- ISBN13: 9781565125698
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
In Jordan’s prize-winning debut, prejudice takes many forms, both subtle and brutal. It is 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband’s Mississippi Delta farm—a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family’s struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura’s brother-in-law, is everything her husband is not—charming, handsome, and haunted by his memories of combat. Ron… More >>
Being an avid reader, I was really looking forward to settling in for a good read. Not so… this is not a feel good book or one you particularly want to remember either.. I’m sorry but I found no humor in this at all. This book has a lot of John Grisham’s “The Painted House” storyline and also a little of Kent Haruf “Where you once belonged” but not even close to those stories that gripped us in with the characters and plot and had humor. I got tired of the disjointed jumping chapter after chapter and it was so predictable with a lot of unnecessary brutal graphic descriptions. Find a used one or get it at the library because it is not worth the $.
Rating: 1 / 5
I agree that Hillary Jordan weaves her words effortlessly in this novel, but it took me such a long time to become engaged in the story……maybe by page 50. It seemed disjointed to me and I had to keep reviewing previous chapters to remind myself who the characters were.
I would recommend reserving it from your local library rather than spending $15-$20 for a personal copy.
Rating: 2 / 5
That there were many levels of racism in the South in the late 1940s is the most powerful revelation of this novel. Pappy, the eldest member of the McAllen family, is the virulent racist. His oldest son, Henry, who owns the Mississippi Delta farm they live on is a moderate racist and his brother, Jamie, is on the enlightened side, although even he displays some racist tendencies when he finds out Ronsel Jackson, the young black man who lives as a tenant farmer or share cropper on the farm, had relations with a white woman when he fought in World War II. The stories of the McAllens and the Jacksons intertwine when Jamie and Ronsel become friends and share liquor. They’re both back from the war and struggling to resume life in the Delta, where racism infects everything. When Jamie lets Ronsel sit in the front seat of the truck when they drive in from town, Pappy and Henry are offended, with Pappy issuing a threat before Henry goes to talk w/ Ronsel’s father, Hap, the long term tenant farmer who doesn’t want to rock the boat. But Ronsel does and he pays the price when Pappy finds the letter from his German lover in the truck. The letter informed Ronsel that he is the father of a son and she sent a picture, asking him to come back and live with them. Before he can decide what to do, he is apprehended by Pappy and a few townsmen who are members of the Klan. Jamie tries to rescue Ronsel but he is overwhelmed, with Pappy demanding he determine Ronsel’s fate, so that Pappy and his friends can escape guilt. As the book ends, Ronsel is mute, with his tongue cut out, and wondering how he’ll live his life, determined to somehow live with his disability and possibly march some day with Martin Luthur King. The profound story is beautifully told, but it loses its luster near the end, as it comes across as formulaic. That Ronsel should be abused by the Klan doesn’t seem original, although the portrayal of the different levels of racism among the McAllens is.
Rating: 4 / 5
Good book. Condition was fine. I enjoyed the book. Delivery was prompt.
Rating: 4 / 5
Although there were interesting historical aspects in Mudbound, I was distracted throughout by the lack of real voice by any of the narrators. For me, there was only one voice in this book – the author’s. I do not feel I know these characters any better having read the story through their points of view. If Jordan had written this in straight third person, the story would have been exactly the same. So, I ask, “Why six voices?”
Rating: 2 / 5