Appalachian Mountain Girl

by Rhoda Bailey Warren

Appalachian Mountain Girl is a sensitive and beautifully written autobiographical account of a childhood in the coalmine district of Depression-era Kentucky. With humor and warmth—but without sentimentality—Rhoda Warren recounts the lives of these mining people whose religion and family values buttressed and sustained them. As a young girl, Rhoda began to catch glimpses of the world outside her narrow mountain community through the stories in True Confessions magazine and the pictures in the Montgomery Ward catalog—which to her seemed like “visions of a fairy world.”  When Rhoda married and moved to a small town in New York State, it seemed that her dreams of a better life had been realized. Yet scenes of Letcher always “hovered in the back roads of her memory.” When she revisited her homeland, this time as a New Yorker, Rhoda found that Letcher was no longer the place of her memories.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, History, Family, Biography, Coming Of Age

174 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1998

Reviews

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rhoda Bailey Warren's sweet and lovely memoir of her life growing up in the mining communities of Corbin Glow and Letcher in ghe eastern mountains of Kentucky, is a delight! Warren does an excellent job describing the joys and trials of day to day life in this remote rugged terrain as well as the unique characters which were part of her life. On the downside, like many other memoirs, her story is a bit one dimensional and leaves the reader with the desire to know the rest of the story. What about her parents' financial struggles? What about the misery of black lung, mining accidents and union strikes? It is hard to know if Warren is writing from the memory of a naive young child or if she has severely edited the story. Either way this book is a sweet, gentle, easy reading story in which the reader will find much to delight.

[Taylor Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Considering this book is a memoir retelling stories from the Great Depression in the coal-mining industry, I was expecting to read more about the downfall of coal and how it affected the Appalachian people. Despite my expectations, I thoroughly enjoyed this read and felt transported back in time! I have a special love for the Appalachian culture, so reading this while visiting was a fulfilling experience! I especially enjoyed her writing style and learning about different characters each chapter.

[Mia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this little book - the only thing that would make it better would be photos! And more pages!
Because my family history is set in those mountains much of her story was recognizable to me. The cadence of speech, the food, the scenery.
Rhoda Bailey Warren did a wonderful job of bringing us into her family home & history.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in the 1930's Rhoda Bailey Warren shares her stories about her Father working at the Corbin Glow Mines and then moving the family to Letcher, Kentucky to find a better life. Rhoda dreams of a better easier life after reading Magazines like True Confessions and looking at Montgomery Ward Catalogs. She finds that life after her family moves to small town in New York. This is were she finds her husband. I did not want this book to end. The stories are rich with family values, friendship and perseverance. Rhoda paints a beautiful but real picture of her life and some of the people she and her family interacts with. A quick easy read.

[Miki · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much of this book was familiar from stories from my mother. About a young girl and her coal-mining family in eastern Kentucky during the 1930's, it made me realize I am only one generation - yet an entire universe - away from that time and place.

[Mike Little · Rating 4 out of 5]

For whatever reasons, I have this fascination with Appalachia. My dad's brother was a hillbilly (to him, not a put-down) but lived west of the mountains in eastern Kentucky. He had friends who lived and worked in the mountains and we would go with him to drive through that beautiful country. I liked the people and despite the poverty, there was a lot of love and pride.

Rhoda Baily Warren grew up in a tiny coal town up a holler in the mountains. Life was never easy but it was loving and true friends surrounded her. Her book, a memoir, gave me more pieces of the puzzle to fit together. There are a dozen or more wonderful tales of her life and her family's life in that tiny slot of geography and culture.

The book ends with her revisiting her home holler after living away from it for a long while. (She married a man from New York State.) During her absence, the practice of stripping the tops off of mountains and thereby destroying the land had been going on for years. She was appalled. I'm sure that I would be too. I've not been back to see that nightmare. And kudzu, that "beneficial" vine that humans introduced had choked off the hills and mountains creating a no-man's land. A sad ending.

[EmmaRuth Potter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back on my Appalachian literature kick because I miss my mountains.

This little memoir was a quick, sweet read to fill that itch. Set in the 1930s in eastern Kentucky, Rhonda Warren paints the picture of what it looked like to grow up under the shadow of mining companies in the most beautiful hollers through a series of, what I’d consider, vignettes.

So much of this felt like I was reliving sitting with my grandparents and listening to them reminisce yet still overlapped with my experience as a young Appalachian girl myself growing up. Something about those mountains goes generations together in a way I don’t think happens in other geographic areas.

Bonus note, Warren did a great job at subtly portraying how the Appalachian accent shaped and continues to shape local language within the region. I got a good giggle a few times thinking about my grandparents and knowing they would’ve said these things the exact same way and seeing my own accent/words pop up.

There wasn’t much flow throughout the memoir but overall I enjoyed it. Made me feel like I took a trip back home.

[Andrea Noren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this to be a sweet memoir. The writing style leaves a bit to be desired, as it almost seems as though the chapters were written as vignettes, designed to stand alone. There was an overall lack of cohesiveness in much of the book. The inclusion of so much about her life in New York followed by the two returns to Kentucky must have made sense to the author, but added nothing to the story. A two paragraph addition to the epilogue could have summarized the move to NY state and her time there without lessening the impact of the rest of the story, which I believe is what happened.

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful depiction of growing up in Appalachia, written with wisdom and humor by a 73 year old woman retracing her roots. Each chapter depicts an event or person in her life that lended meaning and understanding to who she became. It is wonderfully written. And for those of us familiar with the area in and around coal mining country, it is just like being back there only at a time when so much sorrow was interlaced with such pristine beauty.

[RK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding Portrait of Growing Up Poor in Appalachia

The author paints a remarkable view of her family and the close knit community she knew. She devotes a chapter to each of the most memorable people in her town. She remembers a community that took care of each other and helped each other during hard times. The pacing is consistent and interesting throughout. This is how many people used to live.

[Jenny Dohner · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, because I've been spending time in the area lately. It's a 'relaxed' read that meanders through the authors life. I appreciate It's nod towards the difficulty an̈d beauty of that life.

[Kimberly Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read

I enjoyed the story of her Kentucky raising. She talks about several places my family grew up in. I’m looking forward to reading other books from this author.

[Paula Yerke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed the window into another culture. I did not find the writing compelling, however.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and very readable, just wish there was more. I was curious and interested in their stories.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating, well-written story that made growing up in the mountains seem not terribly difficult or impoverished.
Some heavy cussing in a heated exchange by father with mother.

[Dianne Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet little book that details life in a time gone by.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was entertained, but Rhoda’s story lost its momentum towards the end. A pleasant read!

[D.]

In the Biography section of my small local library, this gem called to me. I read most of it today- and I went looking for information about Ms Warren as soon as I closed the book, because this book makes you want to know the author.
Rhoda is the oldest of large family- born to parents who were trying to carve a living out of coal mining country in eastern Kentucky. Her mother could barely read; her father had been a sergeant in WW I. When she went to the "Mine Company School", she found her seatmate rough and the environment unwelcoming- so her mother said she could stay home!
Both parents also found life in the tiny company town confining and grueling. So, for $200, Rhoda's father purchases his own property, in the nearby town of Letcher. Their world improves at once, and Rhoda is enrolled at a much better school. The rest of the book tells of the families and truly unique Appalachian characters Rhoda remembers from the years in Letcher. (Eventually the mine closes, and her family relocates to upstate NY. I will leave you, gentle reader, to follow that tale to its end....).
With chapters titled "Miss Rainey", "Kin", "That Man" and "Cindy", Rhoda introduces us to memorable, true hearted people- the true neighbors that will always people her memories of her growing up years. This true book is a wonder, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

[Colby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in college on my own accord. Many of my ancestors was from the foothills of Appalachia or the interior of West Virginia. While I lack any of their first hand tales of life in the mountians, this book helped me imagine what some of those stories could have been. My ancestors were farmers, businesspeople, traders, but not miners, so this book gave me an ever growing appreciation for both the culture of that job and the hardships those miners and their families endured.
The vivid scenes of the young girl walking around Appalachia came to life for me. I imagined myself with her as she walked the train tracks just as I had in my grandfather’s town in Pennsylvania. Or the patch of farm her father had on the hillside helped me recall times I sat on a hillside in the Pisgah National Forest on hikes with friends.
This book is a great slice of life for anyone looking to see what life in these often belittled or forgotten nooks of the American east coast is like.

[Dr Penner · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating account of a woman’s life in poverty-stricken rural Appalachia in the 1930’s. The community and time in which it existed are written with such particular detail that there is never any doubt of this story’s importance.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like listening to a yarn from an older family member. a sweet, sweet book about an earlier less technology driven place in time. easy read, would be good for a long car or plane ride. makes me want to visit the town and the folks in it. as with anything else, you cannot turn back time.