Welcome to Higby : A Novel [Paperback]

Mark Dunn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 26, 2003

Following the national success of Ella Minnow Pea, this second novel from Mark Dunn brings the same charm and love of good language to a small town in the South. A Robert Altmanesque comedy, Welcome to Higby follows the hilarious goings-on in a small town in northern Mississippi over Labor Day weekend. From mousy Carmen Valentine, whose guardian angel, Arnetta, gives her penny-pinching shopping tips, to addled old Hank Grammar, who preaches Jesus to his neighbors' pets, Higby's townsfolk have a knack for getting into -- and trouble getting out of -- outrageous situations. Blessed with an unerring eye for dead-on details, Dunn lovingly traces the eccentric and touching lives of his characters, offering an intelligent yet heartwarming vision of life in small-town America. Welcome to Higby is a Southern comical tale about simple dreams both realized and thwarted by all the complexities of the human heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Writing in the spirit of his clever debut novel, Ella Minnow Pea, in which an island's language-loving inhabitants must adapt to a shrinking alphabet, Dunn delivers another witty and intricate book. This time he uses biblical quotations to guide his narrative, which tracks the residents of Higby, Miss., during Labor Day weekend of 1993, as they search for happiness, love and salvation. The tightly interwoven story lines feature a veritable swarm of oddballs, including Stewie Kipp, a born-again Christian whose fiancee, Marci Luck, resents his attempts at piety; Talitha Leigh, a floozy who is kidnapped by an extremist vegan cult and renamed "Blithe"; and dim-witted Euless Ludlam, who finds himself on the receiving end of a huge inheritance. The Bible quotes aren't just gimmicky transitional devices, since the novel closely follows themes of redemption and salvation, albeit in a screwball manner: as one character, Carmen Valentine, notes, "My guardian angel likes to help me stretch my shopping dollar." The collision of celestial concepts and quirky mannerisms makes the book both laugh-out-loud funny and sweetly touching. At its core is the belief that "God equals love," though the characters demonstrate this in some rather strange ways. Dunn, a playwright, has a wonderful ear for dialogue; his rich and enticing prose, elegant structuring and wonderful attention to the smallest of details make this novel a delight.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

As small southern towns go, Higby, Mississippi, is a hoot! Home to the Mammoth Mart, Far East House of Massage, and the We-Fix-It Auto Repair shop, Higby is a hilarious haven, a hotbed of hijinks with a high per-capita rate of wacky weirdness. From mousy Carmen Valentine, whose guardian angel, Arnetta, gives her penny-pinching shopping tips, to addled old Hank Grammar, who preaches Jesus to his neighbors' pets, Higby's townsfolk have a knack for getting into, and trouble getting out of, outrageous situations. Whether it's Clint Cullen, the minister's son with a predilection for falling off of Higby's water tower, or Talitha Leigh, who gets kidnapped by a militant cult of religious vegetarians, the attempts of Higby's residents to walk the straight-and-narrow somehow manage to take a more circuitous route. Blessed with an unerring eye for dead-on details, Dunn follows his nationally acclaimed debut novel, Ella Minnow Pea (2001), with another sparkling Southern send-up, treating the reader to a comical tour of some of the region's more entertaining eccentricities. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone (August 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743249887
• ISBN-13: 978-0743249881
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #518,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Clever and funny, September 15, 2003

By 

Eileen Rieback (Coral Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Welcome to Higby : A Novel (Paperback)

Although very different from Dunn's previous masterpiece "Ella Minnow Pea", "Welcome to Higby" is every bit as imaginative and humorous. Through a series of interrelated vignettes of small town Mississippi life, each titled with a relevant Biblical verse, Dunn depicts the lives of some of Higby's residents, each of whom struggles with a personal problem.

These problems run the gamut from the mundane to the hilarious. Talitha is kidnapped by a small religious vegan cult. Oren, the town minister, has a crush on the town tootsie and worries about his son Clint, who climbed to the top of the town's water tower and fell off. Carmen crafts pictures with macaroni and gets advice from her guardian angel on making the best of her shopping dollar. The clueless but good-hearted Euless is stunned by a financial windfall from his employer. Hank, on the edge of the downhill slide of Alzheimers, preaches to the neighborhood pets and frequently wanders off, to the consternation of his sister. Stewie has found God, but is foundering in his relationship with women. Ex-convict Bowmar is dogged by the police for every crime in town even though he is reformed and above suspicion.

In spite of all the goings-on, this novel never degenerates into a soap opera. The common thread binding all the story lines is the endurance of love and redemption. The reader is in turn amused, touched, concerned, and ultimately satisfied that the residents of Higby have bumbled their way to a happier life. So take a trip to Higby and enjoy the ride!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Endearing and Humorous!, December 4, 2002

By 

LGS (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Welcome to Higby (Hardcover)

Mark Dunn's new book is the perfect antidote to winter chill. Curl up with it in front of a fireplace while a blizzard rages outside, and watch it warm your heart and cheer your soul. Set in a small town in the Bible Belt south, the book traces the lives of several characters, including a despondent minister, a sagacious masseuse, the local male heartthrob and several cultists, over a Labor Day weekend. Stereotypes quickly fade in the author's able hands, as he weaves a tale of his characters' endearing foibles and takes the plot round some unexpected twists and turns. There are some absolutely hilarious passages, written with a deadpan humor that had me laughing out loud in the middle of the night. The book is in many ways richer than the author's award-winning "Ella Minnow Pea", and demonstrates Dunn's extraordinary versatility as a writer - the subtext is more subtle, the humor more biting, the author's command of setting and tone more skilled. Well done!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Laughed Out Loud, and Read it Twice!, October 31, 2002

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Welcome to Higby (Hardcover)

Torrid sex in an abandoned dental chair. A risky escape from a brainwashing cult. A sexy BBW guardian angel doling out advice like candy. Sounds like a funny novel? It is, and Dunn brings a wonderfully whimsical attitude to this lighthearted story of cozy southern life. Virtually everyone in a single family is accident-prone, and the rest of the town talks about how stupid or feeble they must be to get themselves into such messes.

Across town, the newly born-again Christian Stewie Kipp revives a romance with his longtime girlfriend Marci in a vacant dentist's office. Most of the people inside this story are still trying to make up their minds on whether they love beer or each other more. I vote they love the beer, but Dunn doesn't let them say. The strength of this book is how well the author conflates lives and personalities with ease and without falling into tired stereotypes. This book flies by when you're reading it and reading it a second time allows you to laugh at things you didn't catch the first time. Spend a weekend with it and you won't regret it!