Customer Reviews

Somehow Form a Family: Stories That Are Mostly True

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Tony Earley's third book consists of ten previously published pieces that in his introduction he says he hesitates to call essays but rather stories "mostly true because memory, like imagination, is largely a function of individual perception." So there you have it. At least, unlike the plethora of recently published writers who either don't seem to understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction or choose to ignore it, Mr. Earley acknowledges the difficulty of keeping the two completely separate. The "pieces" cover a variety of topics and for the most part have little in common with each other except the fine writing of the author.

I reread most of the articles and found myself liking them better the second time. I attribute that to Mr. Earley's attempt at honesty and his expertise with words and finally my seeing myself and members of my family in many of his pieces. (He also in his introduction hopes that his readers recognize themselves here.) How many writers would admit to something so politically incorrect as trying to kill a sick cat to put it out of its misery? ["Shooting The Cat"] His language is impeccable. On an autumn morning in North Carolina, a window was "intricately jeweled with frost." Dan Ledbetter (Earley's grandfather) at 6'4" was "so skinny that he seemed to have been constructed from spare parts." And the above-mentioned cat, in healthier days "had come to Granny's house in the usual way: it showed up on the back steps freshly weaned and mewed solicitiously, as if seeking work." I recognize the author's blue Carolina mountains, the Tennessee sighting of which always takes my breath away. Also, in the title piece, Mr. Earley remembers the bad reception of his family's Admiral television built in the 1950's and understood that his family was poor because they owned a black and white set too heavy for Hoss on "Bonanza" (my dad's favorite TV program) to pick up by himself. Mr. Earley also includes a thoughtful chapter on the uniqueness of words he heard in his childhood and is saddened that in only a generation these "colorful" expressions will die. ["The Quare Gene"] In a moving passage he remembers visiting his maternal greatgrandfather "well into his nineties" and being asked by the family patriarch, "Who are you?" The youngster replied, "I'm Reba's boy. Clara Mae's grandson." (At family reunions in East Tennessee, although I'm fairly sure my past is longer than my future, I am always referred to simply as "Frank's boy" and will remain forever nameless.)

In "A Worn Path," Mr. Earley traces his religious upbringing as a child at Rock Springs Baptist Church, his later flirtation with the Episcopal Church because he "loved the smell of incense as much as. . . the smell of beer," his attempts at atheism and finally his peace, (sort of) believing that he is watched over by a loving God and that "as we walk through the world, even along the dangerous paths we have chosen for ourselves, God worries about where we put our feet."

Regardless of who you are, where you are from, whether or not you believe in God or think you should kill sick cats, you will marvel at Mr. Earley's beautifully burnished prose. We can all be thankful that in spite of the fact that as a youngster, he seems to have watched television day in and day out, he still grew up to be a fine writer.

Tony Earley's book drew me in immediately...from the first page, the writing is captivating. As he walks the reader through his life from a prepubescent age until he becomes much of the man he is today, it is hard not to see his family, hear their laughter and their tears. His writing is easy to identify with...we all remember having emotions like those that he goes through. There is a face the reader can visualize for every character that appears. There is a voice for every person. This book is amazing.

I've read Earley's other two books--both of which were truly excellent--and I had high expectations for this effort, but was somewhat disappointed.

The trademark gentleness that marks Early's other work isn't as deftly handled here. Some of the stories don't really amount to much. Because the book is largely autobiographical I get the sense the material constrained the writer in ways fiction wouldn't.

Actually, to my mind the best writing in the book is the introduction where Early explains the "Mostly True" aspect of the title, wherein he muses about the clarity of memory and the ways in which it changes over time.

This isn't a bad little book. It just pales in comparisons to both Tony's other book of short stories or his Jim the Boy novel. Try one of those if you liked this one--you're in for a treat if you do.

In the first essay in this amazing book, Somehow Form a Family, Tony Early writes; "I wanted to tell her that no one in my family ever raised their voice while the television was on, that late at night even a bad television show could keep me from hearing the silence in my own heart." That sentence caused my own heart to stop for a second. I put the book down and returned to it the next day. Tony Early writes in simple, concise English. There are no glossy, shiny adjectives. Each word is exact and to the point and utterly perfect. Jim the Boy was one of my most favorite books last year. Somehow Form A Family will I think, become a fixture in my home. One to be read and re-read for years to come. I better get another copy!

At least that's what I tell myself when I sit down to drink up the words and prose that Tony Earley puts on paper when he's writing and not teaching over at Vanderbilt University! (I'm just playing, of course.) Earley's works, two short collections of short stories and the stupendously written "Jim the Boy" evoke a deft blend of early Ernest Hemingway with the Southern traditions and common sense of Flannery O'Connor and Carson McCullers, among others. This collection "Somehow Form a Family: Stores That Are Mostly True" is merely another solid example of his work ethos and ability to spin a good yarn. I've read it several times and it becomes more enjoyable, as familiar and comfortable as a worn pair of shoes, each and every time. You should treat yourself to the experience, too.

This book rekindled a flame in me to write some of my memoirs for our children and grandchildren. Written with heart and humor. Evokes many childhood memories.

I met Tony Earley yesterday during the Festival of Southern Cultures at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Our group had the unique opportunity to sit with him once yesterday and once today and pick his brain about this book. It is a very amazing piece of literature, with metaphors hidden just below the rocky surface. His short stories include very insightful mantras...especially the ones about shooting the cat (not for cruelty, but out of pity) and hunting deer. I don't really know how else to describe this book, so all I can say is that you should buy it and read it as soon as possible! Also, he teaches at Vanderbilt University in Nashville if any of you go/are thinking of going there.

Tony Earley is a really great writer and this is a outstanding book! I first encountered Tony Earley in the pages of The Oxford American and his essay, "A Worn Path", which is included in this book. He is a wonderful writer and reading his essays brought back countless memories of my own life. I can't say enough about this book!

Are we born with Tabula Rasa minds ready to absorb whatever TV shows happen to be on? Or do we come equipped with Jungian categoricies into which The Brady Bunch, Gomer Pyle, USMC and Hawaii Five-O naturally fit and are recognized (having been created by fellow-sufferers of the same categories)?

How would Faulkner have re-written the opening lines of Sound and Fury if he had lived in the age of, say, the Guiding Light? Luster could have then watched soaps, instead of plain old golf.

After getting re-acclimated to the TV shows of the 60s, 70s and 80s, this book does in fact read as well as the front cover says, with a reference to how reading this is how some people seem to eat cheeseburgers: they simply "inhale" them. So he writes like a TV show, and we inhale it. But I thought reading was a more active activity than TV gaping. Hmmm.

To fit Hemingway-esque, brusque factual smatters in between TV show qoutes ("Five-O, open up") is very creative, and hard/dangerous for a writer. It's risky because it can get too cute and trite; it's hard, because even if it survives the cute/trite test, it could then get grounded out on sheer boredom issues. It could be stupid. But Earley makes it past these obstacles. His TV memoirs do take wing, and carry the facts of his North Carolina childhood and foray into college and vocation.

Two chapters laden with TV shows lead to TV-free subsequent chapters, reflecting more grown up themes, as well as touching struggles, like wanting to be baptized at age 8, but being throttled back by a visiting pastor who thought he was too young; then when the grown ups thought he was ready at age 12, not wanting to.

The final chapter's story contiues to examine Earley's married life, with a ride on the Concorde and a trip of flights around the world, where dialogues with all kinds of fellow passengers are now substituted for the earlier device of using TV shows for contextualization. Then he ends up in Pittsburgh, of all places, happily married and powering on, past the strong memories of youth.

Favorite quote: "The only way that the word personal can be made more noxious is to immediately follow it with the word journey..."