Customer Reviews

The Little Known

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

"The Little Known," a coming of age novel set in the period just after the assassination of President John Kennedy, was written for the young adult market but there is something here for readers of all ages. On the one hand, the novel's deeply personal portrayal of the harsh nature of race relations of the time is sure to move younger readers who may have only heard about those days in more general terms. On the other, older readers will be reminded that a great deal of progress has been achieved in the last 50 years.

Things are changing very slowly for the black citizens of little Statenville, Georgia. "Knot" Crews does go to school with white kids now, but he seldom, if ever, dares to speak to one of them, and he lives with his hard-drinking mother in the same segregated part of town in which every Statenville black lives. Blacks and whites do not, by choice of both sides, mix in Statenville.

Near the end of the summer, Knot happens upon a bag of cash tossed aside by a bank robber who is trying to escape the policemen closing in on him. When Knot sees the stacks of $100-dollar bills in the sack ($100,000 worth), he carries the money home knowing full well that his conscious will never allow him to spend it - that he will almost certainly be caught if he ever tries to pass one of the hundreds. Little does Knot know, however, that this money will change his life in ways he could never imagine.

Knot is a soft hearted kid despite the fact that his mother spends more money on booze for herself than she spends on food for him. He is often hungry, and he dresses in the castoff clothing of older relatives, but so does pretty much every other kid in his neighborhood so Knot fits right in. He looks forward to Sunday church services because the old church ladies provide him with a community meal there that beats anything else he will eat during the rest of the week. Some of Knot's neighbors, though, are unluckier than others, and he decides to use some of his found money to make their lives a little easier. That is when he begins to anonymously mail single hundred dollar bills to those he believes are hurting most.

Thus begin Knot's valuable, but terribly disappointing, lessons about human nature. Seldom is his money spent for the purpose he gives it. Most of the money he gives away is spent on new television sets, bicycles, toys and liquor rather than on the clothing, food, diapers and home improvements his neighbors so desperately need. Knot is, however, happy to learn that a few hundred dollars can be enough money to give some abused women, white and black alike, the courage to leave their husbands behind for fresh starts with their children someplace else.

"The Little Known" follows Knot and his neighbors for most of a school year during which the little changes he initiates begin to have a big, cumulative impact on the neighborhood. He learns that money is not the most important thing in the world, that it cannot buy happiness or morality, and that the exact opposite is more often the case than not. Knot might never spend a dime of the bank's money on himself but the money still manages to teach him most of life's most important lessons.

Some of the sexual innuendos and implied language in the book are, I think, a little too much for middle school readers, making the book more suitable for high school age readers.

This book was a great read, a real page turner and thought provoking. I read it several months ago and find myself wanting to go back and read it again.

Knot finds 100,000 from a bank robbery in a paper sack and can't use any of it. Who would think that a young black child living in poverty in the sixties would have come by a $100 bill honestly? What he does with the money, and what the people who receive the money do - well, it makes for an engrossing story.

Knot's experiences in school mirror my own experiences with integration. Very well written book with lots of fodder for book club discussions. This small press book deserves a much larger audience.

A Kind-Hearted Boy. A Segregated Town. A Stolen Fortune.
Set during the turbulent era of the 1960's, in the small segregated town of Statenville Georgia, "The Little Known' is a unique coming-of-age story full of hope and forgiveness. The story revolves around the central character Knot Crews, a young African American boy besought with the hardships of living in a small segregated town. Despite his hardship young Knot shows kindness and generosity well beyond his years after finding a bag of stolen cash that was dropped by a thief. He decides to use his new found wealth to help those in need anonymously. Yet to his horror those whom he sought to help squander his gift. Young Knot seeks to find a way to right the wrongs, and in the process learns that money is not the solution to life's problems. (In fact money can cause more problems than one would think.)

The Author:
Born and raised in Statenville, Ga Janice Daugharty is a writer with a southern flare. Her published works included seven acclaimed novels and two short story collections. In 1997 Ms. Daugharty's novel "Earl in the Yellow Shirt" was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. More recently Ms. Daugharty has served as writer-in-residence at Valdosta State University, in Valdosta, Georgia, near her home.

The author's website at [...]
Endorsements:
"Daugharty does a fine job of demonstrating how ordinary men and women are affected, in unpredictable ways, by race, poverty and geography and by the enduring legacy of important historical moments." Francine Prose, People Magazine

"Daugharty creates a forceful character and a compelling, often even humorous narrative." Washington Post Book World

"Daugharty's ear is excellent, her language concise and precise...shrewd and colorful prose." The Atlanta-Journal Constitution

"...fans will rejoice to see Daugharty do what she does best: showcase one character, setting her off against a thousand daily details, like a diamond nestled in the shards of lesser gems." USA Today

"Swirling with details that become more disturbing the closer you look, Ms. Daugharty's portrait of Cornerville is both intimate and unsettling." The New York Times Book Review

Janice Daugharty is a natural-born writer, one of those Georgia women like O'Connor, McCullers, or Siddons who are best grown in small towns, a long way from city lights. There is a lot of red clay and long nights in every line she puts on paper." Pat Conroy

My Personal Opinion:
Both unique and compelling Janice Daugharty presents her plot with passion and finesse. Her characters, and events are portrayed in realistic form. At times you may ask yourself "Could this have really happened". The answer is that this work is fictional although the story seems like a true tell. Which showcases the author's skill and creativity. Great Job Aunt Janice, Love you

I received this as an e-book and had no problems reading it. As a matter of fact, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I felt privy to a lifestyle and thoughts I could never have experienced on my own. At least, not from that side of the highway. I found the protagonist compelling, 3-dimensional and humanly full of growing pains and morality conflicts. This is not a world I would want to live, but I feel I am a better person for having read about it. Janice Daugharty keeps the pace moving and never gives away the next turn before you flip the page. Job well done!

It was a little hard when I first started reading this book to get into it, but as I read along it grew on me. It (for me) was a view into a different world than I had ever known. I won't get into details of the story but it was a good read and I can give it 4 stars.

After my reading of this book on my Kindle, I chose it as my book to review next year for my Book Club. It has themes that I believe will be interesting to discuss and was an author that I felt was worth introducing to my group. I purchased a hard cover too- since I find it easier to use when preparing to give a talk on a book. I have also ordered several other of her books on my Kindle in order to describe other topics that she has written.

I downloaded The Little Known because it sounded interesting. It turned out to be a truly wonderful read. I loved the characters so much, I hated to finish the book. Knot is a great kid with a true dilemma -- the burden of his stolen fortune. The things he learns as he tries to help others by secretly sharing it are life-changing. His family is equally wonderful, including his alcoholic mother, struggling to survive and maintain in a hostile and dangerous world. The characters are complex and fully realized. Beautifully written book!

I had not read anything by this author before, but was not surprised to find that she was nominated for the Pulitzer. As soon as I finished The Little Known, I downloaded another of her novels. Wonderful author! Highly recommended.

The writing is atmospheric (grey & filthy) and evocative (depressing & hopeless) with great thoroughness by the use of repetitive imagery and siimilar events throughout the first half. I was on the very verge of giving up reading more when finally the plot began to develop and the characters to change and the situations to move toward possible resolutions. While this was an effective means of making me feel hopelessly depressed along with Knot, I generally read for a pleasant escape, not for angst and ennui.

I found Knot's epiphany acceptably believable, but far less evocatively written: about 3 pages worth in total of 'insight' leading to the resolution vs. 100ish of grey filth. In the end I was glad I persevered and finished this book... it is thought provoking and has a valuable social commentary to make. It may very well be an excellent book to stimulate discussion ... however ... I would not recommend it for a pleasure read unless you are one who also seeks enjoyment in the contrast when the self induced pain ceases.

If you haven't yet read "The Little Known" by Janice Daugharty, you are missing a fine story.

Knot Crews, 12 years old and living in the segregated South of the 60's, doesn't expect much from life, and has but one wish... to belong in a real family. One day, while riding a borrowed bike, Knot finds an abandoned paper sack of stolen bank money... lots of money! The quandry of what to do with this money, leads Knot and us through the tale.

This finely written and thought-provoking story will lead me (and other readers) to more books by Janice Daugharty, and publisher, Bell Bridge Books.

Thank you for reading this review.

A young black boy in a segregated southern town in the 1960s finds a fortune in stolen money. But what can he do with it? A hundred dollar note isn't exactly legal tender for a boy of the wrong color, and a few pence would be much more useful. Still, Knot Crews is resourceful and kind; he comes up with lots of interesting schemes, none of which work out how he's planned, but all of which sound achingly plausible and real. During the course of a year, Knot learns about himself and his family and neighbors and grows up.

Are heroes the people who are seen saving lives, or those who run away after saving lives? Are good people those who are seen going to church, or those who know their sins and keep away? Are family those who you see very day, or those who choose to live with and stand by you? And who cares for whom?

Knot has to learn who he is, who his mother is, and who his family and friends might yet become. There's a preacher visiting the church in town who promises dreams. There's a white girl falling apart. There are black kids who find it easier to stay invisible if they're alone. And there's hope--bought, not with stolen cash, but with brave deeds born of grave need.

I really enjoyed this book, for its human touch, for a very real-seeming boy, for a dark place where the sun keeps shining, and for the atmosphere and scenes that grow with the child till scary forest is just a bunch of trees.

Disclosure: I heard about this book from BelleBooks and got it free in a deal.