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The Moonflower Vine: A Novel
A timeless American classic rediscovered--an unforgettable saga of a heartland family
On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wi
...morePaperback, 336 pages
Published
March 24th 2009
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1962)
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Jeanette
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Much has been written about The Moonflower Vine because it's been around for many years. I recommend avoiding the commentaries until after you've read the book. It would have considerably diminished my enjoyment of the book if I'd read the summaries and assessments beforehand.
What is wrong with these people that they think it's okay to spoil the secrets? If I were you I wouldn't even read the Foreword by Jane Smiley. Better to go in without any preconceived ideas about what's c...more
What is wrong with these people that they think it's okay to spoil the secrets? If I were you I wouldn't even read the Foreword by Jane Smiley. Better to go in without any preconceived ideas about what's c...more
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The Moonflower Vine, by Jetta Carlson, originally published in 1962, is an old favorite my sister and I discovered years ago. I liked it so much, I bought my own hardcopy (the original being my sister's), as well as a beat up paperback to carry in my beach bag. It is the story of four sisters and their parents, and how life bends and shapes them through the years. I originally thought of my grandmother and my mother's aunts the first time I read the book, that this is what it must have been l...more
This is a beautifully written book. It is the portrait of the Soames family who live in rural Missouri. It follows their lives during the first half of the 20th century. The Soames family is composed of Matthew and Callie and their four daughters. There are 6 parts to the book and each part is given from the perspective of each family member. Almost like 6 intertwining short stories that span the family's lifetime.
It made me stop to think about how each member of my family views t...more
It made me stop to think about how each member of my family views t...more
I love the book. It is about a family living in rural Southwestern Missouri at the turn of the last century. Perhaps women would enjoy it the most, because a good part of it is about their daughters, but I thought it was great. Their daily life of running the farm, and the constant work of preparing foods, cleaning, keeping the old cars running, etc., reminds us of our easier life. There is always the background of the closeness and appreciation of the nature that surrounds them. Their speech, q...more
Good enough -- would have ranked it higher had it not been written as it was. The author writes of about the experience of a family and retells the story in several sections -- each separate section is told from the perspective of the various members of the family. As you read about the family each different perspective, something new is revealed about the story as it is retold over and over. Not my favorite literary technique -- I find it frustrating. Especially in this case because the mos...more
The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton is the story of a family living and growing in rural Missouri. Matthew and Callie have four daughters, each one distinct, following a path truly her own. Matthew is a schoolteacher, more than willing to escape into his work and books even if it means his family comes second. Callie is loving, hardworking and wants nothing but the best for her family. Jessica is the tomboy of the family. Leonie is the good girl, wanting nothing more than to please her parents...more
Recommended by www.chinaberry.com. Their review: I doubt that anyone will be able to read this book only once. I am still poring over it and reading passages aloud. One reviewer reads this timeless American classic every summer because it reminds her of all the things she loves most about family life and love. Famous editor Robert Gottlieb claimed that of all the hundreds of books he edited, this was the only one he read and re-read because of the ''truth and clarity and generosity of the writ...more
The Moonflower Vine, by Jetta Carleton, is called "A rediscovered classic" on the cover of the book. Jane Smiley wrote the forward to this edition of the book, in which she discusses the illusion of completeness that all novelists strive for, but only the best attain. I would agree with Smiley that Carleton achieves this illusion. It's difficult to imagine what if anything is left out of this novel.
The novel is set in southwest Missouri in the early part of the 20th centur...more
The novel is set in southwest Missouri in the early part of the 20th centur...more
I almost passed this one by because of the title, which brings to mind something sappy and "romantic" from, say, Nicholas Sparks.
Well.
This was a really good read, mostly narrative, about a MO family before WWII and up to modern times, splitting their time between city and country. Lots of contrasts and people calibrating various choices.
The writing is straightforward, definitely NOT flowery or sentimental. One of my favorite passages as Leonie co...more
Well.
This was a really good read, mostly narrative, about a MO family before WWII and up to modern times, splitting their time between city and country. Lots of contrasts and people calibrating various choices.
The writing is straightforward, definitely NOT flowery or sentimental. One of my favorite passages as Leonie co...more
Single novel published to critical acclaim in 1962. Being rediscovered thanks to Jane Smiley, who writes forward to this book. Compared to Harper Lee’s Mockingbird as both books wer published about the same time and both authors published a single, influential novel. Topics are different--Lee: racism, Carleton: passion/love.
Unhurried pace matches the 1950’s rural Missouri-setting in this character-centered novel.
Book opens on a summer day. Mattew & Callie Soames have been enjoying...more
Unhurried pace matches the 1950’s rural Missouri-setting in this character-centered novel.
Book opens on a summer day. Mattew & Callie Soames have been enjoying...more
Published in 1962, this is the only novel written by Jetta Carleton. Even though it spent 3 months on the New York Times Bestseller list, it has gone mostly unnoticed. Set in the early 1900's in rural Missouri, the story follows the lives of Matthew and Callie from their teenage years through their marriage and the raising of four headstrong daughters, and into their twilight years. The writing is beautiful and their is much to learn as this deeply religious family struggles with the unexpect...more
I can't add much to the former ratings which gave good synopsises of this book so I will just describe how I felt about it.
The Moonflower Vine made me glad that I recently joined book club! I don't know if I would have found this treasure otherwise. It also made me want to plant some moonflowers of my own just to see what would happen.
Obviously, I relished this book and would recommend it. Nostalgic and sweet, it is a realistic portrait of family life in a bygone era from...more
The Moonflower Vine made me glad that I recently joined book club! I don't know if I would have found this treasure otherwise. It also made me want to plant some moonflowers of my own just to see what would happen.
Obviously, I relished this book and would recommend it. Nostalgic and sweet, it is a realistic portrait of family life in a bygone era from...more
This is one of those old books that has not received the recognition it probably deserves. Jetta Carleton never published another book after this one first published in 1962. That was about the same time that The Hobbit came out, I believe. Perhaps the hoopla accompanying that novel and its sequels accounts for the little attention given to other books published at the same time. I enjoyed this book about as much as anything I've read in several months. It is set in the early 20th century and...more
I first read this novel in 1974 when I was 18, and I have read it every year since. Before it was rediscovered and reprinted, I bought every used copy I could find and gave them away, sometimes as many as six a year. Everyone who reads it is immediately drawn in, because it is a perfectly balanced, beautifully structured story about people you don't know, but wish you did. Each of the Soames family members is drawn so clearly, and with such a distinct voice, you can hear them talking.
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I almost stopped reading this book in the middle. The chapters, after the first one, are by character - each member of the family. I did not enjoy the character of the father nor the chapter written about him. Once I got past that, I couldn't put it down. Reading this book makes you feel like you are reading something much more dated than the 1960s. I could not relate to the Christian morality themes much, but still I ended up liking it quite a bit. The book ends where it begins. And at the end,...more
A light, quick yet very satisfying read that ventures into the individual and collective pysches of the members of the Soames family - a rural, hard-working, generally God-fearing clan in Missouri around the turn of the century. Ultimately, a story about love and moral dilemma, written through the various perspectives of each family member. The author's narrative style was delightful, and Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley writes in the Forward "It was complex and daring when it was first ...more
From the glowing reviews, I thought I would like this book more. It was okay; but it was so bogged down in the small-town/farm interactions and activities, and very light on any lessons learned or self-awareness on the characters' parts. That is, until the middle of the book, when the story of Mathy comes into play. After the tragedy that befalls Mathy (and the entire Soames family), we glimpse how the devastating loss changes the whole family and gets the characters to do some serious soul-sear...more
I loved the philosophical/religious themes on which much of the character development is based. After each character's narration, you knew them better and could decide for yourself which to be most sympathetic or likeable. I thought Callie was the least defined personality until you read her part. Then you realize she is strong and happy. Even though I found her own admission that she doesn't even know Mary Jo very sad for her (which is my own bias), it is part of her personality that she ch...more
What wonderful company The Moonflower Vine is! This novel, whose setting is rural Missouri in the early 20th Century, seems kind of old-fashioned at first, and yet, families today have many similar joys and challenges to those of the Soames family and their four daughters. Matthew, the father, is both a farmer and a teacher in a small country school. He and his wife Calllie watch as their girls grow up to make choices that do not always please them, just as today. This book is satisfying beca...more
This is a new edition, published for the first time in 24 years. We're in rural Mississippi in the early part of the 20th century, and it is about the Soames family. The pace is leisurely, the characters are expertly written...the kind you miss when the story is over. The family is like so many families who have things that happen that affect choices and lives of each person. The story unfolds from each character's point of view, the writing is so well done, giving us an accurate understanding o...more
A coworker mentioned off-the-cuff the other day about how it is her favorite book. Besides the general recommendation of a "good" book, I am constantly curious as to what attracts a certain person to a specific book. In other words, I wanted to see what I could learn about my coworker from reading The Moonflower Vine. Now that I am reading it I am no closer to understanding my coworker than I was before, but finding myself involved in the story. At first I was a little confused by t...more
Having frown up in southern Missouri, I could relate to several of the locations where this story took place. Although this book was originally published in the 1960's it has, in the past couple of years, seen a resurgence and has become a classic.
My book club read this and we all agreed that the book was well written and the characters were not only believable but likable. I especially liked that the sections of the book were written through the eyes of each of the main characters...more
My book club read this and we all agreed that the book was well written and the characters were not only believable but likable. I especially liked that the sections of the book were written through the eyes of each of the main characters...more
Callie and Matthew Soames are beautifully flawed, as are their four daughters, and that is what makes the reader relate to them so easily. It is a gentle story that I did not want to end. I found it so easy to relate to each of their struggles with morals and faith - with their desire to be good - and they usually were! - but they sometimes failed. As we all do. Yet they allowed themselves to be tortured by their failures - each in their own way - while never losing sight of the love that bou...more
This was an enjoyable read. Having grown up on a midwestern farm in the 1950's, this was a nostalgic read for me. The book revolves around the lives of Matthew and Callie Soames and their four daughters who split their time between their western Missouri farm in the summer and nearby small towns where Matthew teaches and they live during the school year. Most of the events in the story take place in the first half of the twentieth century, but the story opens in the early 1950's and reflects ...more
The first section of this book is deceptive in its simple, happily harmonious narrative of a family living in mid-century rural Missouri. There are suggestions of family struggle and conflict, but the tone centers on the family's values concerning God and hard work. It is only as you stride deeper into each character's narrative that the personal and private conflicts of self-worth, loyalty and guilt come to light, creating real, multi-dimensional characters that resonate even for a contemporary...more
I read this because it took place on my home turf, so I enjoyed the references to places I spent a lot of time in as a child. But mostly I loved the characters and the writing. It was also nice to be reminded that family life in the "good old days" was often just as complicated and screwed up as today. I know some people did not like how each section of the book was written through the perspective of a different family member, but I did. I think that's why I became so attached to t...more
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An old book that was out of print for a while. I was drawn to it because it was about Missouri, and I am so obsessed with anything Missouri (especially early 1900's) right now as I am researching about 5 generations of family history based in Missouri. I liked the book, and felt it helped me see MIssouri in that time period. It is about a family over a lifetime, going back and forth from past to present, and it was fun to try to figure out the personalities as you learned more about them. I ...more
A new edition, published for the first time in twenty-four years. The setting is rural Mississippi in the early part of the 20th century, and is about the Soames family. The pace is leisurely, the characters are expertly written...the kind you miss when the story is over. The family is like so many families who have secrets carefully hidden that affect choices and lives of each person. The story unfolds from each character's point of view, the writing is masterful, giving us an accurate understa...more
At the beginning of the book adult three sisters are back home on a farm in Missouri visiting their parents. We gradually get to know them, and the fourth sister. Remembered events in one chapter turn up in another, only with a different spin.
The action starts in the early 1950s and goes back mostly into the 1920s and 30s. It is a different way of life with no running water or electricity and a rather insular outlook on life.
Written just on the cusp of Women's Lib, The Moonflower...more
The action starts in the early 1950s and goes back mostly into the 1920s and 30s. It is a different way of life with no running water or electricity and a rather insular outlook on life.
Written just on the cusp of Women's Lib, The Moonflower...more
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Jetta Carleton (1913-1999) was born in Holden, Missouri, and earned a master's degree at the University of Missouri. She worked as a schoolteacher, a radio copywriter in Kansas City, and a television advertising copywriter in New York City, and she ran a small publishing house with her husband in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Moonflower Vine is her only published novel.
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“Suddenly it seemed to me that I looked back from a great distance on that smile and saw it all again - the smile and the day, the whole sunny, sad, funny, wonderful day and all the days that we had spent here together. What was I going to do when such days came no more? There could not be many; for we were a family growing old. And how would I learn to live without these people? I who needed them so little that I could stay away all year - what should I do without them?”
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“But very early they understood that playing was somewhat suspect, allowed through indulgence, a trivial pastime soon outgrown, and only about twice removed from sin. Pleasure was only once-removed.”
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