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157th out of 1,754 books
—
1,561 voters
As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me
From a place where you don't have to run away to find yourself, this novel's young heroine, Berry, joins the ranks of other memorable and spirited girl narrators such as Bone in "Bastard Out of Carolina," Kaye Gibbon's "Ellen Foster," Lily Owens in "The Secret Life of Bees," and Scout from "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Paperback, 384 pages
Published
February 1st 2005
by Back Bay Books
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The characters in Nanci Kincaid's "As Hot As It Was You Ought to Thank Me" are amazingly well written but comparing it to "To Kill a Mockingbird" as some critics chose to do gives the author too much credit.
The book is the story of Berry Jackson, a teenager growing up Pinetta, Fla. As in most small towns, every family scandal belongs to the community.
The community includes all of the usual players–narrator Berry, her father the school principal, her mother, her two brothers, and an extremely wea...more
The book is the story of Berry Jackson, a teenager growing up Pinetta, Fla. As in most small towns, every family scandal belongs to the community.
The community includes all of the usual players–narrator Berry, her father the school principal, her mother, her two brothers, and an extremely wea...more
Seeing the title of this story, you might be lead to believe this is a racy romance novel. It’s not.
Instead, the title refers to one hot summer in the life of Berry Jackson in Pinetta, Florida. Berry is entering her teens and the summers is unusually hot—both weatherwise and in the small town. The town is rocked by the scandal of a minister admitting an affair with a married woman, a hurricane and then her father (the school principle) apparently running off with an 18-year old girl who is being...more
Instead, the title refers to one hot summer in the life of Berry Jackson in Pinetta, Florida. Berry is entering her teens and the summers is unusually hot—both weatherwise and in the small town. The town is rocked by the scandal of a minister admitting an affair with a married woman, a hurricane and then her father (the school principle) apparently running off with an 18-year old girl who is being...more
This is an unusual recommendation in that the first three pages are great, but the next fifty pages are so meandering and lacking in plot and even kind of annoying that I quit and decided to return the book. Then, stuck at home with a horrible sickness and nothing to read, I picked it up again. It started getting better and then got so good I couldn’t put it down.
Note: Do not read the back cover of this book. The editors have said far too much about what happens and several important parts of t...more
Note: Do not read the back cover of this book. The editors have said far too much about what happens and several important parts of t...more
Wonderful. Loved it.
Favorite quotes:
She was not doing it to show off or win Mother's love either. I swear I think she just had excess curiosity and a deep longing to make things clean and neat. Really. It was like a sickness.
It was rare to see anger so openly displayed-it was like seeing somebody stark naked. You cannot turn your head from it. Most people knew how to keep their anger in the back pocket of their pants, stitched into the hemline of their housedress, stuffed in a secret compartment...more
Favorite quotes:
She was not doing it to show off or win Mother's love either. I swear I think she just had excess curiosity and a deep longing to make things clean and neat. Really. It was like a sickness.
It was rare to see anger so openly displayed-it was like seeing somebody stark naked. You cannot turn your head from it. Most people knew how to keep their anger in the back pocket of their pants, stitched into the hemline of their housedress, stuffed in a secret compartment...more
This is one of my top books of all time. No exaggeration. I can go back to it again and again (and again), and the story is just as well-spun and intricately laid as I left it. The mid-20th-century southern town of Pinetta is filled with detailed characters who all carry purpose and punch throughout the novel. This is not a book I can like for one reason- I simply like everything about it.
I am often drawn to books with protagonists I can strongly relate to, and maybe I am like Berry in some ways...more
I am often drawn to books with protagonists I can strongly relate to, and maybe I am like Berry in some ways...more
Apr 18, 2010
Jennifer
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
readers not afraid of snakes
Recommended to Jennifer by:
Friends of the LF Library Booksale circa 2008
Shelves:
read-2010
A great title followed by a solid, if not totally riveting, coming of age story set in the hot swampiness of a small town in Florida sometime in the 1950's. Thanks to some book group materials in the back of the book, I now know that this novel tiptoes over the line into creative nonfiction now and again since many of the details of Berry Jackson's life in Pinetta, Florida, mirror those of the author. Kincaid captures the rhythms of a sleepy Southern town where gossip is the one thing that keeps...more
May 30, 2011
Jean
added it
As Hot as It Was You Ought to Thank Me was a very bad imitation of To Kill a Mockingbird. Both stories took place in the 50s, both took place in the south, and both focused on the life of young children. A hurricane replaced the trial and Berry Jackson replaced Scout. The author also wrote quite a bit involving the female anatomy, which often seemed pointless, or would disrupt the tone of the story. Mostly, those sections provided no character or plot development, and were not interesting events...more
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I technically would have liked to give this book 3.5 stars, but since that's not currently an option, I feel like it leans more heavily towards a four than just a three. I'm not entirely sure what it was about this book that kept me so entranced, but I definitly was. I suppose it may have been the truth in the story, the way you could actually believe that the events either have happend or very well could happen in a small town in the 50's. One thing that semi-bothered me, though, was how the na...more
This is the second time I've read this book and it's fantastic. Family in the 1950s in a very small town in northern Florida (so, still the south!) Told from the point of view of 13 year old Berry, who I just want to squeeze and love. Nanci Kincaid is one of my favorite authors--she gets small towns in the South and creates such an atmosphere in all her books.
Set in a very, very small town, this coming - of - age story is about Berry, who says the best and only past-time in their town is gosspi, because nothing else is going on. She tries to make sense of the secrets and lies swirling around her during one summer in this town.
Great book of a young girl growing up in a small town. Town is hit by a Hurricane, Dad who is the principal of the school disappears with a young girl from school and rumors fly. Great story of the living in a small town dealing with gossip, adultery and tragedy.
Honestly I bought the book because the main character & I shared the same name. I read it and enjoyed the book. I wouldn't go as far to compare it to To Kill A Mockingbird as I had read someone do in a review, it was a good read not a classic.
This book was strangely addictive. It had all the good elements found in other books from southern writers (To Kill a Mockingbird, Secret Life of Bees, etc), but the ending let me down -- too many unanswered questions.
I wavered between three and four stars on this one. The four stars are a result of the writing--the author's way with words. Three stars would have adequately portrayed my feelings about the plot and characters.
kincaid writes a pretty believable north florida mid-1950s tale. replete with rattlesnakes, baptists vs. methodists, hurricanes, shotgun shacks, disappearing daddies, chain gangs and summertime vernacular. this narrative weaves images, pulls heartstrings and paints a picture of a still present geography. told from the perspective of a juvenile girl, i was pretty absorbed from the first page. the strength of this story is in the women, but i became a little disparaged by their persecution, and ob...more
Ok. decently paced, but at times the author really expected that the reader should leave her sense of plausibility at the door. Also, several subplots seemed unnecessary. The narrator is engaging and likeable
I really enjoy a good coming of age book and this one delivered. Berry, the 13 year old girl, had a wonderful insight into the adult world of the novel. I loved the author's style of writing.
1 like · like · see review
Book club selection for Jan. This is my second reading and I still enjoyed the voice & commentary of Berry - a 13 year old girl who relates growing up in a small town in Fl.
Coming of age book - my favorite kind. Unsettling situations in Florida through the eyes of a thirteen year old. She had more sense than most of the adults.
Quick read ... maybe a little bit too quickly wrapped up at the end ... but you'll be intrigued enough to care what happens to the characters.
Another book told from the point of view of a child. It didn't work that well and I didn't enjoy all the dysfunctional people in this town.
The author has a wonderful voice. The language is descriptive, often surprising, and makes the smallish story compelling.
I'd reread this one. I like a story to take me right there, itchy and hot and sweaty with the storyteller. This one did.
I'm sure the errors in grammar were intentional, but occasionally I was annoyed by them. The story was good, though.
A fast read about a teenage girl growing up in the 50's in a small rural town in Florida. Berry Jackson tells the story of her family and neighbors and what happens one long hot summer in their small town. A coming of age story that includes the Florida swamps, the baptists versus the methodists, a hurricane, a chain gain, an indiscretion by the local minister and the disappearance of her father.
The author actually grew up in a similar town in Florida and took a lot of characters (for example, B...more
The author actually grew up in a similar town in Florida and took a lot of characters (for example, B...more
I truly enjoyed this story. Nanci Kincaid did an excellent job of describing Pinetta, Florida I felt as if I was there whenever I picked up the book. She weaves a wonderful story of life in a small southern town.
We see life through the eyes of 13 year old Berry Jackson living in a small town with all the personalities that inhabit a such a place. She is 13 years old and life is still simple and yet becoming complicated at that age. I could feel all the contradictions of being 13 AND of an adult...more
We see life through the eyes of 13 year old Berry Jackson living in a small town with all the personalities that inhabit a such a place. She is 13 years old and life is still simple and yet becoming complicated at that age. I could feel all the contradictions of being 13 AND of an adult...more
very interestng book about life in a small town. i grew up in a small town so can relate to Berry and the story
An intruiging and sharply written southern story with all of the heat and wit of the sweltering days of summer.
Enjoyed this read. Reminded me of Secret Life of Bees and To Kill a Mockingbird. Great characters
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