The Education of Chauncey Doolittle

by James Everett Kibler

"This fine novel should have an honored place on the same shelf as the novels of Andrew Lytle and Wendell Berry." --Ron Rash, award-winning poet, short story writer, and author of Saints at the River "THE EDUCATION OF CHAUNCEY DOOLITTLE is the perfect companion for the December fireside and the July streamside, a book to be sipped and never gulped" --Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever "Kibler has provided readers with another refreshing stroll down a breezy country lane." --James Cantrell, author of How Celtic Culture Invented Southern Literature An eloquent advocate for the redemptive values of the agrarian society, James Kibler is a masterful storyteller with an uncanny talent for making his characters come alive through dialogue. Whether they are farmers, fishermen, or shopkeepers, Kibler's characters mind the land as well as their ancestors. In this expressive novel, Kibler presents the daily life of Chauncey Doolittle and his companions, small-town fellows who gather at a country store to wrestle with the powerful forces of modernity, the pull of the past, and their deep affection for one another and the land they call home. Spanning a cycle of four seasons, this third book in the Clay Bank County Series brings protagonist Chauncey Doolittle into his own as a poet and student of Latin, language, and the wonderfully rich humanity around him. Told with gentle humor and warmth, this perceptive novel is as much a study of the landscape itself as it is a tribute to those men and women who live in solidarity with the land. A collection of Chauncey's poems follows at the end of the work, providing a softly cadenced close to a bittersweet story of endurance, remembrance, and transition.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2009

About the author

James Everett Kibler is a novelist, poet, and professor of English at the University of Georgia, where he teaches popular courses in Southern literature, examining such figures as William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Wendell Berry, and Larry Brown. Born and raised in upcountry South Carolina, Kibler spends much of his spare time tending to the renovation of an 1804 plantation home and the reforestation of the surrounding acreage. This home served as the subject of his first book, Our Fathers' Fields: A Southern Story, for which he was awarded the prestigious Fellowship of Southern Writers Award for Nonfiction in 1999 and the Southern Heritage Society's Award for Literary Achievement.

Kibler received his doctorate from the University of South Carolina, and his poetry has been honored by the Poetry Society of South Carolina and has appeared in publications throughout the country. In October 2004, the League of the South bestowed on him the Jefferson Davis Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kibler enjoys gardening, organic farming, and research into Southern history and culture. An avid preservationist, he prescribes to Allen Tate's comment that "the task of the civilized intelligence is perpetual salvage." He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Southern Garden History Society, the League of the South, and the William Gilmore Simms Society. He is listed in Contemporary Writers', "Who's Who in America," and "Who's Who in the World." He divides his time between Whitmire, South Carolina, and Athens, Georgia.

Reviews

[Craig Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not a rip roaring tale of intrigue and suspense, there are no cliff hangers waiting at the end of the chapters that leave you foaming at the mouth in anticipation. However, this book will grip you and invite you to the next chapters. Which, by the way, you will gladly go without pause.

The Education of Chauncey Doolittle is a wonderful nostalgic read that blends the world of today and the world of the past together. You are invited into the inner circle of Chauncey and his friends as they debate, explore and help each other to survive in an ever changing world. This is a book as I said before not to be blown through in a hurried read, but on to actually sit back and enjoy at a pace that the book takes you.

The story centers around a way of life threatened by urban sprawl. A way of life like most of us folks who do not want to see their routine changed and forced away. It is a story of knowing your neighbor and yourself. A story of the important things in life, and no, it is not the tangibles, but it is about friends, family, fun and helping one another.

I for one have always liked those fast paced novels and usually loath the slow, but not this one. I enjoyed the pace of the book; it made me feel a part of the story. This is the third novel in the Clay Bank County Series and the first one that I have read or reviewed and this one after reading compels me in wanting to read the others.

James Everett Kibler has done a wonderful job in bringing the characters of this community to life and knits together not only the personalities but also the new and old world views of life in the fast lane or the slow lane.

A great book worthy of the read.

Craig Anderson
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