Customer Reviews

Blood of My Blood

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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I bought this book after reading Rawlings' autobiographical _Cross Creek_. I would recommend the book to any fan of Rawlings, as it provides an intense look at her complicated relationship with her mother, an understanding of the spiritual kinship she shared with her father, and provokes examination of the lines we draw between fiction and autobiography. In this very early, nearly unedited work, the readers sees how the two often become indistinguishable.

This reminds me of old novels by Grace Livingston Hill or Gene Stratton Porter with the struggle against adverse conditions and conflicts over family values. At times it is heavy going. If this is close to what Rawlings' actual childhood and college years were like, I'm glad I read it before now turning to her classic, Cross Creek. I should get more from that reading with this book as background.
Useful mostly to scholars, students and devoted readers of The Yearling and Cross Creek.
I wish it had included photos of Rawlings as a child and in college and of her family. That would have been a plus.

I agree with "Wibblet's" comments. Those who have read Rawlings's last novel, "The Sojourner" will find the present volume even more fascinating, as it provides the real life roots for significant themes and characters in the later work. For us Rawlings fans, "Blood of My Blood" also provides more reasons for admiration and affection for this great American writer.

I'm a voracious reader and great admirer of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. My husband and I agreed this is one of the most enlightening books we've ever read about a mother-daughter relationship. Touching.