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188th out of 447 books
—
828 voters
Feather Crowns
Set in the apocalyptic atmosphere of the turn of this century, this engaging novel by the author of In Country tells the story of a young farm wife, living in rural Kentucky, who unintentionally creates a national sensation when she gives birth to the first recorded set of quintuplets in North America.
Paperback, 464 pages
Published
June 3rd 1994
by Harper Perennial
(first published September 1st 1993)
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I read this book in less than a week, I thought it was so captivating. I love a little bit of magic in stories and Feather Crowns feels surreal in some aspects. While it is not as magical and fantastic as other tales, there are definitely elements of wonder woven into this family's story. I often strive to read female authors and I love getting different perspectives from different backgrounds and cultures, and though this is a thoroughly American story, the setting was still quite alien to me,...more
This book is astounding on many levels, not the least of which is that what you think is going to happen doesn't. Great characterization.
I read this book back in 1998 when I was sixteen, thinking based the catalogue entry at the university library I borrowed it from that it was about the Dionne quintuplets. While there is a reference to the Dionnes at the very end, most of the story is about a completely different fictional family and community, and as a result, I was left a bit baffled and disappointed. I don't know now, fifteen years later, if that was due to my false expectations, or if the story was lacking. I'd like to read...more
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This is a big fat slow moving book and may not be everyone's cup of tea. It tells the story of Christianne Wheeler, who gave birth to live quintuplets in 1900 in a small town in Kentucky, and the subsequent hoopla attending the event.
More than anything else, this novel reminded me of the importance of family - that in the days before television and easy transportation, families were bound together by proximity and habit and the minutiae of day to day life in a way that most of us cannot even ima...more
More than anything else, this novel reminded me of the importance of family - that in the days before television and easy transportation, families were bound together by proximity and habit and the minutiae of day to day life in a way that most of us cannot even ima...more
She is one of my favorite authors, especially in the short story form. Now that I live in SW Virginia I can actually relate more to her stories. That said, for me this story was too sad. I had hard time reading it as I felt it was a little too raw. I don't know how she comes up with her ideas! This story was about a family in this region of the country who had the first ever surviving quintuplets and how it not only drastically changes her life but that of her community. Well written a masterpie...more
It’s Kentucky and the year is 1900. Christianna Wheeler, a pregnant, young farm wife gives birth very unexpectedly to the country’s first quintuplets. It would be criminal to give too much of this fascinating, wonderfully written story away. So I won’t. Suffice it to say that this is historical fiction at its best, based on actual events. Bobbie Ann Mason was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award for this novel. I found it riveting, haunting and beautifully imagined.
In Feather Crowns, Mason creates a wide array of believable, complex characters that work to drive the plot. The story is interesting and caught my attention immediately, as was the backstories into the past with Christianna and the religious revivals in the turn of the century. However, as much as I enjoyed the characters and the plot, this book seemed to drag on forever and there was a great deal I felt could have been cut out without much detriment to the story.
This was a long read and it took me a while to get into it, but I did enjoy it in the end. I always like reading books that are set in the south and have lately been enjoying period pieces as well, so this came at a good time. I still harbor some doubts about the possibility of a woman giving birth to five full-term babies at once; medically I just don't see that happening. (I won't even get into the odds against two sets of naturally-occurring quintuplets.)
***MILD SPOILER***
I also wasn't expec...more
***MILD SPOILER***
I also wasn't expec...more
The curious title of this novel refers to an American superstition that concerns crown of feathers found in pillows stuffing which is considered an ill omen. I never heard about this superstition or others which are mentioned in this novel that tells the story of a 1900 humble family who were blessed (?) with quintuplets. I liked the way the author created the characters who were immersed in so many superstition concerning ill omens and the coming of Doomsday since they lived at the turn-of-the-...more
This was the first one of hers that I have read. What a masterful storyteller! This is one of those books that sucks you in and you can't stop reading it. I love it that the narrator's voice is so unusual yet so powerful. I liked it so much I found another one of hers at the funky library I go to.
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I love everything I have read by Bobbie Ann Mason, and Feather Crowns is no exception. There is something very lyrical and mysterious here. The characters are very real people dealing with extraordinary events. I was very moved.
I read this one so long ago that I don't remember details. I just remember the basic storyline and I remember wondering how Bobbie Ann Mason ever came up with the idea to write such a book. And I remember that I really liked it.
I love Bobbie Ann Mason. She is a wonderful thoughtful author including much wisdom in her writing. The premise is based on the true incident of quintuplets being born in Kentucky in 1900. I highly recommend this book.
Hard to imagine having quintuplets in the 21st century, unfathomable to think about it happening in 1900. Of course, the miraculousness of it at the time is the whole point of the book.
I really enjoyed this book until the last chapter, which is told as a recollection from the main character, many years later. It just didn't seem to go with the rest, and left me liking the book a little less.
I really enjoyed this book until the last chapter, which is told as a recollection from the main character, many years later. It just didn't seem to go with the rest, and left me liking the book a little less.
This book was fictional about a 1900 family who had the first set of quintuplets and the stir it causes. It was an interesting portrait of Kentucky at the turn of the century. People treated the family like they were a spectacle and the events surrounding their birth were filled with superstition and mystery.
After reading the book, I felt like it was slow moving and the author could have condesed the story considerably. I am glad that I read the book, it was for a book club. We had a great disc...more
After reading the book, I felt like it was slow moving and the author could have condesed the story considerably. I am glad that I read the book, it was for a book club. We had a great disc...more
Loved this book ,an imaginative psychological interpretation of a true story of a woman who has given birth to quintuplets in the early 1900s.
A strange, fascinating and finely crafted piece of work by a wonderfully gifted writer.
Interesting historical perspective. Writing was good but it was way too long.
Probably my favorite novel by my favorite fiction writer.
Bobbie Ann Mason charms me; the Iris Dement of literature.
NOT the book to read after you have a baby!
An interesting story with well-drawn characters.
1900 on KY a woman gives birth to quintuplets
It was pretty good. One I would read again.
LOVE THIS BOOK!
Kentucky stories...
Them babies was just plain wooled to death.
A young Kentucky farm wife, already the mother of three, gives birth to five live babies in 1900. The first set of quintuplets in North America are big news, put their small town on the map, so to speak, and everybody wanted a piece of the them. A beautifully told story, complete with very complex characters, precise details, occasional dark humor, many supersitions and ill omens so common at the turn of the century.
An ok book on a topic in which I am not very interested. It is a "memoir" [style only, it is a novel:] of the mother of quintuplets born in Kentucky in 1900. As a story of the farm-life at the turn of the century, too much time is spent on these babies. Taking care of the babies is not interesting enough for 250 pages. Then the book goes on for 200 more pages, attempting to tell how the birth affects the community.
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Bobbie Ann Mason has won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the American Book Award, and the PEN/Faulkner Award. Her books include In Country and Feather Crowns. She lives in Kentucky.
More about Bobbie Ann Mason...
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