From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

A Death in the Family

James Agee

Start date: June 1, 2019

Finish date: June 15, 2019

Discussion: Classics Corner

Discussion leader: Ann

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May 02, 2008 Monica rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: special-books

original note: This book so far is giving me some comfort.
It's on a list of the 101 best novels since 1923 that I haven't studied yet, but think it may sit better with me than the 1001 previously discussed.

This Bantam edition I guess I've had since 1983. It says it's the 13th printing and portions were previously published in The Partisan Review, The Cambridge Review, The New Yorker, and Harper's Bazaar: all publications worthy of such incredible writing. One half to three quarters of the way t original note: This book so far is giving me some comfort.
It's on a list of the 101 best novels since 1923 that I haven't studied yet, but think it may sit better with me than the 1001 previously discussed.

This Bantam edition I guess I've had since 1983. It says it's the 13th printing and portions were previously published in The Partisan Review, The Cambridge Review, The New Yorker, and Harper's Bazaar: all publications worthy of such incredible writing. One half to three quarters of the way through, I felt like I was reading an outstanding classic like F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender Is The Night", or something the caliber of a great Eugene O'Neill play, with brilliant dialogue, insightful , contradictory thoughts which juxtaposed character's spoken words and actions. Agee portrays guilty sibling behavior as only an older brother could with an annoying younger sister. He painfully shows the cruelty inflicted by children on other children; the alienation, insecurity and loneliness even a six year old is able to experience. "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" struck me like a bolt of lightning when I was 15 or 16, and this is no less a masterpiece. Agee's understanding of normal human existence is unparalleled. The book takes place over the span of only forty-eight hours, including a few flashback inserts the editors printed in italics, with a clarity and resonance that will be very hard to forget. This book must be an example of a writer"showing" instead of "telling". It felt so real you could have been hearing a brilliantly written screenplay or watching an excellent stage presentation. The different character's religious zeal, cynical doubts, loving compassion and simplicity shown off the page. What a memory Agee had for every detail and nuance of those forty-eight hours which changed his life forever. The family's tragedy was illustrated at a "snails" pace, in the best sense of the word, each perception, thought, action and word carefully considered and honestly portrayed as only Agee could. His experience as a young boy resonated on these pages. The difficulties he had with his sister, loosing his dad, his relationships with his relatives, made him the great writer he became. I could have read sooner but whenever you get to a book is it's proper place in time and I'm grateful finally found my proper time for this masterpiece.

post script 6/15/08 father's day- I don't know if I'm up for 615 pages for the revised edition because I was so impressed with the first -- it was short and "sweet". That much of a commitment to Agee's writing could be worth it but there are so many film reviews and essays to read, too. On this father's day i salute my dad who worked with Agee at Time and tells the story better than I about having to sit on him to calm him down at a very short Christmas party because there was a woman in the research department (not my mom) with whom Agee was extremely upset; whether because she was ignoring him or was involved with someone else - don't know. Agee, thought normally calm became unglued and enraged and was evidently extremely fired up on alcohol. ...more

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Sep 14, 2009 Kecia rated it really liked it

Shelves: pulitzer_prize, times_100_best, usa

A gorgeous portrait of a family that truly loves one another in a time of grief. The only character to find a soft spot in my heart was the boy Rufus. Even though I didn't care about these people, the fact that they love each other, coupled with the beautiful prose kept me enchanted. Lovely, lovely book. ...more

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Feb 22, 2008 Gail rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classic-american

I expected to hate this book: I had tried to read it once before, long ago, and was just not in the mood for it...does that seem to work for others, I wonder? So much of my enjoyment of a book depends on my mood/interests at the time I pick it up.
This is a superb story about a young fellow and the death of his father. Told from the youngster's perspective, but without anything at all smarmy or sticky-sweet, this very real slice of a long-gone America is worth at least a couple of reads. ...more

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Oct 07, 2007 Dottie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: classics-corner, plays-poetry-shorts, trgbc, 2000, own

Read this ages ago and then intended to read with CC -- the road to hell, etc. But I still recall the impact of this one from that long ago first encounter.

http://web.archive.org/web/2006110201... ...more

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