Customer Reviews

The Last Noel

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

 

 

I admit to a mad passion for MOST of the work of Michael Malone, and was so sad to see he had succumbed to the temptation to write a "christmas book". I was so shocked I did not buy it- the only available Malone I don't own. Still, when my curiosity got the best of me in the library one day, I took it home and read it. And true to Malone's talent, it was readable and interesting and I got engaged by the characters and the perfect writing. Still, it isn't up to the standards of his best work (Try Foolscap or the Times Witness/Uncivil Seasons mysteries, for example) and I regret he didn't save the story for a deeper and less overtly commercial book. He's too good to be on a shelf with the likes of "The Christmas Gift".

My best friend and I have a book exchange in that we take turns choosing a book to read each month. For December I picked this book and my friend was unimpressed. I procrastinated the book because of his bad reviews until yesterday. I wasn't supposed to like it and therefore didn't for the first few pages. After that, I got hooked and read it in a day. I even stayed up this morning til 2:30 to finish it. I cried for a good hour (maybe two - I'm trying not to exaggerate) of my reading. I particularly loved the gift exchange between the two best friends. Malone captured a great deal of their love for each other in the gifts they gave. The most memorable part for me was the end, when he walked into the hall closet to get the sled and told his son "It was your mother's first gift to me....and she gave me so many". I have thought about the book all day today and grieved for Kaye, Noni, Amma and Johnny.

My husband is a professional musician and he sometimes makes fun of my choices in music. They are not musically sophisiticated enough for him. Just yesterday I heard Whitney Houston's "I will always love you" and he said he thought it had been butchered by too many singers for him to like it. The song strikes deep emotional chords for me, despite my husband's critique of it.

This book does the same despite my best friend's critique. I think when I see it on my book shelf, I will get a feeling like I do when I hear Whitney sing "I will always love you".

Amid the presents, Christmas lights, hot chocolate and the smell of Christmas trees comes a story about a friendship that defies the racial norms in Moors, North Carolina in 1963. Kaye King first met Noelle Tilden on Christmas Eve, the night before her seventh birthday and Christmas. A perchance sleigh ride on the first night of snow, turns into an interracial relationship that spans thirty years. Never able to express their love for each in a racially divided world, Noni and Kaye live their separate lives while vowing to meet every Christmas Eve for a sleigh ride at Noni's family farm. Through the many twists and turns of life, their friendship stays strong and their love for each other endures. Noni and Kaye's story teaches us that the meaning of Christmas has nothing to do with physical gifts or differences, but is about the love that surrounds us--a love that outlives any obstacles.

This is one of my all time favorite books! I read it several years ago, but have refused to donate it to my local library because I plan to read it again. I'm a big sucker for Christmas novels and again this one is my favorite. I got wrapped up in the lives of these two characters and found that I couldn't put the book down. It is a true love story at its best.

This book started out well and I enjoyed the characters. Noni was an easy to love character. I just found this to be so politically correct. I thought this book had merit and I was thankful for a few things. One Kaye stayed married. I never felt fully engrossed in the characters, that was the main thing lacking throughout the story. It is an easy read and not too boring just not great

The Last Noel started with a cute premise: a bold and intelligent friendship starting at age seven. Even the "kiss" in chapter one is intriguing. But from that point on it becomes too messy. The characters take a back seat to social commentary, the march of time, and the annoying little literary trick of introducing props to serve as titles for the upcoming chapters (hitchcock chair, hope chest, etc).
Its hard to write a book about a person's life without focusing on only the "bad" stuff - and Malone tries to attempt a double life story by covering Noel and Kaye. The result is a focus on one tragedy after another. Plus, the reader is never really given a fair chance to ever really care about Bud and Judy Tilden.
This book is filled with too many extra characters that are disposable. I never really cared about many of them and they ate a lot of print. Wade - idiot. Parker - couldn't trust (neither could Kaye). Roland - loser. grandpa Gordon - bigot. Shani - just there. No richness, just flat. Soap Opera and plodding.
It was a relatively easy read with a terribly unnecessary, and unoriginal ending.
I can't really think of anything positive to say about this book. But if I were a writing teacher, I would read chapter 1 aloud to my students, and stop right there. I would let the students then finish the story. That would be fun because chapter 1 is powerful and would provide a great prompt for creative writing.