Moving, visceral writing... but the endings were flat. The stories would build up some steam and then usually derail right at the end. Other than that detail, I enjoyed the read!

Short stories collections can be very hit or miss. Too often a bad story can bring the whole book down. Unfortunately, that's what happened with this book.

An uneven book of short stories originally published in the 1950s. It deals with the South and all the politics and portrayals that you'd expect with a mix of magical realism. The stories range from ~1920's to present (which was 1950's for the publication of this book).

Different stories have different writing styles, for instance White Girl Fine Girl reminded me of Faulkner's Sound and the Fury in terms of not quite getting it on the first read through. There's a lot of hidden messages in the stories, metaphors and references, that I'm sure I've missed a lot. And perhaps my inability to enjoy some stories were due to the fact that there were some thing that just flew over my head.

I do think what would have helped would have been perhaps something written about each story to give it context. While it wouldn't have been necessary when the book was initially published, the republication at this point needs it. However, how the author chose to deal with classism, racism, sexism in the American South was unique even by today's standards and I do appreciate that.

I believe that I anticipated this to be something other than what it was, so I was quickly disappointed and stopped reading.

I've said this many, many times. Short stories are my bread and butter. Shirley Ann Grau has created a world full of swamps and magic. Following the vein of Flannery O'Conner, these stories open the reader into world that isn't so unfamiliar to those not from the South.

Gender, race and and economic status are all key points in these stories. My favorite of the bunch includes "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" and "One Summer". This won't be my last time reading this collection, I can't wait to revisit these characters again.

Like most short story collections, I loved some stories and I hated some stories so it's hard to accurately rate the collection as a whole. The overall rating must then come from what was consistent in each story.

The stories all focus on the American South and various people and families living there. You can feel the underlying class and race divides but they are rarely a major feature which I found interesting. The writing is to the point but does a fine job of building the atmosphere for the reader. At times I felt like I could hear, see, and smell the setting around me. I only wish that more attention had been paid to maintaining this feeling throughout each story as I felt descriptions of place were mostly concentrated in the first few paragraphs.

Some of the stories towards the middle I found to be too short and fairly uneventful. I didn't see the purpose to them except to bulk up the collection by a few pages which would have been better done by adding more descriptions to the stronger stories. I don't think this collection is particularly illuminating of its subject matter but it is a nice read with a feeling of nostalgia that fell just a bit short of my expectations.

This was a most unusual read for me because I almost never read short stories. However when I saw the authors name I knew I had to have it. I have read other books by Shirley Ann Grau and she never disappoints This group of stories are all set in the south in a time when race relations were not good. The stories deal with this subject as well as poverty, abuse, and the many social problems of the time. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who likes to read about the south and also about this particular time frame in our history.