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146th out of 420 books
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On Agate Hill
by
Lee Smith
A dusty box discovered in the wreckage of a North Carolina plantation house contains the remnants of an extraordinary life: an 1870s diary of a young girl, letters, poems, songs, newspaper clippings, court records, marbles, rocks, dolls, and bones. It's through these treasured mementos that we meet the unforgettable heroine of Lee Smith's new novel.
Raised in the smolderi...more
Raised in the smolderi...more
Hardcover, 367 pages
Published
September 11th 2006
by Shannon Ravenel Books
(first published January 1st 2006)
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Rosemary
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review of another edition
Recommends it for:
readers of sagas and Civil War history
Lee Smith has a lovely way with words and history and tells an enthralling tale, following orphan Molly Petree from childhood to old age. The voice of each character is distinct and engaging. Now that I'm done, I miss these characters!
I hardly know where to start with this review. The book begins in the years following the civil war told mainly from journal entries and letters. Molly as a 14 year old writes, "I want to live so hard and love so much I will use myself all the way up like a candle, it seems to me like this is the point of it all, not Heaven”
The rest of the book details how she lives her life up like a candle. She leads a tragic life from the very first "dear diary," and although the...more
The rest of the book details how she lives her life up like a candle. She leads a tragic life from the very first "dear diary," and although the...more
I am not one for reading stories about war, so I was skeptical when our book group selected this one that was presented as "about the Civil War." So I was presently surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I found it to be more a book about an individual and a family in the Civil War period. I liked how the book illustrated the impact of the war on individual's and families in the south, and transported you to an era and place with a fresh perspective. The book is filled with unu...more
I am not sure why I'd previously rated this book when I don't think I even knew the novel at all. I just began to read it last week. I am now on page 78. I became immediately caught up in the diary of young Molly. I hope I continue loving this book as I already do. The only "down" for me will be reaching the book's end.
I very much loved this novel and highly recommend it to all.
I very much loved this novel and highly recommend it to all.
On Agate Hill is the story of Molly Petree, an extraordinary, post-Civil War orphan. The book opens with a letter to the chair of historical documentation in a North Carolina University from a former student (Tuscany Miller) who has discovered a box of documents in an historic home recently purchased by her father. In this box are Molly Petree's diaries throughout much of her life, as well as memorabilia near and dear to Molly's heart. The student also sends to the professor additional document...more
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This novel tells the story of Molly Petree, who is orphaned after the Civil War. Her tale is pieced together by diaries, journal entries, letters, poems, and court records. When the story opens, Molly is writing in her diary of her life at Agate Hill plantation; her legal guardian is her Uncle Junius, when Molly's Aunt Fanny dies, the housekeeper, Selena, schemes to marry Junius so she can inherit Agate Hill when he dies. Molly is neglected and mistreated under Selena's watch, until Simon Black,...more
When I am semi-dreading reading something, I truly love to be proved wrong. Lee Smith's On Agate Hill has provided precisely one of those instances. It's my book group's selection for December and I just started it last night, thinking it will be a long slog through yet-another bit of Civil War fiction. Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong!
On Agate Hill is much more than just another epistolatory novel. It consists of two main parts: first, the correspondence between M.A. thesis ...more
On Agate Hill is much more than just another epistolatory novel. It consists of two main parts: first, the correspondence between M.A. thesis ...more
I have to admit that my expectations were a bit high before I started reading. My ENG111 teacher spoke highly of this writer which prompted me to go to a workshop lecture by the author so I was psyched to read something by her. The writing style changes throughout the book as well as switching the first person character telling the story. If you can handle this I think you will enjoy the book. The main character is certainly interesting and goes through many trials yet makes it through them ...more
I'd love to chat with someone about this book --- I was all excited about reading it since I love Southern lit, but was a tad disappointed --- I still give it 4 stars, but was hoping for a 5! I thought that the whole fire thing was a bit unrealistic and didn't fit Molly's character. I'm still puzzled with why she did what she did. And then, I also didn't really like the ending -- the whole premise of Simon Black Molly's decisions in Part 5. I didn't think that fit her character either. Anyw...more
Nina
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I like Lee Smith's books. The first one of hers I read was Oral History. I think I just stumbled upon it wbile browsing in the library lo these many years ago. Since then I have read several of her books which always involve mountain or rural people in the South (NC, VA or WVa). Her plots aren't deep and her characters can be too good or too bad to be true, but in my opinion what Smith does best is draw pictures of the lives of the people in the times they are living. Agate Hill is set in p...more
This was my first novel by Lee Smith. It didn't move as quickly as I thought it would after reading the beginning but it was a very good book. Told from the different perspectives of the characters....through diary entries, letters, songs, etc. It was an interesting format and I liked getting the different perspectives. I thought the first half of the book moved slowly. Then things started moving quickly and a lot of time was covered during a character's testimony of some events. I felt th...more
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The story of young Molly Petry made an orphan by the Civil War. She is in the care of her uncle until the money property seeking Selena comes into the picture. Molly's cause is taken up the mysterious Mr. Simon Black who takes her away from Agate Hill into a new world of education. This story is told in the form of letters and diaries; some by Molly and others by those who encounter Molly during various periods of her life. Molly is a charming character that you can not help but like even wh...more
Read this for my book group after a glowing Chinaberry review. Have read a few novels by Smith and, with family who've lived in North Carolina, I find her local descriptions and knowledge of history there to be well portrayed in her work. Set in post war Hillsborough, a young girl writes in her diary about living among the ghosts of her family in a dying southern plantation. Takes many other twists, and has a similar use of a graduate student researching local family history as Monsters of Te...more
This was my second Lee Smith book and, oh my, what a great read. As in Oral History, Ms. Smith tells her story through journal entries, letters, and other archived information. This story is set post Civil War and tells the tale of one young lady from roughly 13 to the end of her life. In the telling Ms. Smith lays out life in the times of tragic loss but does so with an air of hopeful optimism and mystery. As with Oral History I walk away with a sense of how much stronger we are in the face of ...more
The story of orphan Molly Petree emerges from a dusty box discovered in an abandoned North Carolina plantation house. The box contains the vestiges of a life that began in Reconstruction days and continued deep into the 20th century, registering the efforts of a heroic woman determined to salvage her few chances. Lee Smith, the author of Fair and Tender Ladies, unwraps this personal saga through ephemera, notes, and court records. In sum, these washed-up pieces become a carefully modulated chara...more
I really enjoyed the way the main character, Molly Petree's story was told. Molly is a teenager orphaned during the Civil War, and her story unfolds through her own diary entries and letters, followed by letters and diaries of other characters who knew and interacted with her. Major incidents in Molly's life unfold slowly, and often from a couple different perspectives, which gives the narrative good pacing and a lot of suspense. Some of the key issues in the book are never completely resolve...more
Hmmmm...I really liked the way this book was written. It's a diary, letters, a few things I can't say here because it would be spoilers. It's historical fiction--a story about the life of a 13 year old orphaned by the civil war. I had a hard time getting engaged with the characters an plot. I loved her teenage years, but didn't like before that or after as much. I had a few questions slash issues: 1. Why were some phrases underlined? 2. What 13 year old can write as eloquently as she does in the...more
Lee Smith is by far one of my favorite writers, but this book was not up to par. There seemed to be little point to most of the story. The narrative lacked what I like to think of as an underground current that carries the reader along and holds all the secrets. There was not that nuance in this book. Somehow, though, I just kept reading and hoping the story would suddenly open up and I would be proven wrong. Did not happen. Smith wrote this while recovering from the tragic death of her so...more
A great novel! Reminded me of "These is my Words." Written in a combination of diary entries, letters, and even a deposition in a murder trial. Engaging style and great characters.
The story of Molly Petree, an orphan of the Confederacy. When the story starts, she is a ward of her Uncle, living on his Carolina plantation. She calls herself "a spitfire and a burden." Interesting view of Reconstruction South, as she grows from a 13 year old girl to an old woman.
...more
The story of Molly Petree, an orphan of the Confederacy. When the story starts, she is a ward of her Uncle, living on his Carolina plantation. She calls herself "a spitfire and a burden." Interesting view of Reconstruction South, as she grows from a 13 year old girl to an old woman.
...more
My biggest complaint about this book is that there was no catalyst to keep the story moving. The impeding force the main character had to overcome was her upbringing, or lack thereof. The chapters where she beat the odds that were stacked against her were the only ones that really held my interest. After that, Molly made one big loop ending up right where she began and the journey just wasn't that intriguing. I couldn't, or didn't feel compelled to, keep track of many of the supporting chara...more
I was captivated by the honesty of this little girl's narrative. I always love a story in which the characters have no pretenses - and the world she is trying to grow up in (Reconstruction-era South) is falling apart, one page at a time, one layer at a time, one person at a time, and she is making sense of it in the best way she can. I kept wondering what was ahead for her, and was always surprised. There is something both gruesome and fascinating about this book - it has a lingering sense of...more
I'm not entirely sure how to describe this book. I can tell you it kept me engaged all the way through. I think it may be one of the strangest books I've ever read.
We have the main character, Molly Petree who has lost everyone she loves - we follow her from her youth to adulthood. She is stubborn, angry, determined, solitary--she calls herself a ghost girl. For much of her young life she pretty much decides what she is going to do it, and then does it. Her running commentary on the ot...more
We have the main character, Molly Petree who has lost everyone she loves - we follow her from her youth to adulthood. She is stubborn, angry, determined, solitary--she calls herself a ghost girl. For much of her young life she pretty much decides what she is going to do it, and then does it. Her running commentary on the ot...more
This was a fairly good book, though I felt the different places and people in them felt a little disconnected. That is, it felt almost like I was reading a different book in different places, despite the main character being in all of them. It spans the main character's life, and when she moves places, she is surrounded my completely new people, and each stage in her life is narrated by a different person, but it still didn't quite mesh together for me. Still, it was a good story. An interes...more
I can't say that I love this book quite as much as my first novel by Lee Smith -- Fair and Tender Ladies -- but those are some huge shoes to fill.
Two of Lee Smith's biggest strengths are her ability to create a profound sense of loss in a reader and her talent for creating a sense of place. My favorite books often stick with me less in terms of plot and more like memories from my own life -- in fragmented but lucid snapshots of place. I remember my own childhood mostly as a series of places: a ...more
Two of Lee Smith's biggest strengths are her ability to create a profound sense of loss in a reader and her talent for creating a sense of place. My favorite books often stick with me less in terms of plot and more like memories from my own life -- in fragmented but lucid snapshots of place. I remember my own childhood mostly as a series of places: a ...more
Oh Lee Smith, how I love thee! Another beautiful installment from one of my all-time favorite authors.
Now first, a disclaimer -- this is no Fair and Tender Ladies. It's not as tightly written or as easy to get into.
BUT it's beautiful nonetheless. Smith's use of the epistolary form, while flawed, is impressive.
I think my favorite part of her writing is her mastery of voice. She's able to use southern inflection without calling attention to it, and she...more
Now first, a disclaimer -- this is no Fair and Tender Ladies. It's not as tightly written or as easy to get into.
BUT it's beautiful nonetheless. Smith's use of the epistolary form, while flawed, is impressive.
I think my favorite part of her writing is her mastery of voice. She's able to use southern inflection without calling attention to it, and she...more
Incredible book, historical fiction at its best. Deserves a good 4.5 stars.
This novel tells the life story of Molly Petree--her pre-Civil War youngest years are but touched on. We begin with her post-Civil War diary entries, when she is perhaps 8 or 10 years old, living with her great uncle at Agate Hill. Without spoilers, we learn of the hardships and good times, and of her "ghost family", the many people she has lost. She goes to boarding school, and this section is diary...more
This novel tells the life story of Molly Petree--her pre-Civil War youngest years are but touched on. We begin with her post-Civil War diary entries, when she is perhaps 8 or 10 years old, living with her great uncle at Agate Hill. Without spoilers, we learn of the hardships and good times, and of her "ghost family", the many people she has lost. She goes to boarding school, and this section is diary...more
On Agate Hill, by Lee Smith is a historical piece that follows the life of the orphaned Molly Petree. The reader first meets Molly in 1872 at the age of 13. She is living in her uncle’s house and has just begun to keep a journal, which is one of the forms that are used to tell her story. In fact, the whole novel is in the form of journal entries, letters and court documents.
With the epistolary style, a plot is not always easily identified, as is the case with this book. This st...more
With the epistolary style, a plot is not always easily identified, as is the case with this book. This st...more
A well written historical fiction story about a girl in the reconstruction south. An interesting study of a time when class structure was fractured and reformed--from the southern families that had been able to survive the war with some of their wealth (represented by the girls at the boarding school and their families) and the families that lost their wealth represented by Junius's family, to the former slaves beginning to exercise their new freedom to make their own choices, to the farmers, s...more
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Growing up in the Appalachian mountains of southwestern Virginia, nine-year-old Lee Smith was already writing--and selling, for a nickel apiece--stories about her neighbors in the coal boomtown of Grundy and the nearby isolated "hollers." Since 1968, she has published eleven novels, as well as three collections of short stories, and has received many writing awards.
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