Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An escape into another time, March 26, 1997
By A Customer
I open "Except for Me and Thee" every time I find my life getting too hectic or complicated. The book has a strange, soothing effect on me as I join the Birdwells, who, as Quakers during the Civil War, face moral dilemmas and everyday hardships, yet manage to maintain a thoughtful serenity. The author has the rare ability to paint a picture *economically* with her words, and this reader has no desire to see a movie based upon the book, for fear it would ruin the images already stored in the mind. I was delighted to discover that there is a tremendous amount of subtle humor woven into the pages, which makes reading the book a truly bittersweet experience that reflects real life. It is interesting to contrast "Except for Me and Thee" with other classic books set in the same time period, such as "Gone With The Wind" and "Little Women". Amazon.com lists this book as "hard to find" so I consider myself lucky to have stumbled upon it at a used-book sale--and no, Amazon, I won't be selling you my copy
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Joyous, March 8, 1999
By A Customer
I got started reading Jessamyn West (although at the time I didn't know it) with Cress Delahanty. I could visualize and identify with Cress as a teenager and as a young adult. I started running into other Jessamyn West short stories and stumbled across this book at a used book store about 10 years ago. The images and feelings and settings were so lush I couldn't put the book down. I'm only sorry I haven't come across Friendly Persuasion, the companion book, yet (although I have seen the movie and it lives up to the author). Jessamyn West's books are as enjoyable today as they were when she wrote them. The closest comparison I could make with her style is with Jane Austen, whose characters and settings bring a location and time to life.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
From Dust Cover, November 12, 2008
A COMPANION TO: THE FRIENDLY PERSUASION
These further adventures of Jess and Eliza Birdwell, the beloved hero and heroine of The Friendly Persuasion, are cause for celebration to the millions who have met them in Jessamyn West's memorable book or in it enduring film, of which Miss West was co-author. Now their world comes vibrantly alive once more in Except for Me and Thee.
Here are those gallant Quakers, young and in love, meeting the challenges of nature and man as the growing family travels westward, then encountering the bitterness and savagery that explode into the Civil War, later guiding their children through the confusing aftermath, and , finally, looking at their world with bittersweet maturity. For all its fascinating differences, their world confronts dilemmas strikingly contemporary - youthful rebellion, racial intolerance, social inequity, and warfare's misery. To each, Miss West brings deep and meaningful insights.
And she brings more in the many moments of spirited comedy and gentle humor that are equally a part of living and so natural to this appealing couple and their family.
Here, then, are full measures of joy and sadness, tenderness and brutality, hope and despair - a sweeping spectrum of human experience ranging continuously through this compelling story. Its beauty and wisdom, merged into the swift narrative, bear the hallmark of its distinguished author. It's readers will be delighted, will be moved, and will long remember Except for Me and Thee.
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by Jessamyn West
