Be Sweet: A Conditional Love Story [Paperback]

Roy Blount Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 1999 | Series: Harvest Book

My mother loved me to pieces, as she often said, writes Roy Blount Jr., "and I'm still trying to pick up the pieces." In the book his readers have been waiting for, our generation's master of full-hearted humor lays open the soul of his life story. Blount—Georgia boy, New York wit, lover of baseball and interesting women, bumbling adventurer, salty-limerick virtuoso, and impassioned father—journeys into his past, and his psyche (and also to China, Manhattan, and sixty feet underwater) in search of the answers to three riddles that have haunted his life: one, the riddle of "the family curse"; two, the riddle of what drives him, or anyone, to be funny; and three, the riddle of what so cruelly tangled his bond to the beguiling orphan girl who became the impossible mother who raised him to Be Sweet. Sardonic and sentimental, hilarious and grieving, brazen and bashful, tough and tender, honest and wayward, Be Sweet resonates with the complex but bouncy chords of a whole man singing, clinkers and all.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's a certain familiarity to Roy Blount's voice that wraps itself around you like a comfortable old quilt. Listening to him read Be Sweet, his touchingly funny memoir, the gentle tones of his soft Georgian lilt offer the kind of reassurance one needs when looking back from a midlife vantage.

Digging into the complexities of his family history, especially the painful memories of his mother, Blount's sardonic and insightful observations are cast in the warm light of comedy. But even the jocular recollections and comforting voice of this most endearing humorist are tinged with sorrow, and he admits that "This book has by no means redeemed my character entirely. But ... exposing the mystery of my life has rendered the mystery sweeter to me." And to the listener as well. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --George Laney --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Publishers Weekly

With bylines in 117 publications (e.g., Sports Illustrated, the New Yorker), 14 books (Crackers) and a Hollywood movie (Larger Than Life) to his credit, Blount has become a kind of ultimate freelance writer, maximizing his extraordinary ability to spin a funny phrase and tell a humorous story. Worried about turning 55A"roughly the age when humorists stop being funny"Ahe has added more heft to his writing, peppering his sharp wit with introspection and self-analysis. But the mix proves uneven. Blount is frequently hilarious and poignant, even with cast-off linesA"They tell you to 'stay within yourself' in sports,... but that was too depressing a prospect for me"Aand the roundup of his writing career and greenroom anecdotes from days as a regular guest on late-night talk shows are amusing. But Blount also lays bare a mother-complex that seems obsessive. It's tiresome to be continually reminded of a woman who is as exasperating in death as she was in life. But Blount soldiers on with grim memories of his upbringing at nearly every turn. He speaks with his usual clear and engaging voice, but this sometimes moving, occasionally tedious memoir shows a side of Blount that is surprisingly dark.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; First Edition edition (May 6, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156006820
• ISBN-13: 978-0156006828
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars bitter with the sweet, October 28, 1999

By 

Bill Chaisson (Rochester, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Be Sweet: A Conditional Love Story (Paperback)

I was lucky enough to stumble across Roy Blount reading from this book in a Vermont bookstore. I bought it on the spot, telling him that it was the first one of his books that I had paid full price for. He thought this was pretty fun, the store employee sitting next to him didn't. This book is worth its full price.

Be Sweet in no way sets out to "make fun of the mother-son relationship". I suppose because Blount is such an irreverent goof-ball on the radio and in print, it seems fair to have that preconception. However, Blount has always let us know that some things are sacred and after you get a short way into this book you realize that family is one of them. He desperately does not want to cast aspersions on his own mother's character, but he has to acknowledge that she did drive him to distraction throughout his life.

There were several points in this book were Blount seems to be going off on a tangent. To be honest I began to wonder if he was just filling the space between the covers. Oh me of little faith! In the last third of the book I was progressively more amazed and impressed as I discovered that his seemingly unconnected threads were actually germane to the resolution of his mid-life psychic wrestling match with himself.

Bill Bryson's recent A Walk In the Woods similarly surprised me. I don't expect journalists to write deeply personal prose. Roy Blount beats Bryson hands down as far as the psychological depths that are plumbed and illuminated. If the presentation of the psychological dimension of things bores you or insults your sense of decorum, then don't read this Roy Blount book. If you want to know what is going on in the head of middle aged white Southern guys of above average emotional honesty, then this is a pretty good place to start.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting mother -son history, September 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Be Sweet: A Conditional Love Story (Audio Cassette)

Roy Blount Jr. writes a rambling account of growing up with his strong yet troubled mother -- a woman who despite an abusive upbringing herself managed to raise a son and a daughter with little help from a good but passive husband to be individuals with a strong sense of themselves. Blount is funny and he makes good points about the defensive nature of humor, the lurking self-loathing beneath the humorist. The only turnoff in this saga is that as a middle-aged man, Blount still is in rebellion against his mother for her guilt trips, so much so that he can't, it seems, "be sweet" to the women in his personal life whom he claims he has loved. Otherwise a good read for anyone intersted in family relationships and 1950s nostalgia.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An amazing book; very serious, but still true to past work, January 22, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Be Sweet: A Conditional Love Story (Audio Cassette)

I was very surprised by this book on a number of levels. I've thought Blount's past works were funny, but also quite well thought out. Blount is never "funny" in the sense that Dave Berry is funny. There is no silliness about Blount; he is firmly grounded in reality.

This work is very serious. It is his attempt to displell his "family curse." He explores his relationships with his parents, sister, and ex-wives. He speculates on the nature of humor and humorists.

I thought the book was brilliant. It's like Blount is willing to talk about things that no one else will because doing so would sound stupid, but it's still what you want to say.

An added bonus is Blount's voice. He is not a particularly elegant reader. But it is hard to imagine any other voice reading this work. I compare it to Jean Shepard, who also has the perfect voice for his own work.