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123rd out of 604 books
—
1,429 voters
Run with the Horsemen
by
Ferrol Sams
Porter Osborne Jr. is a precocious, sensitive, and rambunctious boy trying to make it through adolescence during the depression years. On a red-clay farm in Georgia he learns all there is to know about cotton chopping, hog killing, watermelon thumping, and mule handling. School provides a quick course in practical joking, schoolboy crushes, athletic glory, and clandestine...more
Paperback, 432 pages
Published
July 3rd 1984
by Penguin Books
(first published 1982)
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I read this series when I was in my early teens, I believe. It recently popped back into my head, so I thought I'd see if I still enjoyed it. I think I appreciate it more now, because I can see the adult humor in it. Ferrol Sams uses such beautiful language to describe Georgia between Reconstruction and WWII, the relationships between the landowners and their dependents and the virtures of being Raised Right.
I found it fascinating that we do not find out our protagonist's name until page 65, bef...more
I found it fascinating that we do not find out our protagonist's name until page 65, bef...more
Nov 14, 2012
Miles Kehoe
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone who wants an entertaining book
Recommended to Miles by:
Gibbons Burke
This is the frist in a semi-autobiographical trilogy about a boy growing up in rural Georgia during the Great Depression. It is hard to get into because the writer uses the language and stream of consciousness of a young child expressing his earliest memories.. get through that and you'll find a writer with a deep, rich vocabulary and quite a sense of humor. This first book takes 'the boy' from earliest memories of 'the Mother', 'the Grandmother' and 'the Father' all the way through to the end o...more
3.5***
This is a semi-autobiographical novel detailing the coming of age of a young boy – the scion of a well-to-do cotton farmer in rural George, during the Depression. The Boy is the only son of a refined and long-suffering mother and an alcoholic, politically connected father. He is smart and resourceful, but confused about much of the information that he gathers by eavesdropping on the adults on and around the farm. He frequently feels alone, in part because he has only sisters, but also bec...more
This is a semi-autobiographical novel detailing the coming of age of a young boy – the scion of a well-to-do cotton farmer in rural George, during the Depression. The Boy is the only son of a refined and long-suffering mother and an alcoholic, politically connected father. He is smart and resourceful, but confused about much of the information that he gathers by eavesdropping on the adults on and around the farm. He frequently feels alone, in part because he has only sisters, but also bec...more
I'm not entirely sure exactly at which point I began to love this book. It's just a series of stories - with a slightly unsatisfying end - about a boy growing up on a farm in Georgia during the depression. That's it. Just...stuff that happens to him, troubles he faces (and gets himself into) and him growing up.
But I do know why I love it. It is, I think, pretty much entirely because of the character of Porter Osbourne Jr. - most commonly referred to in the narrative simply as 'the boy'. He is de...more
But I do know why I love it. It is, I think, pretty much entirely because of the character of Porter Osbourne Jr. - most commonly referred to in the narrative simply as 'the boy'. He is de...more
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Very entertaining. I must admit that I was not very intrigued in the beginning. The writing is great, and the characters are interesting, but there was very little plot as you followed the little main character boy, "Little Porter" or "Sambo," around in his world. However, the conflict grew closer to the end. But then, the book ended suddenly with zero resolution. Had my husband not been familiar with the fact that this is the first in a series, I would have been irate. I would have bashed the e...more
This book was okay. The story itself was pretty intersting but I found the writing to get pretty dry at times. Amazon states that: "A boy's account of growing up in the South during the depression era. Both a rare first novel and a new American classic, Sams novel has been compared to Tom Sawyer and To Kill a Mockingbird." While I agree that it could be compared to these two classics, again I just couldn't really get into it that much. For example, it would go on and on about his love of cotton....more
One of my favorite books, I've re-read this so many times I've lost count! By the author of Forrest Gump, Run With The Horsemen is the coming-of-age story of "Little Porter" Osbourne, the son of a Georgia farming family growing up during the Depression. The genteel, long-suffering mother (who strikes fear in the hearts of her husband and son with the words "I'm not mad, I'm just hurt"); the patrician lawyer father who the boy adores and lives to impress, even though aware of (and often teased fo...more
Run with the Horsemen is a must read for any Southerner or anyone who has enjoyed To Kill a Mockingbird. One experiences of life in rural Georgia during the Great Depression and sees it from the eyes of a young boy.
I enjoyed every page and was sorry to come to its end. Ferrol Sams created a book that will likely be one of my all time favorites.
I enjoyed every page and was sorry to come to its end. Ferrol Sams created a book that will likely be one of my all time favorites.
Ferrol Sams, like many a Southern author, writes with insight, candor, and humor. As a physian he made the time to write his three autobiographical novels,this being the first, which provide a glimpse of southern life just before the changes wrought upon it by the Civil Rights Movement, World War II, and modern society. You will like him. You will like the variegated people who populate his landscape.
It's high time for me to read this one again, and the second. The third was a disappointment to...more
It's high time for me to read this one again, and the second. The third was a disappointment to...more
Even though I grew up in rural Georgia thirty years later than Dr. Sams, I could identify with many of the Souther idiosyncrasies.
The book started off slow, but the time he spent building the scenes and characters was very worthwhile.
The book was tender, touching, and funny. It made me quite homesick.
I received the book from a neighbor in a tiny Alabama town who loved it, and after I'd read it, i discovered that my Dad had given me the same hardback in a stack of books a month earlier...because...more
The book started off slow, but the time he spent building the scenes and characters was very worthwhile.
The book was tender, touching, and funny. It made me quite homesick.
I received the book from a neighbor in a tiny Alabama town who loved it, and after I'd read it, i discovered that my Dad had given me the same hardback in a stack of books a month earlier...because...more
This book had significant relevance to me personally. My parents grew up on Arkansas farms at the turn of the 20th century, and I heard them talk from time to time about events they experienced, helping with (or observing) farm work. This book told so much about the actual work of growing corn and cotton and tobacco, about the equipment they used and the animals that were part of the life. That may sound daunting to people wanting a spanking good read, but I assure you, if you like your novels t...more
The strength of this book is the author's treatment of the relationship between father and son. Their strengths and weaknesses are played out wonderfully throughout the story. The reason I'm giving the book 3 stars is because I didn't like how much of it was written with the characters identified by such impersonal tags, as the boy, the father, the grandfather, etc. At one point, I honestly wondered if I was going to get names to the individual characters. I didn't like how the dialog was writte...more
This is an great book on its own but I have just finished rereading "To Kill a Mockingbird" and I was interested in comparing the two books. Really, the big similarity is how they try to explain how white Southerners treated blacks during the depression. Both have a lot of "this is the culture, this is how it has always been done".
Although both books have a strong, educated father who is in the government, and both deal with the relationship of the children and their fathers, Run with the Horsem...more
Although both books have a strong, educated father who is in the government, and both deal with the relationship of the children and their fathers, Run with the Horsem...more
Mar 22, 2008
George Bradford
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommended to George Bradford by:
Scott
Shelves:
southern-man
Run with the Horsemen is a wonderful book. It's a terrific story with a fascinating central character. And it captures all the aspects of life in rural Georgia during the Great Depression.
It took me a while to get into the story. The narrator writes in the past tense, refers to himself in the third person ("the boy" aka Porter Osborne, Jr.) and the sentences run long. But I adjusted to the prose and was rewarded for the effort. This first volume of Porter's life story spans from childhood throug...more
It took me a while to get into the story. The narrator writes in the past tense, refers to himself in the third person ("the boy" aka Porter Osborne, Jr.) and the sentences run long. But I adjusted to the prose and was rewarded for the effort. This first volume of Porter's life story spans from childhood throug...more
Since I have moved to Georgia, I have been wanting to read a book that submerses me in the southern culture to help me acclamate. This book was given to me by a friend who grew up in the deep south that thought it would do the trick. It reminded me of A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN--but about a boy, set in the deep south, and not as tragic. I fell in love with this protagonist, the hired "colored-folk" that worked his pa's farms, and his flawed family. It was a delight of a book. So glad I read it.
When I discovered Ferrol Sams', Run with the Horsemen, I could not understand why it had not been hailed as one of the best American novels of our time. It captures with brutal accuracy the Deep South at the onset of the Great Depression. It reveals the reality of the times and would be what one would see had he a time machine to travel back to these days. Porter Osborne, intelligent, humorous, and perceptive, yet, naïve, is the bridge between the cultures. I thoroughly enjoyed this book
2 likes · like · see review
This book is set in the south in the same era as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and is both funny and poignant as it explores the relationship between the races through the eyes of the protagonist, Porter Osborne III, a bright, sensitive boy growing up on a farm in Georgia. It follows him from childhood to WWII, when he graduates from high school. The book is based on the author’s own boyhood in Fayette County. He published the book, his first, in 1982 at age 60.
I found this slow-going at first, and found difficulty in knowing who was the central character, and would have given it 2 stars. By a third of the way through I was involved with the main character and his dilemmas and life, it was making 3 stars. By the end of the book I was thoroughly convinced and found the conclusion strong and thought-provoking, and a 5-star finish. I shall read more by Ferrol Sams in the future and appreciate Donette's recommendation.
This trilogy is underrated. Porter Osbourne should go down as one of the classic characters not just in Southern Lit, but in literature in general.
The first book is as a good a rumination on adolescent male sexuality as Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint," and also examines race relations and generational distance in the agrarian early-20th century South. The second find Porter disillusioned with life and medical school, as well as losing his virginity to the unforgettable Vashti. The third sees him g...more
The first book is as a good a rumination on adolescent male sexuality as Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint," and also examines race relations and generational distance in the agrarian early-20th century South. The second find Porter disillusioned with life and medical school, as well as losing his virginity to the unforgettable Vashti. The third sees him g...more
An all time favorite that is little known. This is the story of the author's growing up on a tenant farm in Georgia. Although this may not sound like something you want to read about, it is one of the most well written, funniest books I have ever read. The author is a true southern story teller. It is one of the few books I have ever read where I couldn't help laughing out loud. Great story.
I can't remember when I read this (maybe early- or mid-2009?), but it's a must-read intro to The Whisper of the River. Smart fiction, and you'll especially like it if you grew up in the South and/or in the country. Heavy on the religious aspects of life in the South and all the nuances of who's been Raised Right and Saved (the two being almost invariably linked).
This glimpse at rural America will have you in stitches. I suspect the story is thematically biographical but there's no way to know. Sams' description of a young boy's daily adventure makes one long for the days of youth. Sams' posseses possibly the best vocabularly of any author I've read. And his creative use of seldom used adjectives is a real treat for the mind.
My uncle recommended this to me many years ago. I bought it and set it on the shelf. I love it when I discover something on my own shelf that I haven't read and it turns out to be this lovely. Of course, I had to read all three and I recommend that anyone considering starting this book go ahead and get all three--you won't be able to stop yourself.
One of the best "coming of age" books I've read (and i've read a few). Funny, poignant, sad...all set in the depression-era south on a sharecropping farm. I liked the third-person voice (referring to our protagonist as "the boy") and the honest references to sometimes taboo subjects. Can't wait to read the second book ... and the third...
Ferrol Sams is amazing. I would so love to meet him as I feel like I already know him. He lives in Georgia where he grew up and his autobiographical trilogy of growing up in rural Georgia, serving in the War and becoming a doctor is so colorful and humorous. But have your dictionary handy; he has quite the vocabulary.
I feel rather unsure as to how to rate this book..Maybe around a 2.5-3, simply because there was no plot to the story at all- the story itself did not have very much direction. Not necessary for all readers, but I myself enjoy conflict and adventure.
However, it was a well-written, humorous, interesting look into the South, and while I did not love it, it was easy to read and relatively enjoyable.
However, it was a well-written, humorous, interesting look into the South, and while I did not love it, it was easy to read and relatively enjoyable.
One of my all-time favorite books...Southern storytelling at its best.
This is the first in a semi-autobiographical trilogy that follows the life and exploits of the main character, Porter Osborne jr. (Sambo). Also don't miss.
2) The Whisper of the River
3) When All the World Was Young
This is the first in a semi-autobiographical trilogy that follows the life and exploits of the main character, Porter Osborne jr. (Sambo). Also don't miss.
2) The Whisper of the River
3) When All the World Was Young
Ferrol Sams, where have you been all of my life? Run With the Horsemen vivaciously brought to life the daily happenings of a small southern town during the 1920s and 1930s. Accessibly-written, nuanced, scathing, scandalous, and hilarious. Rarely has reading a novel been such a pure delight.
Great storeteller but the book didn't go anywhere. Keep a dictionary on hand while reading. Right on point but too much focus on an adolescents travels through puberty. And what does it have to do with horsemen? Probably won't read the other two books of the trilogy.
I have loved all Ferrol Sams' books. He writes from a southern viewpoint and, I love southern lit. There are several books written about the boy Porter Osborne, Jr. All are excellent especially if you like family involvement and what we learn from our upbringing.
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“He's a good boy, he takes instruction well; I just can't think of enough things to tell him not to do.”
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