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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Resistance to the wit and warmth in this novel is futile,
By
This review is from: Losing Battles (Paperback)
In "Delta Wedding" Eudora Welty explored the dynamics of a family wedding; "Losing Battles," which greatly resembles her earlier novel, is a similar yarn about a family reunion. The cause for the celebration is Granny Vaughn's 90th birthday, but the relations also gather for her grandson Jack's return from prison and to learn that the schoolteacher who had taught (and tortured) three generations of Banner's inhabitants has passed away that very morning.Told almost entirely in dialogue, this novel reads like one of the lengthiest plays ever written. Welty moves from one conversation to the next, recording every word spoken by every character, rarely describing what they are thinking or how they are feeling, and supplying the "action" only when necessary. I can imagine that some might find this technique tiresome, but I couldn't stop turning the pages. Yes, it's a long read, but it's an easy one. The novel displays Welty's usual small-town humor: townfolk so closely bound that they are unable to hold a grudge (Jack even comes to the aid of the judge who sentenced him), rapid-fire and droll sarcasm among family members ("What's a morning yell for?" "Mainly to show you're still alive after the night."), and rural parochialism and ignorance that are more endearing than disquieting. The one surprise (for Welty) is the pure slapstick of the situation created when the judge's car teeters on the edge of an incline--which it does for most of the length of the novel--and the family's various attempts to bring it safely down; the last chapter is more Keystone Cops than her usual high-brow Faulkner-style wit. Like the book's many outsiders (Jack's wife, the schoolteacher, an aunt newly married into the family, the judge and his wife), the reader ultimately succumbs to the charm and magnetism of the Banner community. Any attempt to resist is just a losing battle.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great use of conversational humor,
By A Customer
This review is from: Losing Battles (Paperback)
A friend of mine challenged me to find an example of a book that displays the one thing that remains Southern in our late 20th-century culture, and with Eudora Welty's "Losing Battles," I found it! Southern families have been strung across American since the end of World War II, but the one thing that keeps us together is the family reunion. Welty's work reconfirms this, and with her gift of conversational writing, created a masterpiece. If you're lonely for a bit of catching up on family information, even though the one depicted here may not be your own family, this one is it!
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Oh Miss Welty--how you can tell a story!,
By
This review is from: Losing Battles (Paperback)
It's true--hardly anything happens in this book--but I found the natural descriptions so beautiful--almost impresionistic and the unraveling of all the "tales" so fascinating! At first I was wondering how I could possibly be interested in the jailbird--Jack Renfro. But his own family loves him so. And I loved his darling little red-headed ex-schoolmarm wife. The irony of him saving the judge who sentenced him! It's so very funny. I laughed out loud. It's hard to tell who all the uncles and aunts are--but just read on--the stories will get told and it will become clear.
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