One Mississippi: A Novel [Library Binding]

Mark Childress (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 29, 2008

When Daniel Musgroves family moves to a small Mississippi town at the beginning of his junior year, he faces all the pain and thrills of adolescence, with extra helpings of hormones and humiliation. But then he meets Tim, a fellow outsider, and the two become fast friends. You only need one best friend, Daniel reasons, to make it through high school alive. Together, they negotiate the triumphs and tribulations of junior year: going to the prom in sky blue tuxesit is 1973, after allplaying in an original Baptist musical entitled Christ!, and an unforgettable encounter with their secret heroes, Sonny and Cher. But when the first-ever black prom queen of Minor High School is hit by a car and emerges from her coma believing shes white, Daniel and Tim find themselves caught up in a shocking chain of events that leads to a shattering climax. In the spirit of Richard Russo and Tom Perrotta, Mark Childress is one of our sharpest and most keen-eyed chroniclers of small-town life. ONE MISSISSIPPI is his most ambitious and accomplished novel yet.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When his father is relocated from Indiana to Minor, Miss., in 1973, 16-year-old Daniel Musgrove finds himself a classic fish out of water. At Minor High, the Midwestern teenager finds a kindred spirit in wiseacre Tim Cousins, whose motto is "Everything is funny all the time." The two indulge their love of Sonny and Cher, get recruited by a local Baptist church to perform in an amateur musical called Christ! and endure the bullying of football star Red Martin. When, on prom night, the boys accidentally run over Arnita Beecham, a beautiful, popular black girl, the boys flee, letting Red take the fall. Arnita wakes from her coma believing she's white and promptly falls for Daniel—which makes Tim extremely jealous and puts their coverup at risk. Childress's comic tone and well-written adolescent confusion make his late shift into darker territory jarring, and readers might not follow him all the way to his violent destination. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School–Just as Daniel Musgrove is about to enter 11th grade in the early '70s, his father moves the family from Indiana to rural Mississippi. A few months later, Daniel's older brother, and best friend, joins the Army, and Daniel finds a new best friend, Tim. Both boys are bright, witty, and living with secret demons. Chief among Daniel's is his father, a bully and a coward. When Tim and Daniel double date for the junior prom, the teens have an accident on the way home and cause the prom queen to fall off her bike and hit her head. Childress's inspection of race relations–among schoolmates, adults, and lovers–builds from this point: the prom queen of the newly integrated high school is black, but the injury leaves her believing that she is white. The boys hang the accident on a bullying football player, but the girl's mother knows Daniel was involved and uses that knowledge to gain power over him. Tim's secret begins to erupt during the summer, although Daniel, preoccupied with his obligations to and feelings for the prom queen, misses warning signs. Childress doesn't twist the plot so much as he unravels its threads with realistic deliberation, diverting attention from Tim by spotlighting Mr. Musgrove's literal home destruction, then swinging the focus back in time to catch Tim in his last furious act. Authenticity demands some brutal scenes and rough language, and a loaded interlude with Cher Bono. This is Daniel's story, so many of the minor characters are one-dimensional, just as they would be in his perception.–Francisca Goldsmith, Berkeley Public Library, CA
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Library Binding: 385 pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1435282892
• ISBN-13: 978-1435282896
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,170,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mark Childress is the author of seven novels: GEORGIA BOTTOMS (coming from Little, Brown in February 2011), ONE MISSISSIPPI, GONE FOR GOOD, CRAZY IN ALABAMA, TENDER, V FOR VICTOR, and A WORLD MADE OF FIRE.

Born in Monroeville, Alabama - the same town Harper Lee wrote about in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Childress is one of three sons of Roy and Mary Helen Childress. Roy was a salesman for Ralston Purina, so the family moved a lot growing up: Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, and Louisiana were some of the stops along the way.

Childress attended Clinton (Miss.) High School and the University of Alabama, where he studied fiction writing under Barry Hannah and Carole Johnson. He worked as a staff writer for the Birmingham (Ala.) News, and was Features Editor of Southern Living magazine and National Editor of The Atlanta Journal and Constitution before becoming a full-time novelist.

His articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Times of London, San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday Review, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Travel and Leisure, and other national and international publications.

"Tender," a Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selection, was named to several Ten Best of 1990 lists, and appeared on many national bestseller lists. "Crazy in Alabama," a featured selection of the Literary Guild, has been published in eleven languages and appeared on many bestseller lists and Ten Best of 1993 lists. "Crazy" was named The (London) Spectator's "Book of the Year" for 1993 and a New York Times "Notable Book of the Year," and was on the Spiegel bestseller list in Germany for 10 months.

"One Mississippi" was a BookSense Notable Book of the Year, nominated for SIBA Book of the Year,and appeared on the "hot summer book" lists of Good Morning America, People, Entertainment Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, O: the Oprah Magazine, and the New York Public Library. The paperback edition is now in its seventh printing.

Childress has also written three picture books for children, "Joshua and Bigtooth," in 1992, "Joshua and the Big Bad Blue Crabs," 1996 (both from Little, Brown), and "Henry Bobbity Is Missing And It Is All Billy Bobbity's Fault," (Crane Hill Publishers, 1996).

He wrote the screenplay of the Columbia Pictures film "Crazy in Alabama," directed by Antonio Banderas, and starring Melanie Griffith, an official selection of the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals in 1999.

Childress is now working on his eighth novel and a film project. He lives in Key West, Florida.

(Author photo by Brett Hall)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Summer Read, June 16, 2006

By 

Bama Gal (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: One Mississippi: A Novel (Hardcover)

Don't miss this darkly comic book. The hilarity of the first chapter alone is worth the cover price. I was immediately transported back to my teen years in the 1970's. My husband and I were howling in recognition before page 10. Childress, as always, finds ways to help us rethink family, race and religion. We're left wondering whether to laugh or cry. We can't help laughing at his crazy characters and crying as we identify with their full-blown humanity.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Growing Up Is Hard to Do, July 1, 2006

By 

Wantz Upon A Time Reviews (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Mississippi: A Novel (Hardcover)

Daniel Musgrove is a teenager in the early 1970s. His dad is a salesman, and his company moves him around from year to year. Now they're moving to Minor, Mississippi.

Halfway through high school, Daniel is out of place not only as a new student, but as a Yankee who couldn't care less about the integration issue. He and his new best friend, Tim Cousins, spend most of their free time together. They share their obsession for Sonny and Cher, and they go to the prom with a set of twins.

When the boys are involved in a terrible accident that seriously injures Arnita Beecham, the school's first black prom queen, life gets complicated. Daniel ends up helping the Beecham household, then helping Arnita when she gets home. Due to a major head injury, she is going through an identity crisis that devastates her family.

The chronicling of Daniel's time in Mississippi meanders through teen and adult issues, as he faces that crucial moment of leaving childhood behind. His friendship with Tim will explore dimensions he never imagined, even with the hints along the way. Despite his desire to be "cool" instead of a "brain/loser," Daniel enters this book an innocent. He will emerge from his tale something entirely different.

Childress vividly captures a difficult coming-of-age story. Racism, teen love, family, bullies, and other issues are encompassed in a seamless flow. The characters around Daniel, especially Tim, are larger than life. Viewing the 1970s South from a young "Yankee's" perspective is sometimes hilarious, sometimes heart wrenching.

This book is a half step from greatness. While I recommend this for summer reading, there is a sense of something missed. Whether it be a lesson learned--as Daniel seems to learn lessons then immediately discard them--or a larger point, there is a shadow hanging over the end. The disastrous events at the end of the novel seem to promise an epiphany that doesn't quite happen--something hard to define. Then again, maybe that is the purpose, and the reader is to find their own meaning.

Go out and read this novel. Find your truth in Daniel's words.

Reviewed by Christina Wantz Fixemer

6/20/2006

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lovely book!, July 6, 2006

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: One Mississippi: A Novel (Hardcover)

Daniel Musgrove's family has moved six times in 10 years. That's what happens when your dad is a saleman for TriDex, who moves its sales force frequently. Daniel's mother is thrilled to be moving closer to family and a place where her toes will finally be warm, but the children not.

Things quickly go from bad to crazy in characteristic Mark Childress style. On the drive to Mississippi, an accident destroys the van carrying all their belongings. Daniel and his siblings start school on the first day of court-ordered integration. A few months later their Granny dies and crazy Uncle Jacko comes to live with them.

All of these are minor happenings compared to Arnita Beecham, a beautiful black girl, winning prom queen and, later the same night, being run down by another student as she bicycles home. Suddenly the hidden tensions rise to the surface, spiraling ever farther out of control. The match that finally sets it all a-light: Arnita comes out of her coma believing she is white.

One Mississippi carries on in the trademark narrative style of Crazy in Alabama and Tender, a form descended from generations of front-porch storytelling sessions--luminously descriptive, yet full of caustic wit. Childress peoples his novels with exaggerated characters, misguided do-gooders and desperate loners, all in their own way demanding the reader's empathy and understanding.

The South itself is a strong character in Childress' novels, for it is only in these expertly crafted settings that his novels can exist. Time and place demand as much attention as the people.

Childress writes coming-of-age stories particularly well, effortlessly transporting the reader to the awkward days of adolescence.

"In high school it's all about how you walk down the hall--whether you stroll through the flow or dart along the edges, whether you hold the stack of books on your hip with one hand (guys) or press them two-handed to your chest (sissies and girls.) Notes are scribbled and passed, rumors fanned and blown down the hall."

One Mississippi feels like you've stepped into a world where the air is thick enough to chew, the lemonade is tart enough to kill a three-day thirst and the neighbors are friendly enough to invite y'all over for some southern fried chicken.

Armchair Interviews says: This is the perfect read for the long, hot days of summer.