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book_concierge's review against another edition
3.0
3.5***
Philip Carver has escaped his controlling father and now lives in New York with his much younger Jewish girlfriend. But when he gets a surprise phone call from his older sister, followed only minutes later by a call from his second sister, and then from an old family friend, he knows he has been summoned to Memphis to help deal with the “disaster.” A mere two years after his mother’s death, his 80-something father has plans to remarry and his adult children have no intention of letting him do so.
George Carver has always been the head of his family, and while he was gentlemanly and generous with his children he also thwarted any potential romantic relationship they might have. It began when he moves his family to Memphis from Nashville after he has been financially ruined and socially humiliated by a long-term friend and colleague. He ensures that his sons and daughters also break off all ties with Nashville. In Memphis, the family seems to find the new start they needed. They are members of the best country club, the girls join the Junior League, they live in a lovely home – they are just like any other wealthy and well-born Memphis family.
The children love and respect their father, but they rebel in quiet ways to distance themselves and find independence. Now, some thirty years after their move, the middle-aged sisters will get their revenge by controlling their widower father, and prohibiting any kind of romance in his life as he once ended their own hopes of romance.
Taylor gives us a work that explores the complex relationships within one family – the wrongs done to one another, resentment built over decades, petty reprisals, and subtle revenge. I usually enjoy character-based novels. I loved Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Paul Harding’s Tinkers, and this work reminds me of those. But this is a very slow read, and I’m struggling with what to write because I’m not really sure how to react to these characters. The last twenty or so pages are poignant and lovely, and I finally felt some connection to Philip and his father and sisters.
Philip Carver has escaped his controlling father and now lives in New York with his much younger Jewish girlfriend. But when he gets a surprise phone call from his older sister, followed only minutes later by a call from his second sister, and then from an old family friend, he knows he has been summoned to Memphis to help deal with the “disaster.” A mere two years after his mother’s death, his 80-something father has plans to remarry and his adult children have no intention of letting him do so.
George Carver has always been the head of his family, and while he was gentlemanly and generous with his children he also thwarted any potential romantic relationship they might have. It began when he moves his family to Memphis from Nashville after he has been financially ruined and socially humiliated by a long-term friend and colleague. He ensures that his sons and daughters also break off all ties with Nashville. In Memphis, the family seems to find the new start they needed. They are members of the best country club, the girls join the Junior League, they live in a lovely home – they are just like any other wealthy and well-born Memphis family.
The children love and respect their father, but they rebel in quiet ways to distance themselves and find independence. Now, some thirty years after their move, the middle-aged sisters will get their revenge by controlling their widower father, and prohibiting any kind of romance in his life as he once ended their own hopes of romance.
Taylor gives us a work that explores the complex relationships within one family – the wrongs done to one another, resentment built over decades, petty reprisals, and subtle revenge. I usually enjoy character-based novels. I loved Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and Paul Harding’s Tinkers, and this work reminds me of those. But this is a very slow read, and I’m struggling with what to write because I’m not really sure how to react to these characters. The last twenty or so pages are poignant and lovely, and I finally felt some connection to Philip and his father and sisters.
mmilligan94's review against another edition
slow-paced
0.5
I paid $1 for this at a thrift store. I want my time and money back for this boring book.
lirewoodis's review against another edition
4.0
Reading this novel, I felt the pull of a complicated family whose lack of intimacy bred disdain, even malice, as a driving force. There are many entry points to this story, and the evocation of the Old South and its artifice is the canvas which must be acknowledged before appreciating the story itself.
carlylottsofbookz's review against another edition
3.0
There's not a great deal that happens on the book, but you definitely get subtext from it about the changing American culture.
Interesting enough to read...but not quite what I would consider Pulitzer material?
Interesting enough to read...but not quite what I would consider Pulitzer material?
jmarkwindy's review against another edition
1.0
I had high hopes for this, but the prose was needlessly repetitive and the one-dimensional story was dry to a frustrating degree. There's really nothing to savor or admire here, which is a genuine head-scratcher to me considering the book garnered so much critical acclaim at publication in the '80s. I guess critics really loved this staid, antiquated tale about a rich white family from the South.
drewmoody321's review against another edition
2.0
Read my full review here: http://thepulitzerblog.wordpress.com/2011/01/02/entry-26-a-summons-to-memphis-by-peter-taylor-1987/
gayswhoread's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kochella's review against another edition
3.0
This book has been recommended to me for years and I am glad I finally read it. I wish I had the option to give it 2.5 stars -- it was really just between "ok" and "liked it" for me.
What I really appreciated about this little novel was the author's incredibly accurate social descriptions of Nashville from the perspectives of both an insider and an outsider. The protagonist lived in Nashville until he was 13, then moved to Memphis, and lives in Manhattan as an adult. Similarly, I moved to Nashville from San Francisco at age 13, then after high school I lived on the East Coast through my 20's. While I lived in Nashville for several years and made some very good friends there, I always felt a bit like an outsider. To this day, I remember being horrified my freshman year of high school when I received in the mail an Invitation to serve a spaghetti supper to the boys attending the all-boys school down the street from my all-girls school. It was clear to me at the time that this was an invitation that had been sent to all of my classmates and this was a co-ed social event, but the fact that I was being "invited" to "serve the boys supper"?!?!?!! I felt distinctly that I had not only moved from San Francisco to Nashville, but that I had moved back in time at least 30 years. This feeling never really left me in the years I lived there and was largely what drove me to seek out a New England liberal arts school for college.
This book captures beautifully the social mores, traditions and expectations of Nashville with dignity and a dash of skepticism. It's accurate and incredibly well done.
What I did not like about this book was that it became very repetitive for me (other reviewers here have mentioned this). It did indeed seem that the book would have worked better as a short story or novella.
What I really appreciated about this little novel was the author's incredibly accurate social descriptions of Nashville from the perspectives of both an insider and an outsider. The protagonist lived in Nashville until he was 13, then moved to Memphis, and lives in Manhattan as an adult. Similarly, I moved to Nashville from San Francisco at age 13, then after high school I lived on the East Coast through my 20's. While I lived in Nashville for several years and made some very good friends there, I always felt a bit like an outsider. To this day, I remember being horrified my freshman year of high school when I received in the mail an Invitation to serve a spaghetti supper to the boys attending the all-boys school down the street from my all-girls school. It was clear to me at the time that this was an invitation that had been sent to all of my classmates and this was a co-ed social event, but the fact that I was being "invited" to "serve the boys supper"?!?!?!! I felt distinctly that I had not only moved from San Francisco to Nashville, but that I had moved back in time at least 30 years. This feeling never really left me in the years I lived there and was largely what drove me to seek out a New England liberal arts school for college.
This book captures beautifully the social mores, traditions and expectations of Nashville with dignity and a dash of skepticism. It's accurate and incredibly well done.
What I did not like about this book was that it became very repetitive for me (other reviewers here have mentioned this). It did indeed seem that the book would have worked better as a short story or novella.
julibug86's review against another edition
3.0
Came upon this book since I needed to read something published the year I was born for one of my book challenges. Feel like I'm missing something with this one since I realize it won numerous awards, including the Pulitzer. Found it to be very slow moving and repetitive. The characters themselves are all narcissists with maybe the exception of Alex, who we really don't see enough. Overall I just did not understand why this was worth reading.