Customer Reviews

She's Gone Country: Dispatches from a Lost Soul in the Heart of Dixie

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Returning home from the hospital after visiting a very ill father I noticed a book I had purchased the same night my father had his stroke. It had been forgotten on the passenger seat where it was tossed. I brought the book in with me hoping it might take my mind off my father. Kyle Spencer is a good story teller. Her observations and recollections of her experiences had me laughing out loud. If your a dreamer that has crashed and burned a few times here's someone to relate to.

The premise of this book is preposterous...that Raleigh, NC is "country" or the "Heart of Dixie." The Raliegh-Durham area, (aka the Triangle)is a congested, urban and metropolitan locale which is headquarters to IBM and Duke University, and 60% of the population is relocated northerners. The neighboring town of Cary is jokingly referred to as the "Containment are for Re-located Yankees." The fact that someone could write a book about their experiences in Raleigh and refer to it as a journey to the South, and describe culture shock related to that experience, is just ridiculous. Maybe Jackson, Mississippi, or Gulfport, Louisiana, but Raleigh? Come on...
The three stars I did give the book are based on Spencer's description of being a cub news reporter, and are the only parts I enjoyed. If the book had just been about herwork experiences, it would have been so much better. Instead, a lot of it is whining about the trials and trtibulations of growing up a well-fed New Yorker, or silliness about her experiences in "the South." Whatever...

Kyle Spencer, an aspiring newspaper reporter, leaves New York City to work at the Raleigh (North Carolina) News & Observer.

I think Spencer couldn't make up her mind what book she wanted to write, "A New York Journalist Goes South", "My Dysfunctional Family", or "How to Find a Man". So she tried to put all three together, and doesn't quite pull it off, resulting in an uneven quality to the book.

Despite the "Dysfunctional Family Tree" at the start of the book, which was amusing, those parts of the book were the least interesting, and seemed almost tacked on. I would very much have liked to have had more about her experiences at the News & Observer, and the exploits of the Ten Thousand Angels Committee (four women looking for men for themselves and each other) were pretty funny.

She's a good writer, but she needed someone to force her to choose among three good themes.

Few books make you laugh out loud as well as sob. This book does it! I liked it much better than "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood." A story about a twenty something New Yorker struggling in the south to make it both personally and professionally is a page turner. And it is true! This is not fiction, but a memoir. Although some men might think this was a "chick book," my husband read it on my recommendation and enjoyed it enormously. There is a scene in an airplane that was so funny that I will never forget it. Parts about the author's father were incredibly touching. The book is well written and, like all of the best books, leaves you wanting more. I can't wait for Kyle Spencer's next book!

I left the hospital saddened from visiting a very ill father. I needed a distraction to stop the tears. I had picked up She's gone country the very night my father had his stroke. The book sat on the passenger seat where it was thrown for a week. I noticed the book while parking my car at home and decided perhaps it would give me something else to think about. Kyle Spencer (the author) kept me company and told me events and observations that actually made me laugh out loud. If your a dreamer that has crashed and bured a time or two read this book. Thanks Kyle you turned off the saddness while you told me your story.

I was interested in reading what a Northerner had to say about Raleigh. I wasn't too offended by her representations of Raleigh, but was very offended by her needless and painful descriptions of her family and of her own behavior. I don't think I'd want to speak to her if I were one of the family members she chose to excoriate.

In the end, though slightly amused occasionally, I couldn't figure out what her point was in writing this book. Also, I was very interested to read in another review of this book that she graduated from the journalism school at Chapel Hill. Not exactly culture shock to move to Raleigh.

Affable, quirky, searching for a spot to call home when she is already there, Kyle Spencer's use of detailed descriptions and witty one liners - a combination of Southern charm and New York savvy - make this book a great read. Similiar to Hemingway's time in Europe, with a full champagne glass and a lust for life, Ms Spencer writes an interesting tale of a young woman with the best of intentions, trying to make it through this journey we call "life".

I knew this family when Kyle Spencer was a child, 7 to 10 years old. I used to work with her stepmother, "Shelby" (not her real name) and she and I also became friends. I know that "Shelby" had high hopes for her marriage to Kyle's father, and for her new found family, and had put a lot of energy into making it work. She and Kyle had also been very close when Kyle was a child. I finished up this book feeling very sad for my friend, because of the way things had turned out. The writing style itself will hold your attention, although I did see two writing errors which the proofreader should have caught and corrected before the book went to press.

Actually, I think because I grew up and spent the first 18 years of my life living in Texas...I could relate to this book more. Even though Kyle and I are around the same age, we come from two very opposite lives and we're two very different people; but I was absolutely able to bond with her through the book. I will have to admit though, I couldn't relate at all to the fashion sense and brand names (mostly clothing and shoes) mentioned on almost every page. I wear Levis, sweatshirts, and shoes bought at Sears...much of the name dropping regarding clothes went over my head!

Don't let any of this fool you, the book is NOT a jab at southern people or living...it is more about Kyle's need to find herself and a place to call home. Overall this book was an easy, light read and it had me literally laughing out loud, especially during the water skiing episode!

I loved this book. It was funny, witty and insightful. Anyone who's been single, had to deal with a loony relative or two, and/or turned to their friends in times of crises (and that's all of us) will connect to Kyle Spencer's story.