Customer Reviews

The Half-Mammals of Dixie

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This was the first collection of George's that I read, and I think it's still my favorite. The title intrigued me, then the author photo on the back flap sealed the deal(he's in a personal sauna, smoking and looking like he just made it through one hell of a bender). Fortunately for me, the satirical whimsy of both title and photo accurately reflected the prose gems found between the covers.
These stories are funny(sometimes uproariously so), they are wistful, they are damning, they are evocative. It is clear that while George is quick to lampoon the stupidities that rural southern life is so often steeped in, there is also an appreciation, an affection for the south that tempers his barbs.
Some reviewers have charged that this volume is uneven. I disagree; it is true that the stories are not funny from beginning to end, and that some are funnier than others, but I would also posit the notion that George's purpose in writing these stories is perhaps deeper than merely evoking amusement. He is not a one-trick pony, limited to the realm of belly-laughs.
As for those who were bored with this collection, might I suggest something a little more to your tastes? Something nice and two-dimensional from Patterson or Evanovich, maybe?

Fie, fie, what happened to my review? Down the Bayou Teche....so here we go again! It must have had something to do with those Half-Mammals or the Confederate in the Attic...

If you are a Southerner, this book will ring with truth, because Mr. Singleton's characters are so obviously around the block, if not next door. If you know that prosperity can be measured in the number of cars you have up on blocks in the FRONT yard, you're in the neighborhood. If you're afraid to get of I-95 between the Virginia border and Florida, or I-10 between the Louisiana border and Houston, this is the book for you. Or, if you took I-64 thinking you'd go through West Virginia and turned around where it ended (Fie, Senator Byrd!)...you need to get right with Dixie.

I could hardly recommend Mr. Singleton's stories higher--up with Confederates in the Attic (nonfiction), or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (possibly fiction). His characters refer to Nietzche, get regular calls from the FBI and John Walsh, or play 20 questions as a marital ritual, or find themselves thinking about cosines, and sines for "no reason in particular." And, they tend to think of lead pipes for uses not related to who did what to whom in the drawing room. They have no clue, but they're right on.

I highly recommend you get into this book, and it compares in frankness with Walker Percy, without the I Went to Medical School in New York puttin' on airs. Regular folks, who know the difference between a live oak (you can look it up) and poison ivy, at least.

Yep, it ITCHES, y'all. Rather be a lying dog than a dog lyin'.

A little more evolved than the first collection. George is definately establishing himself as one of America's premire short fiction writers!
If you loved the first ccollection, as much as I know you did, you have to get this one.

In The Half-Mammals of Dixie: Stories George Singleton uses the thematic device of a focusing locale as the basis for this collection of offbeat, quixotic and lively short stories. The locale in this case is the rural backwater burg of Forty-Five, South Carolina. All of the stories are either set in--or in some way involve the denizens of this little town. There are a few characters that populate several stories to provide thematic coherence throughout the narrative.

The stories themselves focus primarily on the fringes (though a good cross section of those fringes) of Forty-Five society--if such a small town can be thought to have either fringe--or society--for that matter.

While the book is very enjoyable overall the quality of the stories varies considerably. There are moments of incredible hilarity counterpoised by moments of complete boredom. In too many places one senses that Singleton's trying just a bit to hard to make the characters too off the wall, and the whole exercise can then seem a bit too contrived However, a gem of a moment shortly follow and redeems the whole exercise.

On the whole a good read. If Singleton can improve on overall consistency he'll be a first class short story writer. However, at this point he's very good, and that's better than most.

The Half-Mammals of Dixie by George Singleton is a collection of short stories centered around the fictitious town of Forty-Five, South Carolina. These are tales of the South, but not the stereotypical South (genteel and racist) so many people love to read about - these stories are more of the "good ol' boy" South variety. I generally stay away from short story collections, because I usually don't think there's enough character development in them, but after reading this collection, I've decided that I was probably reading the wrong collections before - these stories are simply a hoot!

As you would suspect with a collection of stories, I enjoyed some of them more than others. My favorites (and the ones Carl had to hear about) are:

* Show-and-Tell - is the story of Mendal Dawes. When his mom deserted the family, his dad began calling himself a widower. Mendal's third grade teacher is one of his dad's old girlfriends, so in an effort to woo her, Mendal's dad gives him all kinds of crazy things to take to school for show-and-tell, like a love letter written by a famous person that contains the line, "That guy who wrote that "How Do I Love Thee" poem has nothing on us, my sugar-booger-baby." The way Mendal and his dad end up handling this potential relationship is priceless.
* Public Relations - tells the story of V.O., who loses his job when he proceeds to tell a potential client his theory of the decline of the American educational system at a business dinner. He has a crazy theory of how the women's movement has ruined the schools in this country and, as you can imagine, it doesn't sit well with the female client his company's trying to lure.

The Half-Mammals of Dixie is a solid collection of short stories with lots of quirky characters that readers will delight in. I think those who live in, or have a love for, the South will enjoy these stories the most.

A great collection of stories about the people and things that go on in the little town of Forty-Five,South Carolina. Now, if you go looking for this little place ,you won't find any such town.But; if you are observant and spend the time,you'll find it anywhere. As a matter of fact ,to the people like you meet in this little gem;there is not a thing about any of this that is unusual. That's just what people and things are like anywhere,aren't they?
Here you are going to enjoy 14 stories,all exactly 20 pages long,that cover things that are only too real if one only has the ability to observe them happening.Any one of them could have been expanded to fill a book. To the people involved,it is only the ordinary occurrences of daily life.
To be a writer, one first of all must be an observer;and Singleton shows that he is both of these in his storytelling.From reading this book,I concluded that if you were to set Singleton down in just about any small town,he could soon observe goings on and people that could fill a book like this.
One of my favorite personalities was Jean Shepherd . He was one of the best when it came to observing and telling stories about ordinary people and things. He had a TV series,"Jean Shepherd's America",wrote several books books,wrote a movie "The Christmas Story"(a classic),had a nightly radio show on WOR New York in the 70's.Check him out if you liked this book. "Shep" left us a number of yesars ago,but Singleton may just be the one who is going to replace him.
What a great,entertaining storyteller!!

Singleton has done a great job of portraying Southern characters accurately and honestly. He has deep and engaging characters that are so rare in short stories. As a southerner, I hate when southeaster US characters are stereotyped, as they frequently are in stories, novels, and especially Hollywood. However, even though he shows sometimes a dark side or ignorant side of a character, they are entirely believable and recognizable. A strong point of Singleton is his humor, which generally sneaks up on you, in an unexpected or unusually juxtaposed way.

As a fan of a good short story in general, I think this is quite readable and enjoyable. It was recommended to me by a friend, (Mark) a literature professor and personal friend of the author. I pass that recommendation along to you.

No one does it better - George's second collection of stories are absolutely great. It's almost like he sneaks up on you, makes you laugh, and then darts away to the next bit of humour. And the whole time you're sort of wondering what has happened, but you've enjoyed every minute of it. Do yourselves a favor - purchase this book, and begin enjoying the finest Southern short story fiction writer around.

This book makes me wonder what the author was smoking when he wrote it. It is frustrating, confusing at times, and sometimes totally unrealistic. Some of the stories are okay, but some of them are just weird. This book frequently lost my attention.