Customer Reviews

The Store (Library Alabama Classics)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Store is the 2nd book in the T.S. Stribling Vaiden series. I've already reviewed the first book, The Forge, and most everything I have to say about this book was summed up in that review. The rating has been raised, as a result of the fact that I'm currently about 1,500 pages into the series and am nowhere near ready for it to be over. That's saying something.

One thing that was different in this book was that there was a new fat character, and apparently her entirely personality was that of 'fat'. Seriously, he actually wrote :

"I don't know," she called back flabbily, "I might want something to eat."

How exactly does a person speak 'flabbily'?

This book is a great read! The writing style is fluid and Stribling's story-telling is superb. The only negative: the Univ. of Alabama Press edition contains some typos and the print quality could be a bit better. However, the quality of Stribling's writing more than makes up for these deficiencies.

This review is about the University of Alabama Press Classics series trade paperback, 571 pp with Randy Cross' introduction.

Winner of the 1933 Pulitzer Prize.

"...set in the author's native Tennessee Valley region of Alabama, the novel's action begins in 1884...and it centers on the emergence of Colonel Miltiades Vaiden as a figure of wealth and power in the city of Florence."

"Stribling succeeds in presenting the essence of an age through the everyday lives of his characters...a good story filled with diverse and vital characters, and much of it cannot be read without that primitive excitement, that eagerness to know what comes next...."

I am reading this book now and enjoying it. The portrayals of both the black and white characters ring true to me. Well-developed characters and settings. Reading it really carries me back to a time and place that I want to know more about. Can't wait to read more.