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73rd out of 598 books
—
1,403 voters
Charms for the Easy Life
by
Kaye Gibbons
A family without men, the Birches live gloriously offbeat lives in the lush, green backwoods of North Carolina. Radiant, headstrong Sophia and her shy, brilliant daughter, Margaret, possess powerful charms to ward off loneliness, despair, and the human misery that often beats a path to their door. And they are protected by the eccentric wisdom and muscular love of the rema...more
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
July 1st 2005
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1993)
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It's amazingly easy to read and grabs you right away. In fact, it feels so effortless (but it's the kind of writing that you know was slaved over, honed and perfected), that I questioned how I could have gotten quite so much from it.
Two lovely ideas from this book:
The grandmother, when she's young, gets this lucky charm, that's supposed to bring her an easy life. Her husband leaves her, tries to con her, she works as a doctor in the early 1900's when infection and poverty are rampant--but she i...more
Two lovely ideas from this book:
The grandmother, when she's young, gets this lucky charm, that's supposed to bring her an easy life. Her husband leaves her, tries to con her, she works as a doctor in the early 1900's when infection and poverty are rampant--but she i...more
Charms for the Easy Life is a mesmerizing fictional biography/autobiography of three generations of women living unconventional lives in North Carolina against the backdrop of the World Wars.
The book revolves around the life of the narrator's grandmother, a self-taught healer who appears to lead a bit of a charmed life. Her life is not "charmed" in any sort of mystical sense, it's more like she is so self-possessed that a comparatively uncertain world bends itself to her will.
I enjoyed the glim...more
The book revolves around the life of the narrator's grandmother, a self-taught healer who appears to lead a bit of a charmed life. Her life is not "charmed" in any sort of mystical sense, it's more like she is so self-possessed that a comparatively uncertain world bends itself to her will.
I enjoyed the glim...more
6 likes · like · see review
"I have read two books a week for thirty years. I am satisfied that I know everything."
So says Charlie Kate Birch, and she's not shy about sharing her knowledge, whether you want to hear it or not. Charlie Kate is an early-1900s North Carolina midwife, herbalist, and self-styled doctor (with no official credentials). She's feisty, outspoken, and somewhat manipulative, but also very civic-minded and generous. You can't help liking her, even if she is a little too full of herself. Her daughter So...more
So says Charlie Kate Birch, and she's not shy about sharing her knowledge, whether you want to hear it or not. Charlie Kate is an early-1900s North Carolina midwife, herbalist, and self-styled doctor (with no official credentials). She's feisty, outspoken, and somewhat manipulative, but also very civic-minded and generous. You can't help liking her, even if she is a little too full of herself. Her daughter So...more
3 likes · like · see review
I really enjoyed this novel. It takes place mostly in the 1940's around the time of WW2 and is told from the perspective of Margaret the daughter/granddaughter of this female three generation household.
The Grandmother is "Charly Kate", a name she picked for herself and she is as smart, sassy, sharp and self-reliant to boot. She runs a alternative medicine practice out of her home where her granddaughter assists her in her labors of caring for the pregnant, the ill, and basically making up for t...more
The Grandmother is "Charly Kate", a name she picked for herself and she is as smart, sassy, sharp and self-reliant to boot. She runs a alternative medicine practice out of her home where her granddaughter assists her in her labors of caring for the pregnant, the ill, and basically making up for t...more
After My Antonia and Here Be Dragons I wanted a light read...some chick-lit if you will. This book sounded intriguing. Set in North Carolina during WWII it tells the story of three generations of unconventional Southern women: Charlie Kate, Sophia her daughter, and Margaret her granddaughter...the narrator. Charlie Kate is a backwoods mid-wife/healer and the adventures/medical conditions that she encounters are unique to say the least. This is a book of strong women who depend on one another rat...more
8 likes · like · see review
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This book swept me into its fabric from the first page, mainly because the main character, Charlie Kate, is so unconventional and the stories of her turn-of-the-century life in the South are so shockingly humorous, tragic and honest.
We all hope to know someone (or be someone) a little like Charlie Kate: always knowing exactly what to do in any situation, dauntlessly moving forward and dictating the way our world will be. Like a magnet, her character attracts people to her, and whether she is...more
We all hope to know someone (or be someone) a little like Charlie Kate: always knowing exactly what to do in any situation, dauntlessly moving forward and dictating the way our world will be. Like a magnet, her character attracts people to her, and whether she is...more
A family of unusual women live together during the World War II era, a time when women of all sorts began doing things women had never done before. Charlie Kate, the matriarch of the family, has been working the natural art of healing since she was a young woman, and is wildly successful and sought after, even by the local doctors and pharmacists. Her daughter Sophia is beautiful and headstrong, and her granddaughter Margaret, from whose point of view the story is told, is brilliant and shy. Eac...more
It belongs to a genre that I'm not generally fond of, southern small-town stories of generational ties with eccentric characters; as the front cover blurb has it, "as invigorating as sarsaparilla and as soothing as lemon-balm tea". They always seem to feature women who are not only independent and self-achievers, but staunchly anti-racist throughout the whole 20th century. Still, Charms for the Easy Life is incontestably well-written, and it pretty much steers clear of the traps of sentimentalit...more
Three generations of North Carolina women: Charlie Kate, Sophia and Margaret, all fiercely independent, highly educated, thriving in the life they have created, all without the help of any man. Charlie Kate is a self taught “healing” woman, who becomes the local, rural doctor; Sophia, her daughter, is fighting to find her own place in her mother’s world; Margaret, the bright granddaughter, has dreams of a college education, but is unwilling to leave the cocoon created by her matriarchs.
This was...more
This was...more
This is a great book.
I read Charms for the Easy Life in about a day. I am a nanny, and I used naptime and bedtime to breeze through this fantastic novel. At the end of a long semester, a light read was exactly what I needed. The books main characters are three generations of strong, talented, beautiful women. It revolves around their relationships and takes its readers into an idyllic world where mother-daughter relationships are always perfect, your grandmother has the answers to all life's que...more
I read Charms for the Easy Life in about a day. I am a nanny, and I used naptime and bedtime to breeze through this fantastic novel. At the end of a long semester, a light read was exactly what I needed. The books main characters are three generations of strong, talented, beautiful women. It revolves around their relationships and takes its readers into an idyllic world where mother-daughter relationships are always perfect, your grandmother has the answers to all life's que...more
This book has been sitting on my list for awhile. For no particular reason, it was never at the top of my list until my e:Reader forced the issue with a 21 day loan that was coming due. Love, love, love the fact that my reader forced my hand to read this book. I really, enjoyed it and found it hard to put down.
A story of three generations of quirky, smart and independent women who say, and do, quirky, smart and independent things. There were any number of points in this book that made me laugh o...more
A story of three generations of quirky, smart and independent women who say, and do, quirky, smart and independent things. There were any number of points in this book that made me laugh o...more
I liked this book, but not nearly so much as "On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon." I kept wondering what the point was and when something significant would happen that would drive the story. I can't really even see any strong themes in it. It was about strong southern women and their ability to flourish without men. It was about how a lot of men are scum and others could be pretty decent. Is it a theme that a grandmother could be larger than life and cast her shadow over every aspect of a girl...more
Don't ask me what it is about Kaye Gibbons. She just has one of those voices that speaks to me from somewhere out of my ancestral southern past, I guess. Some smooth, smokey drawl that captures my attention, and holds it, drawing it into the hearts of her characters, so that her stories for me are far, far more than the sum of their parts. They are all women's stories, and stories of adversity, with a southern flavor that is so familiar to me, it truly seems to call out from my own distant past....more
Apr 14, 2013
Frank Lacombe
added it
This was the first book by Kaye Gibbons I read back in the mid 1990s, and it remains one of my favorites. In the world Gibbons creates, men are peripheral characters when they are not outright buffoons, but one hardly notices the absence of estimable male characters because the women populating Gibbons's works generally, and this one in particular, are so witty, quirky, and hilarious. Kaye Gibbons evokes Mark Twain's knack for colloquialisms, for irreverent truth-telling, and for making the read...more
A captivating tale of three generations of women living together in North Carolina, with most of the story taking place during WWII. The grandmother, Charlie Kate, is one of those characters who has a larger-than life personality and a determination to live life on her own terms that is an utter delight to read. Equally enjoyable (and believable) was the give and take of the relationships between Charlie Kate and her daughter, the lovely Sophia; and the granddaughter, Margaret, a scholastic high...more
I think that listening to this book really made it for me. The narrator's scratchy southern drawl added such spunk to Charlie Kate; I could visualize her mixing her herbal concoctions and administering her self-taught treatments to her willing patients. I appreciated her strength and her willingness to help out those in need despite the sacrifice.
This book reads so well, the prose flows so effortlessly that I was quickly captivated by Charlie Kate, Sophia and Margaret. Each of these women demon...more
This book reads so well, the prose flows so effortlessly that I was quickly captivated by Charlie Kate, Sophia and Margaret. Each of these women demon...more
One of truths I center my life around is from Marjorie Hinckley speaking on female relationships, “Oh, how we need each other. Those of us who are old need you who are young. And, hopefully, you who are young need some of us who are old. It is a sociological fact that women need women. We need deep and satisfying and loyal friendships with each other.” I never tire of that theme or plots which revolve around it. My life could be considered neither "charmed" nor "easy" without a huge cast of "bes...more
I love Kaye Gibbons' writing style. This book made me want to read all of her work (so far the only other book of her's I've read is Ellen Foster). I truly enjoyed the quirkiness of the characters in this story, and found myself reading this book in only a couple of days.
I particulary enjoyed the second half of the book, when the narrator, Margaret, is a bit older. The second half of the book takes place during World War II, and I found the author portrayed a side of the war that we don't norma...more
I particulary enjoyed the second half of the book, when the narrator, Margaret, is a bit older. The second half of the book takes place during World War II, and I found the author portrayed a side of the war that we don't norma...more
Kaye Gibbons can really write. It seems that she seamlessly and graciously introduces characters into her books that tend to stick to your ribs long after you put the book down, sorry to have had to read the last page and said goodbye. This is the story of 3 generations of women of North Carolina in the 1940's, Charlie,an unlicensed doctor witty and outspoken, her daughter Sophia, who is very different woman from her mother, and Sophia's daughter, Margaret, who grows up looking for her own place...more
I really enjoyed this book and am having our book club read it in November. I have read this book several times and seen the movie of it too.
1 like · like · see review
What seemed like a simple story of three generations in a family of southern women speaks of the connectivity between generations that families sometimes have. I like to think that for those of us who have been fortunate enough to have had strong role models and who have benefitted from their wisdom and folly, Kaye Gibbons' story strikes a chord within us. Her fine illustration of how these women could argue, call one another names, and be utterly different yet still maintain love and respect fo...more
Parts of this book are interesting, but I felt like this book mirrored another book which I cannot remember the title. In this story, three generations of women live in virtual harmony in the South. The grandmother practices medicine and is not afraid to voice her opinion to "real" physicians. The mother marries a pseudo wealthy man, but he dies young. The daughter is a reader, but seems to live in the shadow of her grandmother. These three women have many quirks, but the story does not hinge on...more
I loved this story! It takes place in the 1940's. Three generations of women living under one house, keeping themselves busy with reading and helping Grandmother, Charlie Kate, tend to the sick and wounded in town. Almost a witch doctor, she operates without a license but is respected by everyone- even her family. Her granddaughter is so attached to her and the home that she refuses to go to her pick of prestigious colleges until she's had her share of helping out Grams at the Veteran's clinic....more
A good story about three women - grandmother, her daugther, and her granddaughter. The grandmother is an especially memorable character, self-taught in the art of medicine and surgery, and very outspoken - never leaves a thing unsaid. The mother doesn't like to follow her mother's advice much and winds up in a variety of life stuggles because of it. Interesting when I think about it - the grandmother is so outspoken and you don't get the feeling that she is gentle in any way, shape, or form, but...more
I really liked this book. It is very empowering. I love a good womens book.
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This novel is written uniquely. It's almost like a long narrative or memoir, with little dialogue. I found the story of the three Women very interesting. I admired their strength and how they had each other, despite difficult trials along the way. This book could have kept going for me, I of course wanted more of an ending or epilogue. I loved the setting of the south and the time period of the early 20th century. This will be our May 2013 book club pick. I can't wait it see the movie version an...more
This is an incredibly easy read. The book almost reads itself to you. It is the story of 3 generations of Southern women. Charlie Kate is the unconvenional midwife who becomes a backdoor medicine woman who mixes science and superstition equally. Sophia is beautiful and Margaret is very smart, but both are unable or unwilling to escape Charlie Kate's intense gravitational field. The title of the book refers to the easy life charm a patient gives Charlie Kate as payment for saving his life. Her li...more
I fell in love with each of the smart, headstrong and highly independent woman of the Birch clan. Set near Raleigh, North Carolina, during WWII, the story follows grandma Charlie Kate, a folk doctor who knows more and does more than the sloppy medical doctor in the area; her glamorous widowed daughter Sophia, who lives as much for Flaubert and Faulkner as she does for the sensational tales in her True Crime magazines; her daughter Margaret, who, inspired by her grandmother, aspires to medical sc...more
I haven't read Kaye Gibbons in probably ten years. I was at the library and this one caught my eye - I'd like to have charms for an easy life.
This book read so seamlessly. A book I did look forward to reading any spare moment I had. A story about 3 generations of women from the early to mid 20th century. Grandmother, mother, daugther - 3 very different perspectives and experiences but held together by love and concern for one another and giving back to the community. I truly enjoyed reading this...more
This book read so seamlessly. A book I did look forward to reading any spare moment I had. A story about 3 generations of women from the early to mid 20th century. Grandmother, mother, daugther - 3 very different perspectives and experiences but held together by love and concern for one another and giving back to the community. I truly enjoyed reading this...more
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Kaye Gibbons was born in 1960 in Nash County, North Carolina, on Bend of the River Road. She attended North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, studying American and English literature. At twenty-six years old, she wrote her first novel, Ellen Foster. Praised as an extraordinary debut, Eudora Welty said that "the honesty of thought and eye and feeling and...more
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“You’ll find your one-in-a-million. But you’re sharp enough to know there’s no point in sludging through the first nine hundred, ninety-nine thousand, and ninety-nine to get to him.”
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“I am a great believer in variations on the routine.”
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Dec 09, 2011 07:31pm