Rating: 
Summary: A Mammoth Gem
Review: After page 100 I cound not put it down. Polly, August, Leland, Margaret, Manda...they all draw you in with their longing, hopes, needyness and determination of everyday life. A good story "cured" well.
Rating: 
Summary: Absurd title? Maybe. Silly Themes? No Way!
Review: As I was reading Sheri Holman's new novel, THE MAMMOTH CHEESE, on the subway, I received countless comments from strangers on the book's title. "THE MAMMOTH CHEESE," more than one person said to me, "What's THAT about?" Although many of the novel's situations --- and certainly its title --- are rather absurd, the novel touches on themes that are anything but silly.Sheri Holman, whose previous novels, A STOLEN TONGUE and THE DRESS LODGER, were set in Palestine and England, respectively, here writes a novel that is not only American in its setting and scope but also quintessentially American in its themes of self-reliance, family obligation and, most importantly, independence. In many ways THE MAMMOTH CHEESE is an extended meditation on the concept of independence, explored through the examples of several carefully drawn small-town folks from rural Three Chimneys, Virginia. There's Manda Frank, part of Three Chimneys's most notorious white-trash family, who finds herself the mother of eleven babies after a fertility drug proves a little too effective. Counseled by her pastor to keep all the babies, Manda is completely bewildered by her new responsibilities. When some of the babies start to die, Manda is torn between anguish at her loss and relief at the prospect of regaining the freedom she has always valued and the ability to hunt and roam the woods with her beloved dogs, a freedom that motherhood seems to have stolen entirely. Also struggling with his own independence is August Vaughn. By day, August is a farmhand on Margaret Prickett's small dairy farm. By night, he dresses up as Thomas Jefferson to interpret Jefferson's life and writings to audiences of locals and tourists alike. Even though August reveres the man famous for writing the Declaration of Independence, he is unable to declare his own independence. He's in thrall both to his parents, with whom he has lived as an adult for more than twenty years, and to his long hidden and unrequited love for Margaret. Margaret, too, must define what independence means to her. Recently divorced from her husband, she's struggling to keep her small dairy farm afloat while raising her 13-year-old daughter Polly, protecting her from the corrupting influences of modern life. Margaret has pinned all her financial hopes on newly elected President Adams Brooke, who has run on a platform of granting debt amnesty to America's small farmers. As a dramatic expression of her gratitude, Margaret is determined to present President Brooke with a 1,200-pound cheese, a gesture reminiscent of a gift given to Jefferson during his presidency. Soon, though, the mammoth cheese gets out of Margaret's control, and she must decide how far to take the media circus that ensues. Finally, there's Polly, Margaret's teenage daughter, who loves her mother fiercely but feels lost in the wake of her parents' divorce and the drama of her mother's struggles to save her farm. She is drawn to her history teacher, Mr. March, whose favorite Jeffersonian motto is "Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God." Mr. March paints himself as a radical and encourages Polly to rebel, but it soon becomes clear that his interest in Polly is more sinister than a desire to help her gain her independence. Amazingly enough, all of these threads do come together during the Mammoth Cheese's pilgrimage to Washington, D.C. Without being preachy or predictable, THE MAMMOTH CHEESE manages to incorporate some big ideas about the nature of independence and the character of America. --- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Satire
Review: Here is America with all its warts and all its faults, in the microcosm of Three Chimneys, Virginia, a tiny rural town with a population less than 800 souls.
Something enormous has put Three Chimneys on the voracious radar screen of the nation and the press: ordinary blue-collar hunting-dog trainer Manda Frank has given birth to 11 babies, known as the "Frank Eleven." No matter whether or not the babies are healthy, whether the poor couple wanted all these babies, or what will happen to them--they are now celebrities, along with the entire starstruck town.
What happens to push the Franks off the radar and replace it? None other than the desperate move of one woman, Margaret, who is struggling to keep her family-owned farm against all odds. Margaret makes the finest cheese...and to call attention to her plight and the plight of so many other family farmers faced with extinction and foreclosure, she decides to replicate a stunt from Thomas Jefferson's day and create a 1200-pound "mammoth cheese" to be ferried to Washington as a gift for the President.
How this noble cause becomes perverted by local personal interest, the press, the pastor, and just about everything and everybody else is the center of this hilarious but disturbing book. We see the facetious and sometimes horrifying modern-day obsession with fame and fortune through the eyes of Margaret's only daughter, 13-year-old Polly, who is under the influence of her cynical and smarmy history teacher, Mr. March.
All in all, a simply brilliant, albeit very upsetting, look at the underside of all that is good about America and society in general. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: another marvel from Holman
Review: Holman is not only a very good writer, she is a highly original and eclectic one. Her novels absorb, amaze and, in this instance, amuse. Each takes place in a dramatically different setting and tackle different ideas, but all are linked by Holman's uncanny voice and attention to telling detail. Go ahead, grab this book or any other Holman novel, and you'll embark on an unexpected and enlightening ride that left this reader marveling about Holman's imagination and breath of knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: WONDERFUL!!!
Review: I cannot recall the last time I read as entertaining and smart a book as the Mammoth Cheese. It's a really smart book about family, destiny, love, and, alas, the government and the ways in which power is obtained and maintained. All of this manifest's in young Polly March's life and a far as narrators go, I haven't come across as interesting a young woman since I read Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye. Sheri Holman nails the sense of a girl beginning to think and live her own life so vividly that I could not put the book down. I was just riveted. This is a big, important, lovable, endearing book. Don't miss it!
Rating: 
Summary: too far fetched
Review: I found this story line to be a bit ridiculous. No one in the story was very likeable either. Unfortunately I was stuck on an island on vacation with it so I finished it. Not sure in hindsight had I would have not been better off just snoozing at the beach instead of reading it.
Rating:
Summary: too far fetched
Review: I got this book purely by accident when I forgot to mail in my book club notice warning them not to send me this month's selection! So I came on Amazon, read the reviews and decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did because this book is a wonderful little treasure. The characters are wonderfully drawn, and not in that annoying "small-town cliche" sort of way. Each is unique and complex and I truly cared about them all! Holman's writing is witty and smooth and the characters are unforgettable, especially the young Polly Marvel. Loved it!
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Summary: What a pleasant surprise!
Review: I got this book purely by accident when I forgot to mail in my book club notice warning them not to send me this month's selection! So I came on Amazon, read the reviews and decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did because this book is a wonderful little treasure. The characters are wonderfully drawn, and not in that annoying "small-town cliche" sort of way. Each is unique and complex and I truly cared about them all! Holman's writing is witty and smooth and the characters are unforgettable, especially the young Polly Marvel. Loved it!
Rating:
Summary: Holman Creates Another Gem
Review: I'm a big fan of Holman's earlier book, The Dress Lodger. And I'm happy to report this book is, at least plot-wise, nothing like it. But that's not a bad thing at all. Instead, Holman harnesses her considerable humor and wordsmithing to create a well-spun, character-driven paen to the joys and troubles of modern small-town life.
Veering between descriptions of the main character's cheese farm (does not sound interesting, but is!), a presidential campaign, a family blessed (and cursed) by multiples births and a Lolita-like relationship, Mammoth Cheese is a big mouthful of a book. But Holman's ability to use well-honed facts, quirky characters and interesting plotting makes it all come together. I can't wait to see what she does next!
Rating: 
Summary: Fun to Read but the Story Falls Apart
Review: If you have ever wondered what the real difference between fiction and non-fiction is, the answer is that good fiction actually has to make sense and be plausible. Real-life, non-fiction often doesn't make sense but a good story had better make sense. Sheri Holman's Mammoth Cheese is guilty of failing to meet the standard. That's not to say I didn't enjoy reading it and would even recommend it to some of my friends but there are too many absurd plot lines to be ignored. The setting of the story is a small town known as Three Chimneys in Virgina. In my opinion the main character is a farmer named Margaret Prickett who is a divorced, boutique cheese maker forced to make ends meet and raise a junior-high age daughter. To say she is quirky is an understatement; she forbids her daughter many of the modern pleasures of current life including brand name clothing, fast food, and movies. She often rails against corporate American and especially corporate farming being the death of the family farm. That's not surpirising because her dairy farm is in foreclosure, so she gets behind a presidential candidate named Adams Brooke who promises to enact an amnesty regarding farm debt to save family farmers. It's a pretty basic story but somewhere along the way we get to learn more about Three Chimneys. One such person is a woman named Manda Frank who breaks the record for births after taking fertility drugs and being counseled by a local clergyman who happens to be the father of Ms. Prickett's hired hand. The hired hand is also a history buff who likes to dress up as Thomas Jefferson and re-enact many of his speeches. Somewhere along the line he mentions the idea of delivering a giant cheese to the new president based on something that actually happened to Thomas Jefferson. The idea is pushed by his father who starts to feel some guilt regarding the advice he gave to Manda Frank. Farmer-cheesmaker Prickett ends up making the big cheese for the President, but I will not reveal more of the plot. The problem is that there is too much absurdity for all of this to work. Multiple firms, Jefferson impersonators, big cheeses, etc. One story device might have worked, but after all you wonder if the purpose is to come with a farce. The good news is that Holman can write well so she takes you along and you have fun reading. The problem is that it eventually fell apart when Holman moved away from the plot and dealt with human emotions. The middle school-aged daughter's relationship and feelings regarding her history teacher was somewhat offensive. Ms. Prickett's relationship with her daughter and farmhand and ex-husband turned her from being a sympathetic character to one that I began to hate. As a whole, it's an ambitious book but it lost me in the end. After reading it, I didn't gain added sympathy or understanding for farming life which I think was one of her points. Given the positive points of the book, I will probably read other works by her but this one is a tough one to like.
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