Customer Reviews

A Death in the Family: A Restoration of the Author's Text (Collected Works of James Agee)

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-- whether or not you have McDowell's original version, which he edited drastically. This edition contains a large amount of new material and has been rearranged according to Lofaro's careful judgments of Agee's intent. The chapter about the visit to the amusement park is both charming and heartbreaking; I cannot imagine why McDowell omitted it. It is also interesting to learn that Agee originally used the real names of the characters (here restored); that news strengthens one's notion of Agee's autobiographical intent.

James Agee wrote this autobiographical novel with his heart and soul and with this restored work his genius rises to its fullest height. This is such a beautiful- and heartbreaking- realization of the tragedy that foreshadowed his own life that it resonates on many levels. An American masterpiece.

My 25 year old daughter is starting her own classic library. I had to get her this book because it is set in our hometown and he is a hometown boy. A MUST READ!