Customer Reviews

Family Linen

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I enjoyed Family Linen. Though I love southern literature, I generally don't read books about southern "belles" but this one was a hoot! Frankly, I wanted more from the original, straight-laced sister who went to a hypnotist beause she was having headaches. I mean, that whole scenario, with her condo, single life, the "secret" lurking in her prim head - that was the most compelling aspect of the book. Still, it was very dear and amusing. I recommend it to friends.

I've read this book several times. Each time I get something new out of it. This testifies to the greatness of Lee Smith's skills as a writer.

During the course of the mystery explored in this book (Who killed Daddy?), we are introduced to numerous family members all of whom have distinctive personalities. As well as there being individual personalities drawn out, Lee Smith creates generational differences between characters whose personality makeups never fall into the trap of cliche. This alone would make Family Linen a book well worth reading. But, Ms. Smith gives us a story whose plot increases as each character is presented and gives his or her piece of the puzzle.

Soon, you will be so caught up in the different characters' lives, you will not be so intent on finding out if Daddy was killed and by whom. Instead, you will feel like you are embracing new friends in your life as provided by Lee Smith's extraordinary writing.

The book is funny, touching, at times gothic in nature, and one of the best written novels I've ever read. Lee Smith is a genious of a writer! Read this book. You won't regret it!!

I truely enjoyed this book and I don't know why some of the reviewsers were offended. This is the second review I wrote, I don't know what happened to the first one. There are family secrets that come out because of hypnotism and the family being brought together by illness and a funeral. Really this story is about some very serious matters but Lee Smith wrote from a lighthearted angle which makes th reader laugh at a lot of the situations. I wouldn't call this book "dark" at all even though it could've very easily been written that way. I liked this book a lot and to think I almost didn't read it because of some of descriptions in some of the negative reviews. Read this book, it's very good. It's about real life and sometimes real life isn't very pretty. There are many people that are raised by their parents and then find out in their adult life that these wonderful people that raised them aren't actually their parents. Their "sister" or "Aunt So-and-so" is their real mother. This is really a good book and it's written from the perfect perspective, with a touch of humor.

Nobody is better than Lee Smith when it comes to creating marvelous characters and Family Linen is filled with them. No cardboard creatures these, but full bodied human beings most of whom are somewhere in our own lives. My only quarrel with Smith is that she sometimes gets so deeply involved with these characters, she forgets to tell us where they are going. Family Linen does have more of a plot and a mystery that will keep the reader turning the pages until it is solved. And even when we know, the characters are still the strongest force in the book.Read it and see which one of your neighbors or relatives are right there to be discovered.

Enjoyable treat! My first Lee Smith read, I was very surprised at how rich and satisfying it was, surprised mainly because of the well-meaning but missed-the-point critic blurbs on the cover which prepared me for breezy back-porch southern blarney, an enjoyable genre but not at all accurate for "Family Linen". This is tangled Barbara Vine territory, dark family secrets and a mystery that become inscrutable no more, only told in the direct and empathetic voice of an Anne Tyler. With family disfunction that could easily have been rendered as southern-gothic, Smith's story is told with clear-eyed respect for character and for plot development.

This book revolves around a Southern family that has their share of secrets. This book is not only a WHO-DUN-IT? but also very, very funny. The characters are all related somehow and are all very comical. The writing flows and you will immediately be caught up in the great story and plot.

We first meet Sybill, one of the family, who finally seeks help from a hypnotist for her dreadful recurring headaches. The hypnotist puts her under and BAM! Sybill flashes back to her childhood and remembers witnessing a horrible, awful, dreadful murder that involves her sweet, kind, proper, mother, Miss Elizabeth.

Sybill returns at once to her hometown of Booker Creek for answers. Unfotunatley, Miss Elizabeth is unconscious in the hospital and cannot answer any of her questions. But the story does not end there!!!!

Now we meet all of Sybill's family -- her sister Myrtle who has it all -- money, THE house, a doctor hubby, looks great, is the perfect hostess, has the perfect life or does she? Myrtle's husband, Dr. Don, who runs the entire show and loves his wife's family, perhaps a little too much -- and a cast of other brothers/sisters/nieces/nephews/cousins -- they are all unique and wonderful and FUN.

This is a book that I highly recommend. Lee Smith has the absolute best writing ability to weave, weave, weave, the story, the characters, the plot, and all the FUN into a great big satisfying book that is full of insights into life, laughs, and surprises.

Read this book. You won't be disappointed. Ms. Smith is one of THE BEST AUTHORS around these days! You can't go wrong!!!!!

Thanks -- Pam

The family linen of the title could be what "one does not wash out in public" as there are plenty of family secrets, including one very big one; or, it could be the linen and other family heirlooms that the survivors bicker over after Elizabeth, the matriarch, dies. Either way, Elizabeth has passed the family linen down through generations to her children and grandchildren. I love the way Lee Smith writes characters and uses varied perspectives. Almost every chapter focuses on a new personality, yet the story moves forward chronologically and convincingly.

I read this book based on a newspaper article and went out right away and bought it. It had all the makings of a good, Southern novel--family quarrels, death and secrets. As I got to the end, it was hard to keep track of who was related to whom and how others fit into the story. It was almost as if they were thrown in as the story began to wind down, just to give some resolution. I hated the ending; I think Smith the cowardly way out and never really answered some of the pressing questions. I've heard that this is not Ms. Smith's best work but I would be willing to try another novel by her

If you liked Faulkner's *As I Lay Dying* and even if you didn't, you will enjoy this one from Lee Smith. I loved the knotted up lives of the family memebers, interwoven with insanity, incest and murder and all centered around the gathering of the children at the death of their mother. Though there are no journeys with smelly coffins falling into the river, each family member takes her/his own personal journey and becomes a different person for the knowledge he gains from the others. Definitely a Faulknerian type family with characters just as southern and mixed up. It is definitely worht the time and comparison.

What some "reviewers" - including those who cannot spell - seem to miss, is the whole point of Lee Smith. In the "Literary Wrold", there are storytellers, there are wordsmiths and there are artists. Lee Smith is an artist of the first order and arguably one of the most important voices in American fiction writing today. While I run like a mad woman to buy her work every time a new title of hers appears, I read her stories for pleasure but also for an education. She is a risk taker and in this world of bottom line guarantees to stock holders, it is imperative to support those who take those risks. Read Lee Smith with both eyes, your heat and your mind wide open. Look behind her words, plots, and characters. She isn't to be taken lightly, but to be regarded with great respect. Not only is her work marvelous, she is a marvel. I say, Bravo! Ms. Smith, don't let any of these ignoramouses give you a moment's pause - you just keep up your excellent work!