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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rocky Comfort is a great coming of age Ozarks story!,
By
This review is from: Rocky Comfort (Hardcover)
Rocky Comfort is an accurate and moving account of rural life set in the Ozarks following the Great Depression, and on through post World War II era America. In this gritty, no-holds-barred memoir, the author Wayne Holmes recalls his experiences growing up with next to nothing but two brothers, two sisters and his unequally yoked parents. Holmes graphically narrates the severe living conditions all of them endured as they sharecropped, raised livestock, and constantly traveled between Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas to escape the soul-crushing poverty of the region. The rather candid stories are exceptionally vivid and Holmes's first-person delivery skillfully illustrates the book's agrarian setting in such three-dimensional depth that even those of us who have never used hound-dogs to hunt squirrels at night, or had to wear government issue clothes to school, or plowed a rough patch of sod with a team of ornery horses, can still appreciate the quality of his ordeals.
Mr. Holmes' book combines a compelling mix of interesting homespun anecdotes, vibrant personalities and colorful scenery, yet the reader should not mistake this story for some feel-good Huckleberry Finn imitation. To the contrary, Mr. Holmes has produced a manuscript with Rocky Comfort that contains several courageously honest admissions in which he lays bare his soul for all to see. A number of these disturbing revelations obviously must have emanated from some of his most painful and traumatic memories. Holmes writes about real people, with real problems, especially his own family--warts and all. The ongoing love/hate relationship Holmes shares with his father is truly heartbreaking and his tales if past sexual encounters contain enough lurid detail to make even the most jaded if readers cringe with revulsion. Despite the book's hard edge, it is also a source of inspiration which provides a breath of fresh air for today's material obsessed generation. While Holmes's accounts of squalor and deprivation are indeed harrowing, he also manages to convey a sense of tight familial togetherness, mutual respect, and perseverance; perhaps best evidenced by his elderly Grandparent's affection toward each other despite decades of marriage throughout lean times. Holmes' personal stories of self-reliance, delayed gratification and personal sacrifice are exactly what this current generation needs to hear. Back before internet social networks, cell-phones and indoor plumbing became ubiquitous, most Ozarkers, and many other Americans living outside of big cities, lived much like the characters in Rocky Comfort. If you're looking for a warm and fuzzy, travel-guide type book which is set in the Ozarks, then pass on this one. But if you're in the market for an unflinching look at a real slice of Americana, then you must own Rocky Comfort.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great story about Growing up,
By
This review is from: Rocky Comfort (Hardcover)
This book was inspiring and compelling and most important fun to experience. We read how poor and under privileged kids from developing countries struggle, but here is a story from America about the difficulties encountered growing up in the Ozarks during the depression. My only complaint is the last chapter makes you relive the loss of a parent, every other chapter made you feel good, or at least entertained you for awhile.
I was far from growing up poor, but I never once felt lost reading this book. I enjoyed and respected the straightforward, sincere and passionate way Wayne narrates his experiences. I think there's much to contemplate in "taking responsibility for our lives," and "small things that happen to us stay with us through out life". I especially loved reading about a boy's trouble doing a good job of sinning. I just love Wayne Holmes' story, basically. I think everyone should pick this book up and give it a look. I learned a lot. It was a fascinating story that made me feel like growing up is one amazing, incredible, miraculous event and gave me a newfound appreciation and interest in what's normal for each of us as we go through life.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
DON'T LET THIS ONE SLIP BY UNREAD! This one will stick with you for a long, long time!,
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Rocky Comfort (Hardcover)
My goodness what a pleasing surprise this work was! As a hobby (one of many) I have been reading of, writing of and musing over the culture found here in the Ozark region of our country for quite a number of years now. In my research I have read and collected literally dozens and dozens of first hand accounts, many like this one, which are written records of growing up in this area. Many deal with the depression era and post depression period, again as this one does. What separates this work from the majority of the books in this genre is that Holmes can actually write! This work is an absolute delight.
Now before I go on, I must say that I grew up in the same area as the author, the town of Cassville. I hunted the same woods, fished the same streams and ran dogs over the same areas. It must be remembered that my mobility was much greater than that of the authors during his time. The author is approximately ten years older than I am and I never met him, but I certainly know many of the individuals mentioned in this book and have a sneaking suspicion that I flirted with the younger sisters of many of the girls this writer dated while growing up; usually with the same disastrous and disappointing results. I can assure you that the author knows his material, knows this area of the country, and I can also assure you that the author has been brutally honest in all that he writes. The author grew up in a very poor area of the United States during very troubled times, i.e. the great depression. It should also be noted that this particular area of the country was probably slower to recover from that world wide disaster than many other areas. The poverty and hard times lasted well into the early 1960s and as a matter of fact, if a person does a bit of searching, there are still pockets of it here and there that have not changed all that much. Anyway, the author grew up with and as the poorest of the poor. I cannot lay claim to that, and in fact grew up on the complete opposite end of the economic scale. Never-the-less, a great many of my friends and acquaintances were in the same predicament as the author. His was not an isolated circumstance. I mentioned above that the author has been brutally honest. So many of these coming of age recollections one finds have been, and are greatly exaggerated. Old men embellish their childhood stories...it is in the nature of old men to do so. Not so with Wayne Holmes. What you read is about as close to the truth as you are liable to find. Holmes's story is well told. He touches on issues that most writers of personal memoirs will not go near. The language is this book is not all that offensive simply because it is real, used in a realistic way and is not in any way gratuitous. It can best be described as "earthy." For those of you that may be offended by some of the words the author uses, and uses correctly in context of the story he is telling, need to hang out at their local high school for a week or so. The language the kids use today make the language of that era sound like a bunch of kids on a church picnic...with the preacher present. The author addresses such issues as religion, sex, family problems, social ills, and so much more in a straight forward manner. It takes a certain nerve to address the family dynamics discussed in this work, and the author has done so in an unflinching manner, and I might add, with class. He simply tells us how it was. I like and admire that. Two other works come to my mind when I read this one. First was Ferrol Sams' Run with the Horsemen (Penguin Contemporary American Fiction Series), a semi-autobiographical novel set in the South and the other was A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck. If the reader was offended by some of the scenes or episodes in either of these works, then they may have problems with this one. Personally I though the first two were great bits of writing, which is the way I felt of this work. Winding through this book we find a constant love/hate relationship between a son and his father. Again, this was rather common (still is, I am sure). The reader needs to remember that while we are talking about a different breed back then (as far as fathers are concerned), human emotions have not changed all that much over the years. This aspect of the story is quite touching and as one other reviewer has stated, quite sad. Another aspect of this work that the reader needs to take close note of is the religious experiences of this young man. This too was extremely sad. This is something else he and I shared. After what he, I and quite a number of young people went through in that day and time, it is surprising that there is still a functioning church anywhere in the country. I am sorry to report that in many instances, things have not changed all that much in many ways over the years. No student of the Ozarks and indeed no student of the Depression and Post Depression era should let this one slip by. Now I hate with a passion the term "regional writer," as I strongly feel a good story is a good story no matter the geographic location. Hey, you don't call Mark Twain a regional writer simply because he wrote about the Mississippi do you? That being said, I do feel that those living is this particular area of the country will find this book of greater interest than some, but the message here, the story told is universal in nature and certainly should not be ignored by those living in other parts of our country. It should also be noted, that like the author, many, many children of this time period and being raised under similar circumstances, turn out to be quite successful in life...not all of course, but a surprisingly large number did. This gives one great hope for the future. Bottom line is that is an excellent read and one that will stick with you for quite some time after reading. I do highly recommend it. Don Blankenship The Ozarks
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