "At Home In Mitford" yesterday and can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the series. I was sad to finish as I missed all the characters so much! This is not the type of book that I have typically read in the past. I told my husband about 3/4 of the way through that this was going to be my favorite book of all-time! He said "I knew that already" because you have been "laughing out loud" the whole time you've been reading it! I was reading while waiting in the Dr.'s office the other day and was excited to find that I was laughing out loud! I don't know what else to say except it was a warm and wonderful book and I felt good reading it. Hope you enjoy!
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Summary: Incredibly broad appeal
Review: I adored this book, and I'm a 35-year-old female atheist. It was introduced to me by a 27-year-old Christian friend. I gave it to my father, two brothers, several gay and straight friends from all backgrounds and religious belief systems--and every single one of them loved it, and have gone on to read the whole series. A wonderfully cozy read. I highly recommend this and the rest in the series.
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Summary: Molasses for the Masses
Review: Was it H.L Mencken who said, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public?" No matter. Here's the proof - a fabulously successful book that reads like the script to a sanitized soap opera. It's not great - or even good - literature, but it IS a marketing triumph. (Even the cover art gets into the act, wooing one's subconscious by mimicking the covers on Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon books and tapes.) From a structural standpoint, the book is cleverly geared toward a public accustomed to watching TV rather than reading. The narrative within each chapter is divided in chunks of several paragraphs to several pages in length, which shift the reader from one story line to another, just like a camera cutting from scene to scene. There's no continuity, and nothing much in the way of character development. Cliches abound in descriptions of both people and places. Speaking of places, the real locus of this book isn't western North Carolina - it's Neverland. It is legal for a town down there NOT to have a Hardee's? I don't think so! (Maybe one shows up later in the series.) "The Local" is NOT what I think of when I think of Southern Small Town Shopping. Can you see a couple of Good Ol' Boys picking up a wheel of brie and a bottle of chardonnay before they head out possum huntin'? ("Dang, Bubba! Yew done fergot th' Stoned Wheat Thins!") No, buying Velveeta and a six-pack at the Piggly-Wiggly or Winn Dixie is more like it. The picket-fence-perfection of the place defies belief. And where, pray tell, are the black people in this Southern Eden? There's only one - and she's a former domestic servant! It smacks of tokenism at it's worst - and this in a book written in 1994! Kind of makes you wonder if the Klan didn't get to Mitford before Father Tim did. In Mitford, virtue is ALWAYS rewarded and evil is ALWAYS punished. EVERY prayer is answered the way you want it to be, EVERY doctor is Marcus Welby, and EVERY cop is Andy Taylor. This is riduculous. Mitford makes Bedford Falls and Mayberry look like Sodom and Gomorrah. It's escapist fiction at its most (unintentionally) ludicrous. One of the other reviewers hit the nail on the head when he or she described reading this book as "like being trapped inside a Thomas Kinkead painting." Don't get me wrong. The virtues exhibited by the characters are admirable. Would that we all acted with the kind of integrity that they display - and not just the overtly "Christian" characters. Even those characters who have undergone decades-long crises of faith are instantly reconizable, in a tradition going back to Dante, as "Virtuous Heathen." True evildoers are nameless and faceless. (The only "personal information" you get about the drug runners who steal the hero's dog is their license plate number.) No, the characters, good and bad, are just not convincing. Admittedly, the good ones do have to cope with adversity - but since somehow, they ALWAYS get what they're seeking, it's difficult for working stiffs like myself - who DON'T always get the promotion or the girl - to relate to them. In short, this is not Real Life - this is Wish Fulfillment, pure and simple, masquerading as Real Life. I suspect it's aimed at readers caught up in a hectic world where - as we all know - nothing is as unfailingly pure, wholesome, and/or cut-and-dried as it is in Mitford. Now, if you're a person who NEEDS to escape to Neverland once in a while - and I'd certainly include myself in that group - at least try a better-written book that doesn't pretend to be a "slice of life." If I might make a suggestion - try something out of P.G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle series, or perhaps one of his "Uncle Fred" books. They just can't be beat for verbal felicities, and as for plot twists - well, try one and see. And they're every bit as wholesome as "At Home in Mitford." To quote Wodehouse, "It's nothing that you have to hide from your growing boys, or shove under the cushion of the Chesterfield when the Vicar comes to tea."
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