The Christmas Letters [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Lee Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 1996

In 1944 a tradition was begun in the Pickett family that would bridge three generations of women. This captivating story, told in letters and recipes, paints an intimate portrait of American family life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It's easier to believe in Santa Claus than in the premise of Smith's holiday novella. Employing the epistolary form that she used much more successfully in Fair and Tender Ladies, Smith provides a series of letters among three generations of women, aiming to create a record of a family's joys and tragedies, as well as a slice of social history from 1944 to 1996. Unfortunately, credibility is a casualty of the device, as we are asked to believe that close relatives living in neighboring Southern states would let a year go by without even the most basic communication about births, deaths and marriages. The letters recapitulate episodes that family members would surely have heard about before (one correspondent reminds her parents at great length about how she met her husband). In the era of telephones and cameras, it is highly unlikely that the information?both intimate and picayune?contained in these detailed missives would have awaited a seasonal newsletter. Recipes passed down through the decades, beginning with boiled custard and ending with an African dish from a woman in the Peace Corps, are meant to indicate changing social mores. But nothing here can surmount the awkward format of a book that is, in fact, as bland as boiled custard. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

One of our most accomplished authors scores again. As in Fair and Tender Ladies (LJ 9/15/88), Smith writes an epistolary, here in the form of Christmas greetings sent from North Carolina by female members of the Pickett family. In what they say?and don't say?these articulate, down-to-earth women preserve three generations of American experience. Birdie, a feisty World War II bride, records the challenges of leaving the farm to open a successful small business while raising a houseful of children. Birdie's oldest daughter, Mary, continues the story in the mid-Sixties, after dropping out of college to wed. She tracks 25 years of moves, from trailer to luxury home, from unexplained domesticity to problematic independence. Next, granddaughter Melanie picks up the tradition, hinting that the family writing talent will turn professional. The Picketts's joys, tragedies, recipes, and reflections make an affecting narrative that ends much too soon. Highly recommended.?Starr E. Smith, Marymount Univ. Lib., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 126 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st edition (January 11, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565121562
• ISBN-13: 978-1565121560
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,226,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What a great book for Christmas Reading, December 24, 2005

By 

J Martin Jellinek (Memphis, TN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Christmas Letters (Paperback)

I received this book as a pre-Christmas book many years ago and have just finished reading it for maybe the fifth time just before Christmas. It is a very quick and engaging read.

The Christmas Letters recounts all of the bittersweet memories that surround Christmas. It is not necessarily all happy, but it is all very real. Maybe as I get older, the pathos of Christmas becomes more real - both the sadness associated with memories of the past which can no longer be recreated and the realization that we can only celebrate from that place where we currently live in our lives. When we are in good places, then Christmas is magical. When not, Christmas can be very difficult. Smith touches on both of these points.

I am a great fan of Lee Smith's books. I gave this one only 4 stars, but that is in relation to her other books. To me, her best is Fair and Tender Ladies, also written in letter form.

Christmas blessings to all.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Christmas Letters..., November 30, 2004

By 

Mercedes L. Johnmeyer "The Most Happy" (Summerville, SC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Christmas Letters (Paperback)

For the most part I liked this book. It's the story of one family told through three generations of Christmas Letters (well, two really, the third generation only writes one letter). Now, it was very difficult for me to get past the feeling of...'why is all this stuff being written in x-mas letters, shouldn't the family have already known about all this stuff? Wouldn't you tell your family these things as they happen?'.

I know it was necessary to include these things in order for the reader to understand everything that's gone on in the family over the years, but it was very distracting. This said, I think this book would have been much better if it were formatted as a regular novel, not in Christmas letters. I believe it would have been a very interesting read.

But regardless, the story itself was good. It kept me turning the pages. I really enjoyed the second to last letter, where Mary (the second generation) sends out the REAL Christmas letter, not the superficial one that everyone gets saying all is peachy-keen and life couldn't be more perfect, blah, blah, blah. This letter tells us the 'good stuff'. I recommend this book as a very quick little Christmas read. It'll help you get into the Christmas spirit.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A perfect way to get the Holiday Spirit, December 26, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Christmas Letters (Hardcover)

Lee Smith's book is a touching journey through the hearts and minds of three generations of women. When the Southern grandmother takes her first bite of a bagel, and remarks "Whoever thinks this is good has never had a biscuit!," I howled. This is a great little book