Billy Watson's Croker Sack [Paperback]

Franklin Burroughs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1998

In South Carolina, a croker sack is any big cloth sack. When opened, it sometimes reveals more than expected, as do these deceptively simple narratives about fishing trips, flora and fauna, and memories of the past. Observing a snapping turtle, recounting the old age and death of a hunting dog, or talking with neighbors who shot a moose and hung it in their garage, Franklin Burroughs reflects on how human and natural histories interconnect. His writing is clear and still as a pond, and his distinctive and evocative voice resonates through the details.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Burroughs, a transplanted South Carolinian now living in Maine, writes of fishing, hunting, and the rural life. A skillful stylist, he infuses such subjects as snapping turtles and moose with sensitivity and humor, illustrating the close connection between humans and the natural world. Of particular note is "Of Moose and a Moose Hunter," a tragicomic account of taking his daughter to see a recently shot moose hanging in a neighbor's garage. Yet despite these insightful and entertaining pieces, too much of the book is devoted to the mysteries of hunting and fishing to make it appealing for general audiences.
-Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"An exquisitely wrought and unerringly graceful book."--Jim Harrison

"Elegant, unexpected, remarkable for their ability to weave through time and space and turns of emotion, these essays would do Montaigne or Samuel Johnson proud."--Cleveland Plain Dealer

“[His] essays evoke William Faulkner's South and E. B. White's farm. But Burroughs's style is distinctly his own: always elegant, sometimes simple, plainly honest, and, perhaps most of all, completely authentic. . . . Burroughs is the kind of essayist whose vision transcends time and place. . . . He writes of the stuff of life and does so with a grace and honesty that left me aching for more."--Fourth Genre

"Burroughs’ writing is eloquent and accomplished, whether he is describing his coastal South Carolina homeland or his adopted home in Maine. Those disparate lands are not so much compared and contrasted as joined by the striking narrative in this book . . . this book is full of delights.”--Hellbender Press

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (March 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820319996
• ISBN-13: 978-0820319995
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #477,769 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Flawless Collection of Essays, June 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Billy Watson's Croker Sack (Paperback)

Billy Watson's Croker Sack is candid and clear and Mr. Burroughs himself is an expert in syntax. The tales are honest and human without being sentimental. This is the type of book you listen to carefully, sounding out words, hearing them together. The style is self-effacing in some ways - I reread sentences, surprised the second time by their beauty, but more surprised that I didn't notice them as much the first time, the prose is so natural. And this is, perhaps, the best quality of the collection - that it so naturally evokes eloquence. I recommend this collection to anyone fascinated by words and sentences, but more to those seeking well-told yarns about the things that make us most human.