Place Called Estherville [Paperback]

Erskine Caldwell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

With a true American voice, Caldwell presents a searing view of the tragic struggles of a black brother and sister in their attempt to survive the racism and perverse sexuality of their brutal Southern employers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Caldwell is one of the best . . .” —The Nation

 

“What William Faulkner implies, Erskine Caldwell records.” —New York Post

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 156 pages
• Publisher: McIntosh & Otis Books (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892323753
• ISBN-13: 978-1892323750
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,689,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars His best book?, January 9, 2005

By 

Kevin Killian (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Place Called Estherville (Paperback)

If you like the new ABC TV show DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES you might like to go back in literary history and see where some of the humorous and yet horrifying small town antics began, and there's no better place to start than Erskine Caldwell's searing PLACE CALLED ESTHERVILLE. There's no article before those three words, it's not called "A Place Called Estherville," it's almost as thouch Caldwell had such contempt for the town he describes he wants to spit out the title as soon as possible because it leaves a nasty taste in his mouth. (By the way, as a sidelight, the town of Caldwell, New Jersey, named in honor of America's great novelist Erskine Caldwell, is the site where some of the HBO series THE SOPRANOS is filmed.) In PLACE CALLED ESTHERVILLE, we get two separate stories that are connected together at the root, a la OLD MAN and WILD PALMS, the stories that make up William Faulkner's famous "novel" of weather and deceit. In PLACE a brother and sister come to the eponymous town and attract a certain amount of unwanted attention. Due to their mixed race background, they are physically extremely attractive, Tommy to the young white teenage girls and desperate housewives of Estherville, where he tries to make a living as a houseboy, [...]

Kathyanne, his beautiful and demure sister, can't even walk down the street without being accosted by men who treat her like she was an animal. The book is brutal and frequently obscene, and puritanical parents of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s didn't want their children, either black or white (or both), reading such trash. But today we can see with the benefit of hindsight that there wouldn't have been a socialist party without Erskine Caldwell, nor would there have been James Baldwin or indeed today's popular hip-hop.

It reads like the wind. Once you start you won't be able to put it down until the explosive ending. If everyone read this book our race problems as a nation would shrivel up and explode like so many raisins in the sun.

9 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Typical Caldwell, September 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Place Called Estherville (Paperback)

A beautiful, young teacher comes to a small southern town to teach high-school. Within a week's time, a student, a married man, and several bachelors fall in love with her and ask her to marry them. A little far-fetched, but interesting and fun. Crux of the story was the woman always wants the man she couldn't and shouldn't have and that is her downfall. In addition, the women are jealous and start scandalous rumors about her. A tense tale.

1.0 out of 5 stars Thought I would like it even with knowing contents were uncomfortable, January 11, 2012

By 

mimi - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Place Called Estherville (Kindle Edition)

I read many reviews on a book before I purchase it. I now understand why when this book first came out people were up in arms about it. I was very uncomfortable reading the first chapter of this. I love all his books but this one definately not!! I should have trusted myself and just passed on this. A waste of money for me. Didn't even make it through the first chapter. Not for the faint of heart.