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57th out of 97 books
—
115 voters
Family Linen
by
Lee Smith
"Brilliant, haunting, dark, joyous, remarkably compelling...immensely difficult to put down...a master storyteller."
THE VILLAGE VOICE
A childhood memory re-experienced, a funeral that brings about a family reunion, and the excavation of a swimming pool on the site of an old well, uncover family secrets and air the dirty linen in this behind-the-scenes look at life and famil...more
THE VILLAGE VOICE
A childhood memory re-experienced, a funeral that brings about a family reunion, and the excavation of a swimming pool on the site of an old well, uncover family secrets and air the dirty linen in this behind-the-scenes look at life and famil...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
September 12th 1986
by Ballantine Books
(first published September 13th 1985)
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This is not my book. I have a lovely hardcover with a very delicate white-on-white embroidered linen design in the background of the dust jacket. This jumped into my hands as a result of my genealogical "bug" being about the aeration of family secrets and the resulting hanging the family linen out for all the world to see and know and being notated on the cover that she is also the author of Oral History -- another genie hook. It should be fun.
Well, maybe not exactly fun, but it was good reading...more
Well, maybe not exactly fun, but it was good reading...more
This book was a slow starter but a few chapters in I began to care about this dysfunctional family group, each one going through their own crisis. The fact that the writer chose to use first, second and third person narrative, all in the same book, was a bit off-putting. Still, the story is engrossing. The book begins with Sybill and her memory from childhood of a murder she had witnessed. By the time we reach the end of the book we know the murderer was one of two people but the final conclusio...more
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Just loved it. It started off slowly, but Smith just has such a way of writing people, and of building this story so carefully - excellent. Southern without being overtly gothic or cliched - these characters reminded me so much of my husband's family from mountain NC that it was scary. I'll be reading more Lee Smith.
Was assigned for my recent Southern Lit class, and she teaches at State. My favorite character is the sister who has a kooky-ass daughter who, like, wears oversized attire from the Army-Navy surplus store, hates her mother, and attends Friends School. That shit was almost-- just almost-- too close for comfort.
A cast of quirky family members get together for their mother's funeral. The oldest sibling has been hypnotized and thinks the father was murdered and buried in the backyard. Each tells their own history, reveals their own skeletons and the story unfolds. I would recommend this book.
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There's nothing like digging into sordid pasts of people who do their best to appear perfect. This was the second book I've read by Lee Smith, and hopefully not the last. A great story that sucked me in, and I enjoyed all the characters, although there were a few too many at times.
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Good book, but I was irritated by the Faulkner-esque stream of consciousness at times. Though I have to say Smith is less...irritating (dare I say it?) The story is good, though I think it could use some tightening. Read Oral History instead.
This was my second Lee Smith book, and I intend to read more. While I enjoyed the first Smith book I read (Last Girls) better than this one, I really enjoyed this one as well.
This book was primarily a collection of detailed character sketches. With so many characters there was actually a lack of plot, but since I love reading detailed descriptions of characters, this was my kind of book. Still, I think this would have been a 5 star read for me if Smith had cut out a couple of the characters and...more
This book was primarily a collection of detailed character sketches. With so many characters there was actually a lack of plot, but since I love reading detailed descriptions of characters, this was my kind of book. Still, I think this would have been a 5 star read for me if Smith had cut out a couple of the characters and...more
I really liked this book. It is our July book for my Mystery book club and not at all like the books that we usually read. I felt like this book was more of a fiction title with a little mystery that is introduced at the beginning of the book. Lee Smith is a fantastic writer. I can't wait to read more of her books. I love books set in the south with an eccentric southern family to boot. I thought I knew who the killer was until I read the interview at the end of the book and now I'm not sure. I...more
Lee Smith tells great stories.
Lots of dysfunctional family stuff here.
You get a glimpse into the lives and experiences of several members of a family across three or four generations, which carries with it the limitation that it's only glimpses. No space to get deeper into the individual's psyche.
Some of the family are very into Keeping Up Appearances, while others totally reject this and seem to flaunt their unconventionality.
A good read.
Lots of dysfunctional family stuff here.
You get a glimpse into the lives and experiences of several members of a family across three or four generations, which carries with it the limitation that it's only glimpses. No space to get deeper into the individual's psyche.
Some of the family are very into Keeping Up Appearances, while others totally reject this and seem to flaunt their unconventionality.
A good read.
It was different to have a book jump back and forth between who was telling the story, but it had the effect of weaving everyone together in this moment of crisis that brings a dysfunctional family together for a funeral and a wedding, you got to see what was unfolding and how everyone felt about it, as well as the added surprise of quirky family history and murder. The longer I read, the more I enjoyed!
Jul 31, 2012
Bonnye Reed
added it
Had overlooked this Lee Smith novel, despite the fact that she's one of my favorite authors. It has the warmth and depth that you expect from her, but it will not go on my "keeper" shelf. It felt too much like a cliche of Southern families. The characters were just that much too far over the line to find compassionate understanding of their foibles. Still a good book and a well researched snapshot of the time and place it portrays.
Esta novela no es sino el relato de un secreto del pasado envuelto en las vivencias familiares del presente... pero el envoltorio es lo suficientemente agradable como para que no importe mucho que, en último término, durante gran parte de la novela no suceda gran cosa.
Lo dicho: una típica historia de familia, narrativa contemporánea con tintes costumbristas.
Lo dicho: una típica historia de familia, narrativa contemporánea con tintes costumbristas.
Love Lee Smith;s writing and her insights into people, relationships and family. Many quirky characters in this novel, that reunite for their mother's funeral. All the sisters are so different, all view their family in different ways. Didn't much care for the brother, felt he was way to self indulgent. My favorite characters was probably Nettie, an aunt, who is quite a personality with an extremely strange world view.
I want to like it more than I did, though I'm wavering between one and two stars. Tries to be all psychological/ Freudian and comes across crude and clunky. The "mystery" is all on the surface and obvious, the characters are stereotypes or parodies, none of them are likeable. Nothing much to say. Don't waste your time.
Airing the family "linen" this story starts off with one adult child in therapy who remembers seeing a murder as a child. Unfortunately, Mom dies before she can ask her. All the siblings, some cousins and mom's sister tell their stories in first person offering different views into the family and showing how our own emotions and situation determines how we remember an event and that it can be quite different from what other people remember happening.
Jul 31, 2011
Lee Ann
added it
Lee Smith must come from the world's largest dysfunctional family because she has no shortage of wacky relatives in her books. Another funny yet touching tale from the mountains of south west Virginia.
The perspective shifts so that the reader gets to see the character's perception of her/himself and then we see how others see them. Why the wedding at the end? To lighten it up? Good story, fun to read.
After thoroughly enjoying a couple of Lee Smith's books, this was a disappointment; my rating wavered between a one and two. Mostly I listened to this one on tape; but kept the book handy.
Love this book! I've read it three times, and each time I find something new to love. The story is told from different viewpoints, each character well-developed by Smith.
I read this because I really like The Last Girls. I didn't like this one as much. It wasn't a bad book, I just didn't like it as well - it seemed to drag a bit in places.
The plot was interesting enough, but I needed a character to like. There were too many family members at the center of the story, so none of them were sufficiently developed.
a woman remembers seeing her father murdered and then her mother passes away leaving all of the children to retell the family "laundry" Interesting but predictable.
A very enjoyable and well told family saga. Quite a few characters to keep track of, but very much in that southern fiction genre.
A very good book, well-written. Lee Smith is one of my favorite writers, maybe because Appalachia is part of my early childhood.
A dated but very enjoyable book about a Southern family, their connections, their flaws, and their public faces.
Lee Smith is one of my favorite authors. A great read about a behind-the-scenes look at life in a small Southern town.
What a lovely, light, entertaining, intriguing read! Just what the doctor ordered as I near the close of a busy semester. In a nutshell, this is a Lee Smith gem at its core with a little melodramatic macabre, including deceit, intrigue, and family secrets. It's both poignant and humorous at the same time. While it does seem that Smith is veering a bit toward caricature, I believe this is her intent for the elevated drama of the novel, and despite this portrayal, I found many characters to be ext...more
This was definitely not my favorite of her books. Very dark and too much unnecessary swearing...
I just love Lee Smith. This is one of my favorites.
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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.
The sense of place infusing her...more
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