Quite the Other Way [Hardcover]

Kaylie Jones (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A compulsion to fill in the missing pieces of her father's life draws Clinton Gray to the Gorky Institute in Moscow. Between classes and wary but amorous clinches with a fellow American student, she tracks down Russians who can shed light on why her father's sojourn as a journalist in the U.S.S.R. during World War II had such a radical effect on his later life. Jones ( As Soon as It Rains ) expertly mines Moscow's contradictions in the age of glasnost , shaping spirited, generally unconventional, Russian characters: greedy, childish Rita; Yelena Davidovna, a serene, elderly artist who had loved the elder Gray; Andrej, a play wright who shuffles aside wives, children and a querulous mother in pursuit of Clintonor at least her U.S. passport. The American characters (particularly a stereotypical New York Puerto Rican) fare less well, but while Jones's writing is uneven, it is substantial and almost always beguiling.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 415 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (February 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385241194
• ISBN-13: 978-0385241199
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,608,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've published five novels, including A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES, CELESTE ASCENDING, and SPEAK NOW. My newest book is LIES MY MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME, my first memoir. I am the only daughter of the novelist James Jones, who wrote the WWII trilogy FROM HERE TO ETERNITY, THE THIN RED LINE, and WHISTLE.

A SOLDIER'S DAUGHTER NEVER CRIES was made into a Merchant-Ivory film starring Kris Kristofferson, Leelee Sobieski, Jesse Bradford, Barbara Hershey, and Isaac de Bankole.

I chair the James Jones First Novel Fellowship, which awards $10,000 annually to an unpublished first novel. During the past 15 years, 12 of the winners have been published to impressive critical acclaim.

I teach creative writing in the MFA Writing and Literature program at Stony Brook Southampton and at the Wilkes University MFA program in professional writing.

I live in New York with my husband, daughter, and two mixed-breed mutts, Layla and Natalie.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, December 23, 1999

By 

Nicole (Englewood, NJ, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Quite the Other Way (Hardcover)

I found this book to be excellent! It was the first, but certainly not the last, book that I read by Kaylie Jones. I like not only the image of life in 1980s Russia, but also the description of the lifestyles of 20-somethings. Ms. Jones' characterizations cut across racial, national, and socioeconomic lines. I've read this book literally hundreds of times, and I'm sure that I'll read it hundreds more.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read and captures the essence of living abroad, October 24, 2005

By 

R. Smith "eggplantfrog" (Kansas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quite the Other Way (Hardcover)

Easily Kaylie Jones' best work. I wonder how much of this book is memoir and how much is fiction.

Anyone who has done a study abroad will relate to Quite The Other Way. This is the first writing I have found that delves into the reverse culture shock one feels upon returning to the United States. She captures the agony of leaving friends, but to have left friends in USSR was worse, because there was always the uncertainty of whether or not she would ever see them again.

It was even better because we knew how the Soviet Union would eventually turn out. What a privelege for Jones to have been able to study and live in the USSR. Makes me wish I had gone before it changed so much.

I wondered why she put up with Rita as long as she did. Was it politeness? Or did she not want to give up even one Russian friend?

The book ended just where it should have, with her return home. I wondered what happened to her relationship and I was glad she wouldn't be alone. Left me with questions, which I think is a very satisfying ending.

Great book. I am enjoying watching Kaylie Jones develop as an author. She is a great story teller, and I believe her greatest work is yet to come.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great writing for an underappreciated author, May 2, 2010

By 

Lawrence D. Zeilinger (Gretna, LA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Quite the Other Way (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is by Kaylie Jones, the daughter of the great WWII and beyond novelist James Jones. It centers on a student trip to Russia. Long out of print but masterfully written, it gives a great look at and insight regarding pre-Glasnost Russia and its cultures and mores. Kaylie also wrote "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries"(film version w/Kris Kristofferson) and her latest "Lies My Mother Never Told Me." She's a terrifically under-appreciated writer and she's also a writer's writer. Also has written several other books and is an MFA writing teacher.