Body of Knowledge [Hardcover]

Carol Dawson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 1994

Carol Dawson's outrageous second novel chronicles the decline and fall of a strange dynasty--from post-frontier Texas to the present day. It's the story of a secret war, of obsession, fear, loathing, and betrayal. But most of all, BODY OF KNOWLEDGE is the story of Victoria Grace Ransom, the story's 600-pound narrator, whose engrossing secret gradually reveals itself in a novel as big as all Texas. "Gorgeously crafted, intelligent and wholly original."--Los Angeles Times Book Review ; "The best novelist to emerge from Texas in years."--Texas Monthly. A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB and QUALITY PAPERBACK BOOK CLUB SELECTION.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Captivating prose coupled with a rich, multigenerational Texas saga produces a resonant successor to Dawson's highly acclaimed first book, The Waking Spell . Narrator Victoria Grace Ransom (named for the British queen) owes her 500-pound weight to a case of hypothalmus-damaging measles at age four. Unexposed to radio, TV and newspapers, Victoria has scarcely emerged from the Ransom estate since her birth in 1947. To pass the time, she listens to her black servant, Viola Lewis, tell tales of Ransom family history. A 1908 business partnership and secret adulterous liaisons create a hate-filled bond between the Ransom clan and the Macafees. Victoria's great-aunt Sarah, pregnant with Grant Macafee's child, disappears, and Sarah's brother William sires a baby by Grant's wife, Sophie. "Dead" at birth, the baby falls under the ministrations of "frail and stunted" great-aunt Mavis, a "gnomic changling" and perhaps the most original in a sprawling cast of fascinating characters. As the nearby town of Bernice spreads "like a gravy stain" toward the Ransoms' looming white mansion, death and disfigurement ravage succeeding generations. Dawson brilliantly ties up the familial threads at the novel's end. Her labyrinthine plot--a "potboiler" in the grandest sense--is transformed by a dark vision and poetic language into a work of the highest literary caliber. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

A secret war between the Ransoms and the Macafees has waged for years just outside the town of Bernice, Texas. By the time the last Ransom, Victoria Grace, is born, the body of evidence incriminating and devastating both families has grown as vast as she is destined to become. Eventually weighing 600 pounds, this recluse has gobbled up every delicious morsel of obsession, betrayal, sin, love, and hate that Viola, a loyal black servant, can feed her. In turn, Victoria provides a narrative feast with thick layers of irony, a huge helping of eccentric characters, and thoroughly baked twists of plot. Readers who enjoyed Dawson's first novel, The Waking Spell (LJ 9/15/92), will devour Body of Knowledge. It has all the necessary ingredients to place Dawson among the finest of contemporary Southern writers.
Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., Columbia
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (January 9, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156512054X
• ISBN-13: 978-1565120549
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,552,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars beautifully written, January 6, 2010

By 

Mary L. Stafford - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Body of Knowledge (Paperback)

Ms Dawson knows her subject and the reader is submerged in the mire of family complications of 20th century Texas. Captivated buy the author's voice, I lived for days with this family whose lives delve with generations of secrets and revenge. My only disappointment was the ending that seemed to wander off. I loved the language and loved the characters.