Customer Reviews

The Persian Pickle Club

5 star:		(55)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I picked this novel up right after finishing Dallas' "The Diary of Mattie Spenser" (my first experience with Dallas -- loved it!). So, I was extremely happy to discover that Persian Pickle is even BETTER than "D of M S"! This one is set in a small rural Kansas town during the Depression, where a close-knit community is struggling against the hard times together. The women are particularly close as they all belong to a quilting club they call "The Persian Pickle Club" (I'll let you read the book to find out what a "persian pickle" is). Their quiet town is shaken up a little when the son of one of the local farmers returns, bringing his fiery new wife Rita with him. Rita aspires to be a journalist so she can get a job in the city (she hates farming) and when the bones of a man are found buried in a field, she jumps at the chance to get the scoop. Her investigation, however, brings her dangerously close to a secret the Pickles (who by this time have come to adore Rita and have made her a member of the club despite the fact she's wretched at quilting) have sworn to keep. She eventually has to decide whether her loyalties lie with her career goals or with her new friends. The characters in this story are wonderful (in fact, the narrator of this one, Queenie Bean, reminded me a lot of Mattie Spenser, which is a good thing) and by the end I was actually very envious of their friendships and their community (born too late). I highly, highly recommend this and can't wait to read the one remaining Dallas novel I haven't gotten to yet (forgot the title). I'm thinking I'll save it, though, as her next book isn't due out until October, 2000.

A truly serendipitous find. Initially attracted by the book's title, I could not tear myself away until I had finished reading it. I often think that the best books are those that transcend/defy genre classification, and 'The Persian Pickle Club'certainly does this, with its assorted elements of fictional slice-of-life tale, mystery, comedy, tragedy, and philosophical questioning of the fundamental nature of right and wrong.

Set in a small town in Depression-era Kansas, the novel's plot revolves around the lives and relationships of the members of a multi-generational women's quilting group. Through Ms. Dallas' deft handling of language, character development and detail, the reader is transported to this other time and place as these wonderful women support one another in facing life's various joys and curveballs -- friendship, love, marriage, infertility, death, economic difficulties, etc. And, if all of the foregoing were not enough, there is an intriguing murder mystery thrown in, the resolution of which underscores the very special nature of friendship between women.

My only regret is that this book had to end. Don't delay -- read it soon, and pass it on. Like a good friendship, it is something to be savored and shared.

My grandparents and great-grandparents, the Butlers and the Fouts, owned farms probably on the exact land Sandra Dallas places her story. I spent many a summer break helping out on the farm. The pickle club so matches the politeness, rhythm, dialect, and pace of my grandmother's and the extended families' speech that I cried at the rememberences. The stories "Bean", as my grandfather was known (omigosh, "Queenie Bean" a coincidence?), and my father told me of growing up in the depression echoed the sincere care, concern, and poverty-stricken generosity neighbors shared during that time.

How the ladies treated Rita and strangers is exactly the way my great-aunts would act. Even the phrases of speech must be verbatim remembrances from Ms. Dallas' research. Knowing my relatives from the depression generation, the solution to the mystery is quite conceivable.

The story was a pleasant read but obviously I saw nuances in it that the normal reader cannot appreciate. Trust me, Sandra has done an awesome job of describing the people and the period in the flint hills area outside Topeka. One should read this book to truly understand our mid-American heritage and character. The plot is just a vehicle to get to that knowledge.

As a hook, the title is sufficiently intriguing to entice readers to this book. The "Persian Pickle" is Kansas jargon for the paisley pattern; a piece of paisley fabric is cherished there by a group of women who regularly get together to make quilts, just as their mothers had done before them and they expect their own daughters to do in turn. This is a short book dense with emotion and import. The characterizations are excellent and the writing is lyrical. The Pickle ladies do more than quilt, of course, they comfort and support one another through all of life's vageries. Since the story is set during the Depression, there are plenty of tough times for them to rise above and, in fact, they accept those hardships with grace. When the bride of a local farmer's son joins them, their insularity and unthinking acceptance of their community's rhythms gets held up for examination through her far more worldly eyes. The picture painted by Sandra Dallas is a detailed one of life on the prairie at the beginning of modern times. The women are real enough to feel like a reader's friends, and the book--and the relationship--ends much too quickly. But the story has been told, the secret the ladies shared revealed. In the greatest tribute to any author, the tale lingers on in the mind of her reader. And in the process, Dallas' readers even learn quite a bit about the fine art of quilting!

My second venture into the writing of Sandra Dallas took me to Harleyville, Kansas, again in the depression era, and into the lives of the farm community there with its tightly knit quitting club. My curiosity about the title of Dallas' book led me in, and once again I discovered her artful way of meshing a group of women, friends by community links, and introducing a mystery that seems dangerous to solve. Queenie and Grover are the rocks of the novel's community. But Rita's determination drives the story to a surprising solution. I wondered if this book would in any way link to Butte and the location of Dallas' first book. I was delighted to know that it did, in the most subtle of ways. I believe that Sandra Dallas knows what makes for good reading for women. I highly recommend this book as well as her first. Her obvious knowledge of people makes her characters both real and memorable. A comfortable read.

Fast moving story line, introduces the reader to the Persian Pickle quilting club members their families, neighbors and concerns. In depression era, drought-ridden Kansas, these women reveal lots of courage and loyalty, in spite of personal annoyances among themselves. The quilting activity is an on-target metaphor for their individual lives and friendships.

This book was a touching story about friendship between women. Much like the Ya-Ya's The Pickle (as they call themselves) is a long standing group of women friends that get together to quilt and gossip. While they always invite new members to join they must learn the ways of the group.

As the women quilt they share their lives - the ups and downs of marriage, parenting and widowhood. Somewhere in there they also help save their desolate town and solve a mystery. But mostly they show the joys of friendship.

The story is honest and homey. I really enjoyed the characters and the simplicity of the writing really worked with the novel as it was about this group of women in the early 1900's.

While short, the story will pull you in and make you wish you knew how to quilt!

Set in Kansas during the 1930's, a group of women gather together for quilting and friendship. It's a wonderful example of how women of all ages and backgrounds can come together under one common element, such as quilting. The book focuses on Queenie Bean, a young wife and quilter who takes you on a journey of loyalty, compassion, friendship and love. Queenie's newly acquired friend Rita is more interested in solving a mystery and making a name for herself than making friends. She soon learns just what true friendship is all about. A beautiful story that will leave you wanting to join this remarkable group of ladies who call themselves The Persian Pickle Club.

Suffused with tender compassion for common women, "The Persian Pickle Club" celebrates the quiet strength and genuine decency Depression-era women generated for and with each other. Set in the rural backwaters of Harveyville, Kansas, Sandra Dallas' novel deftly interweaves a fascinating set of dynamics: a women's quilting club and an unsolved homicide. The Persian Pickle Club provides a haven for overworked and Depression-stunned farm women; their quilts represent the tenacity of friendship, the endurance of community, and the prevalence of beauty in a part of the country that suffers terribly from economic want. The unsolved homicide permits the author to introduce a citified "outsider" to the club; her defiant eccentricities endear her to the friendship-starved protagonist, Queenie Bean, and alienate her from the stodgy regularity of other club members. The unsolved homicide tests the limits of community and drives both the protagonist and her newfound friend, Rita, to discover the truth to the case and the depths of their relationship.

Sandra Dallas is at her best in her evocative descriptions of the impact of the Great Depression on what was once a cohesive, optimistic community. The certainties of rural life begin to dissolve as unemployed drifters regularly appear on the fringes of community life. Queenie's big-hearted husband, Grover, slowly emerges as the conscience of the novel, welcoming those down-and-outers with sensitivity and honorable charity. The author's characterizations of the Joe Blue Massie family, a destitute quartet who come to share the land with Queenie and Grover, ring with authenticity. Ms. Dallas also treats the issues of community conscience, social responsibility, female frustration and shared destiny with considerable dignity.

Ironically, it is the actual descriptions of the quility club which ring somewhat hollow. What should have been the strength of the novel and that which other reviewers have praised appeared to be the weakest aspect of "The Pesian Pickle Club." The ensemble of women who gathered weekly never seemed to gain much dimension. Readers may well find themselves aswirl in a sea of characters, all of whom are decent enough, but most of whom lack depth and complexity. To borrow a metaphor from the novel, the stitching of the characters is clumsy and amateurish. Given the power and sophistication of Dallas' treatment of theme and setting, this flaw is all the more noticeable.

Gracefully written and driven by a fascinating friendship between the polarities of city-county, naivete-sophistication, "The Persian Pickle Club" is a capable novel. It simply lacks depth in characterization, and that flaw retards the novel from attaining its honorable goal of not only lauding female friendship, but fully explaining it.

At first I was fascinated by the names of the characters -- Queenie, Septima, Ceres, Forest Ann, and more -- were those common names in Kansas during the Depression? I don't know, but that is just one feature of this book that is thought provoking. Sandra Dallas deals with many women's issues in this book that are still with us today -- single mothers, unwanted pregnancy, domestic violence, career fulfillment, adoption -- it is humbling to remember that the baby boomers didn't invent theses issues and that feminists haven't solved them. This book is good on so many levels, I think it is one of the best books I've ever read.