Patchwork: American Series (Harvest American Writing) [Paperback]

Karen Osborn (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest American Writing | Publication Date: October 16, 1992

This stunning first novel describes a complex world of domestic disharmony, forbidden love, and family secrets festering through generations. In alternating voices, two sisters and the daughter of a third piece together their family's history in a South Carolina mill town. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Harvest American Writing series

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Poet Osborn's engrossing, well-crafted, poignant first novel examines both the harshness and the joy that meet three sisters in the mill town of Ash Hill, S.C. Full of brisk, true-to-life dialogue and action, the chapters are narrated alternately by Rose, strong and spiritual; Lily, the sexy, restless, good-time girl; June, the sheltered, unstable artist; and Sylvia, the daughter whom June can't remember and whom Rose raises as her own. In old age, Rose shares her home with her sisters once more, as Lily nurses her bitterness after two unfulfilling marriages and June lives in a comfortable fantasy world delineated by her paintings and her selective memory. Sylvia, who has gone to college and built a career as a travel writer, returns to Ash Hill to make peace with her turbulent past, realizing that "although Lily, June and Rose lived together and had shared much of what had happened in their lives, each one still held on to a separate way of seeing those events . . . . They'd all lived apart, alone."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

This is the story of a poor South Carolina mill town family as told through the interwoven voices of three women. There is Rose, who is solidly good and constant; her wild, incorrigible sister Lily; and Sylvia, the intelligent daughter of their third sister, emotionally fragile June. From their varied perspectives interspersed through time from 1930 to 1981, the tumultuous saga is pieced together detailing the glories and insults of their lives. The writing is compelling and colored with rural dialect and idioms, but the separate voices skipping intervals of time make it sometimes difficult to track the connecting threads between each individual account. Perhaps this was the author's artistic and metaphorical intent--to create a "patchwork" story rather than one from whole cloth. Recommended.
-Shei la Riley, Smithsonian Inst. Libs., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (October 16, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156713659
• ISBN-13: 978-0156713658
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,751,689 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Read, but Disappointing Towards the End, December 14, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Patchwork (Hardcover)

Karen Osborn's novel contains all the elements I like. The story, which starts in the thirties and ends in contemporary times, is based in a declining mill-town, and is told through the alternating voices of three women connected to the mill. The characters all feel realistic and believable, as well as do the tensions between the characters. The descriptions of the mill feel both historically accurate and "lived."

By the end of the book, I start to feel like I should have liked the book more than I did. Osborn seems to lose her trust in the audience around the middle of the novel, and begins to summarize points she's already made (in case we didn't "get it" through her story-telling), and the allusions to the textile metaphor (both weaving and quilting) that she builds throughout the book become more obvious and stretched.

All in all, this novel is a fun read, especially if you don't think the novel through too much. Read this book for entertainment only and you won't be disappointed.

Michelle Cox