Five Smooth Stones [Library Binding]

Ann Fairbairn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1991

This gripping bestseller, first published in 1966, has continued to captivate readers with its wide-ranging yet intimate portrait of an America sundered by racial conflict. David Champlin is a black man born into poverty in Depression-era New Orleans who makes his way up the ladder of success, only to sacrifice everything to lead his people in the civil rights movement. Sara Kent is the white girl who loves David from the moment she first sees him, and who struggles against his belief that a marriage for them would be wrong in the violent world he has to confront. And the “five smooth stones” are those the biblical David carried against Goliath. By the time this novel comes to its climax of horror, bloodshed, and hope, readers will be convinced that its enduring popularity is fully justified.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A courageous novel . . . David is a marvelously well-done character."  —Library Journal

“A long and richly realized novel . . . Ann Fairbairn renders her scenes so skillfully and reveals her hero so fully that [his] qualities are transformed from desirable abstractions to a memorable identity. . . The numerous people characterized so clearly in this novel are ‘mortal humans.’ That is rare enough in any fiction dealing with one of the bone-deep issues of our time.” —The New York Times Book Review

"No matter how large Ann Fairbairn’s audience is, it won’t be large enough . . . Technically Miss Fairbairn is flawless . . . David Champlin is a great tragic hero in a memorable story."  —Denver Post

“Every so often along comes the big book that defies categorization . . . It has real size, stature . . . Above all, it rings true . . . You may put it down, but you can’t forget it. You have to come back. Such is the case with Five Smooth Stones.”  —Springfield Daily News

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Ann Fairbairn was best known for Five Smooth Stones, but also published two other books: a biography of New Orleans jazz clarinetist George Lewis, whose tours she managed, and a 1970 novel, That Man Cartwright. She lived for many years in New Orleans and died in Monterey, California, in 1972.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Library Binding
• Publisher: Buccaneer Books (December 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0899668054
• ISBN-13: 978-0899668055
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (117 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #778,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First Book I Really Read, August 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Five Smooth Stones (Library Binding)

My mother read this book and recommended that I read it too. At the time I was not a person that read for pleasure... so when the monster Five Smooth Stones was plopped onto my table, you can imagine my response! For some reason I picked it up, started reading, and could not put it down until I was done! I had to have my own copy because it meant so much to me, not just because I actually finished it, but because David became a member of my family! I cried at his graduations like I was his mother and ached for his trials and suffering! I morned the loss of this book when I completed it. The book was out of print at the time, but found a copy at a rare book shop. I am thrilled that it is in reprint and available! It should be a must read for high schoolers, college students, all human kind. Because of this book, I now read like a crazy woman. And I agree, this should be a movie for all to see and to encourage all to read!

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I can't believe this isn't in print anymore!, January 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Five Smooth Stones (Library Binding)

I read this book for a high school English assignment; it was the most enjoyable homework I have ever had! It has been a long time since characters in a book have had the kind of impact on me that those in FIVE SMOOTH STONES did. Ann Fairbairn does a magnificent job of inviting the reader into the people's lives to experience the hatred, bewilderment, or passion they each feel. Many times I wanted to jump in and yell, "It's not fair," whenever David, a lawyer from the south who fights for his people's rights, gets into trouble or others pick on him because he is black. A boy growing up in New Orleans during the depression, David faces the challenges of attending a school in the north with whites, fighting for equality, and maintaining a long-lasting love with a white girl. It is really saying something about a book when the author creates such a believable, true-to-life story and evokes such heart-rending emotion from the readers that they are appalled and stricken at the end! THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ANYONE INTERESTED IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT!!

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read! Can't believe it is out of print, August 31, 2002

By 

Shannon (Jacksonville, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Five Smooth Stones (Library Binding)

In the midst of my first re-reading of this novel all I can say is that it should be in print and should be one of the top choices for reading groups everywhere!

I read this book over 30 years ago the summer before I went to college..and remembering how captivated I was by it then I sought it out on a whim and found it at the library. 32 years later it still captured my heart and most of my free time from the first page. I think this book is even more significant now When it was written the Civil Rights movement was news, now it is history. History is documented by chronological events, news impacts our day to day lives. In this book we relive the civil rights movement, and the era that preceded it through the eyes and experiences of an incredibly engaging group of characters. There are now generations who did not experience the dehumanization, indignity and brutatlity of institutionalized racism. This book shows how it affects the lives of human beings both Caucasian and African American. And you don't even know you are learning something because you are so swept away by the story. I also feel that her characters observations and experiences of racism, both overt and covert can lead a reader to face down any pockets of racism they may be unknowingly carrying and grow beyond them. This is the blessing the best fiction brings..it leads you in emotionally rather than getting in your face with cold facts and figures..and this is where the healing can begin. And although the trappings of progress may be in place we still have a lot of work to do in this area.