Down Town [Paperback]

Ferrol Sams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2008

A rollicking tale of a small Southern town by the bestselling author of Run with the Horsemen

With his naturalistic and humorous storytelling style, Ferrol Sams has won fans from all walks of life, especially those drawn to Southern fiction. And while the literary landscape of the rural South is peppered with great storytellers, few are as endearing as James Aloysius “Buster” Holcombe, Jr., the observant narrator of Sams’s new novel. From Reconstruction, the first World War, the Depression, and World War II , to racial integration, land speculation, and economic boom, Buster Holcombe recounts the events that have shaped our country since the mid-nineteenth century through the eyes of the wide-ranging denizens of “our town.” Down Town offers a panoptic history of the American South, carefully observed and skillfully presented by a native son.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“ Infused with Sams’s love of the South . . . and of the people whose lives have provided the stories [he] has translated into eminently readable books.”
—St. John Flynn, Cover to Cover host, NPR

About the Author

Ferrol Sams is a physician, humorist, storyteller, and the bestselling author of seven novels rooted in the oral tradition of Southern humor and folklore.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (September 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143114387
• ISBN-13: 978-0143114383
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #801,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars plaztik, June 27, 2007

By 

Plazitk "Plaztik" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down Town (Hardcover)

Ferrol Sams knows his readers. After a rather lengthly hiatus he returns with a novel about a "fictional" Georgia town. Anyone who lives in the South knows the characters in this book. If you are unfamiliar with Dr. Sams I would suggest reading Run With the Horseman as a primer. This novel is filled with a timeline of the populace of a hamlet filled with true Southern characters. I read several passages to my wife who comes from a small south Georgia community, and we agreed we knew the "real" names of these folks.
My only two concern with this is that there are so many people that it sometimes gets a little confusing. Secondly, some people who are not from Georgia may not catch all the Georgia references (Cobb County, Stone Mountain, Woodward Academy, Piedmont Hospital, etc.)
All in all a great book about small Georgia and the South. Congratulations Dr. Sams on your recent retirement. We have missed you, Sambo. Welcome back.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Southern grandfather you never had...., July 19, 2007

By 

Vermeer fan (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Down Town (Hardcover)

Dr. Sams recently appeared at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta and after listening to him speak, I realized that his books are simply a method to get out all his stories that he has had related to him over the decades (or experienced first hand). The plot line of "Down Town" is minimal at best but involves the somewhat obscured doings in Fayetteville, a town south of Atlanta now being swallowed up by the greater megaplex. At age 85, Dr. Sams gets to tell those last stories that may have gotten him into deeper hot water when he was younger and get in a few digs at the current state of local and national affairs. You can imagine him telling you to grab your sweet tea and sit in the glider on the front porch, he has a few tales to tell you about the neighbors over the course of a late afternoon sliding into the dark.

For all you folks that still can't figure out us Southerners and want to learn about maiden aunts, family relations based on four or five generations of history and small town life, this would be a good start. Just be patient with the story line-you wouldn't interrupt your grandfather when he takes a detour, asking him for the Reader's Digest condensed version of his tale. Dr. Sams will weave all the bits and pieces into a fine, rich fable.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A love letter to a hometown, July 26, 2007

By 

Camellia (Atlanta, Ga.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Down Town (Hardcover)

This is the story of the eccentric characters in a small Ga. town south of Atlanta and is narrated by an older gentleman who has observed several generations of this small town. He is recounting his personal accounts and perspective of a prominent family in the town for a new acquaintance who has a mysterious tie to the town. It is full of entertaining stories of these folks, but if you don't read carefully, some of the relationships or the subtle humor will slip right by. Many of the stories will make you laugh out loud and read them aloud to whoever is nearby. The only thing I can imagine to be more pleasant than reading these stories is to hear them told in Dr. Sams' own voice. This is a book that should be read more than once!