Initial Impressions: Weeds, by Edith Summers Kelley - September 2022

[Tom, "Big Daddy"]

Comments on this board should be written with the assumption that not all readers have finished the book. Please take care not to reveal information that might lessen other readers’ enjoyment.

[Cathrine ☯️]

I have this on my Kindle. But it too is in line. Hope I can get to it before September closes out.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I'll start this one next week. I got the Kindle version at the sale price.

[Lori]

Same here, on the kindle but my hubby and I are going on vacation in September to Asheville/Black Mountain. I'm so excited but still planning to take my reading along!!

[Laura, "The Tall Woman"]

Ooh, lori love that area. Apple season!!!

[Terry]

I have this, but not sure when I will get to it.

[Connie]

I have the book, but have several others I have to read first.

[Cheryl Carroll]

Is it okay to ask which book most folks will be getting to first this month? I don't want to miss the discussion like I did for August! #fomo (because it's a real thing) :-)

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I've already read Horse, so I can join that discussion right away. It will be a week or so before I get to this one.

[Sue]

I got this on Kindle just now for $1.99. If I get to it in September, it will be likely in the last week.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I went ahead and started reading this, but I'll wait to post any discussion til others get here. I will say I'm liking it though. Back in Kentucky!

[Ron]

I started it also, getting close to halfway. Quite interesting to be back in Kentucky on the tobacco farms, and it's interesting to see the differences in how Edith Summers Kelley and Elizabeth Madox Roberts handle this subject matter. To me Kelley is doing a better job of moving the narrative along without trying to sound like a writer. She doesn't break into any new or experimental territory with her prose; at times her writing seems old-fashioned, sentimental even, but it gets the job done of making vivid pictures of rural Kentucky farm life and developing the characters. Judith is a gem! I suspect a naturalistic turn before the end, but as a young woman she has a zest for life that is refreshing. I look forward to discussing this work further.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I agree Ron, I'm liking this more straightforward prose, and the natural world is portrayed so realistically. You are right, Judith is a gem, and smarter than a lot of the people around her. I'm not quite as far along, she just got married. I love the way Kelley lovingly describes the characters, even the old and worn out and the young and stupid. She makes allowances for their way of life even as they are criticized. The dialect is not hard to read either, it seems to flow naturally.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

I just finished this one and will only say that I hope some of y'all can get to this one. It is well worth your time.

[Ron]

I'm still reading and enjoying Weeds. I also hope others will join in. Lots to discuss here!

[Cheryl Carroll]

I'm about 2/3 done with ATKM, and have just started HORSE. I will be getting to WEEDS next! Can't wait!

[Cathrine ☯️]

It probably happened on vacation, but I somehow got it into my mind that this was happening next month. Oh well, I'll get to it eventually.

[Lori]

I’m still trying to fit it in this month. I really hope to.

[Ron]

Catherine and Lori, I'd like to encourage y'all to read Weeds when you can. It's an interesting blend of styles, beginning in a sentimental almost romantic vein but turning steadily more naturalistic and dark as the story unfolds. The characters are memorable and well drawn. The novel could be examined as an early feminist effort, with the impetus of this theme being skillfully moderated and balanced. I plan to write a more detailed review (without spoilers) that I hope will be helpful. Side note: Edith Summers Kelley's life is interesting! Knowing a bit about it sheds light on both her motivation and methods.

[Cheryl Carroll]

Ron wrote: "The novel could be examined as an early feminist effort, with the impetus of this theme being skillfully moderated and balanced. ."

That's exactly how I feel about Madox-Roberts and THE TIME OF MAN. Ellen Chesser writing her name in the air with her finger, or standing alone in an empty field and declaring her existence to the world by shouting her name. I am definitely going to get to WEEDS, especially since it has similar tones of feminine awakening to gender equality.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Cheryl, the two books are similar in theme and setting, but with very different writing styles. I liked Weeds better, but it was nice to read these back to back to contrast the different personalities of the women.

[Lori]

Ok, I have begin this and only a chapter in. Can I say how excited I am to have a Scott County, Georgetown, KY setting? I spent 4 years at Georgetown College before getting married and swept away to Texas. Fond memories!

I’m loving this so far and curious to get to know Judith. The prose is most definitely different from The Time of Man, however, I believe it is going to do just fine in telling this story. I’ve enjoyed the visiting to kinfolk and the fact that you just showed up, hung around, ate a lot and went back home. I’ve been to some visits just like those many times. And there was and is still sliced tomatoes and cucumbers on the table and not as condiments. I miss fresh, juicy garden tomatoes so much.

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Those Sunday drop in visits were a southern thing everywhere Lori. I so remember my grandmother's house where food was set out on the table all day long, yes deviled eggs and potato salad too, no one worried about mayo spoiling in the heat. The adults sat inside and gossiped while us kids played outside.

[Ron]

Lori, I believe you'll enjoy Weeds. Kelley's prose is more straight-forward than Roberts' in The Time of Man. Many authors of that period were caught up in the Modernist movement, which generally favored experimental techniques. Kelley doesn't experiment; she just writes well. Perhaps a little wordy and redundant by modern standards that favor a more minimalist approach, she nevertheless manages to produce vivid imagery while capturing the essence of the characters, their traditions, and their workaday lives. And Judith is a wonderful character: fully human, complex, and flawed but with many redeeming and noble qualities. To say she goes through many changes is an understatement!

[Cathrine ☯️]

Diane wrote: " food was set out on the table all day long, yes deviled eggs and potato salad too, no one worried about mayo spoiling in the heat..."

Yes, and I wondered why that is so. I looked it up. Turns out there is no need to worry unless your mayo is homemade with raw eggs.

https://www.epicurious.com/ingredient...

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

Valuable information Cathrine. I guess that's why we never got sick.

[Cheryl Carroll]

Judith reminds me very much of Ellen Chesser. I'm reading Pride and Prejudice with two other book clubs, and am noting that these early women writers chose confident, assertive personalities as their main characters.

"With a blank, painful, discouraged ache in her heart, Judith wondered vaguely why the whole world should be so rough and cruel and hazardous a place for kittens and minnows and all small, unbefriended things."

[Diane, "Miss Scarlett"]

It is a coincidence that we read two such similar books back to back. The women in each of these handle things much differently.