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esshgee's review against another edition
4.0
Wonderfully evocative, beautifully written short stories
retiredlibrarylady's review against another edition
2.0
3 seemingly unrelated stories related to Tidewater Virginia. The first (Love Day)is about a Marine contingent training for an assault in the Pacific in WWII. The second, Shadrach, is about an old Negro man who returns to the area where he was enslaved, wanting to be buried on Dabney land. The third, Tidewater Morning, is about a 13 year old boy in Newport News in the late 30s.
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
“I came to absorb the history of the Virginia Tidewater—that primordial American demesne where the land was sucked dry by tobacco, laid waste and destroyed a whole century before golden California became an idea, much less a hope or a westward dream—I realized that the Dabney farm must have been as nondescript and as pathetic a relic as any of the scores of shrunken, abandoned “plantations” scattered for a hundred miles across the tidelands between the Potomac and the James.”
My husband and I share a “river” house with friends. I love the fact that we get along well enough to own property with this other couple. After years of being friends, we are family.
I also like that we share the love of reading. My friend regularly finds books appropriate to our house’s setting and then I get to enjoy them. I have learned about Smith Island and now Tidewater Virginia thanks to her eagle eye.
William Styron was an incredible author. He had a way of turning a phrase, using words so I can see exactly what he was describing. In the second tale in this book, he used the words above. He was describing a home in King and Queen County, a place I am somewhat familiar with. I could see the place he describes. I know it.
That is what I love about Styron. His words show me worlds and help me to understand the people who live in them. If you have not read Styron, I highly recommend these three long short stories. They won’t take up much of your time, but you will be thinking about the people in them long after you close the book.
My husband and I share a “river” house with friends. I love the fact that we get along well enough to own property with this other couple. After years of being friends, we are family.
I also like that we share the love of reading. My friend regularly finds books appropriate to our house’s setting and then I get to enjoy them. I have learned about Smith Island and now Tidewater Virginia thanks to her eagle eye.
William Styron was an incredible author. He had a way of turning a phrase, using words so I can see exactly what he was describing. In the second tale in this book, he used the words above. He was describing a home in King and Queen County, a place I am somewhat familiar with. I could see the place he describes. I know it.
That is what I love about Styron. His words show me worlds and help me to understand the people who live in them. If you have not read Styron, I highly recommend these three long short stories. They won’t take up much of your time, but you will be thinking about the people in them long after you close the book.
likecymbeline's review against another edition
1.0
His prose is good but I just don't trust this man to talk about race, good god. I read this because I went on a deep Southern Gothic kick. I read a whole bunch of short stories from various authors, which aren't as easy to register here on Goodreads, so this book has to stand in for all of them, and this review serve as record for all the Eudora Welty, Flannery O'Connor, and their ilk. I can say that his book captured an aspect of Virginia well, but that wasn't enough to make me like it.
thehoodie's review against another edition
I think I finished this book because I can't find it anywhere but I don't remember anything about it
exurbanis's review against another edition
5.0
(Fiction, Literary, Classic)
William Styron is one of those mid-twentieth century authors of literary fiction whom I’ve always meant to read. Tidewater Morning is a novella that I happened to have on Kindle which I had taken with on vacation.
Amazon says: “In this brilliant collection of ‘long short stories’, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sophie’s Choice returns to the coastal Virginia setting of his first novels. Through the eyes of a man recollecting three episodes from his youth, William Styron explores with new eloquence death, loss, war, and racism.”
Styron’s prose is magical: calming, glowing. I loved this book!
4½ stars
William Styron is one of those mid-twentieth century authors of literary fiction whom I’ve always meant to read. Tidewater Morning is a novella that I happened to have on Kindle which I had taken with on vacation.
Amazon says: “In this brilliant collection of ‘long short stories’, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Sophie’s Choice returns to the coastal Virginia setting of his first novels. Through the eyes of a man recollecting three episodes from his youth, William Styron explores with new eloquence death, loss, war, and racism.”
Styron’s prose is magical: calming, glowing. I loved this book!
4½ stars
chriswolak's review
5.0
I stumbled on this book at a local used bookstore. The title is what caught my eye--I love the Tidewater region. The three stories in this book contain some brilliant descriptions and imagery. I'm still pondering these stories and may read them again before offering a longer review.
pattydsf's review
4.0
“I came to absorb the history of the Virginia Tidewater—that primordial American demesne where the land was sucked dry by tobacco, laid waste and destroyed a whole century before golden California became an idea, much less a hope or a westward dream—I realized that the Dabney farm must have been as nondescript and as pathetic a relic as any of the scores of shrunken, abandoned “plantations” scattered for a hundred miles across the tidelands between the Potomac and the James.”
My husband and I share a “river” house with friends. I love the fact that we get along well enough to own property with this other couple. After years of being friends, we are family.
I also like that we share the love of reading. My friend regularly finds books appropriate to our house’s setting and then I get to enjoy them. I have learned about Smith Island and now Tidewater Virginia thanks to her eagle eye.
William Styron was an incredible author. He had a way of turning a phrase, using words so I can see exactly what he was describing. In the second tale in this book, he used the words above. He was describing a home in King and Queen County, a place I am somewhat familiar with. I could see the place he describes. I know it.
That is what I love about Styron. His words show me worlds and help me to understand the people who live in them. If you have not read Styron, I highly recommend these three long short stories. They won’t take up much of your time, but you will be thinking about the people in them long after you close the book.
My husband and I share a “river” house with friends. I love the fact that we get along well enough to own property with this other couple. After years of being friends, we are family.
I also like that we share the love of reading. My friend regularly finds books appropriate to our house’s setting and then I get to enjoy them. I have learned about Smith Island and now Tidewater Virginia thanks to her eagle eye.
William Styron was an incredible author. He had a way of turning a phrase, using words so I can see exactly what he was describing. In the second tale in this book, he used the words above. He was describing a home in King and Queen County, a place I am somewhat familiar with. I could see the place he describes. I know it.
That is what I love about Styron. His words show me worlds and help me to understand the people who live in them. If you have not read Styron, I highly recommend these three long short stories. They won’t take up much of your time, but you will be thinking about the people in them long after you close the book.
jamiereadthis's review
1.0
One man’s “rich and remarkable” (as per the cover blurb) is unfortunately this lady’s “bland and insufferable.” It was short, though, so I persevered when it took all of two hours. Thinking the whole way, who talks like this, who thinks like this, who reminisces like this? It was the Charles Winchester III of books. I prefer the irreverent, the down-to-earth.