Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow? [Hardcover]

Ceil Cleveland (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Remember Jacy Farrow, that stunning, icy beauty in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show? In his novel of the same name, Larry McMurtry based his character on childhood friend Ceil Cleveland. Says Cleveland: "In modern American literature, especially Texas literature, Jacy has become an archetype: a beautiful, flirty, teasing, bitchy blonde in a convertible.... Now this Jacy wants to tell her story... my story." What might seem a good--if slim--idea upon which to base a story or an essay becomes, in Ceil Cleveland's hands, surprisingly full and rich.

What was it really like to grow up smart, pretty, and female in a southern Texas town during the era of The Last Picture Show? Sharing stories about the women in her family, the bigotry and fear that dominated the real town of Archer City, the birth of her interest in writing, and finally her escape, this the "real&Quot; Jacy Farrow. Cleveland introduces each chapter with the epigrammatic wit of such notables as Andre Gide, Edward Albee, and Dorothy Sayers, whom she quotes as saying, "Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force." Cleveland treats us with her evolution into--if not the misbehaving Jacy--the articulate, accomplished, feminist professional she becomes in this rueful but earnest, richly remembered memoir.

Review

Fantasies of marrying Arthur Miller and grooving in Greenwich Village eventually gave way to marriage, children, divorce, and professional success. But it's the often painful adolescent details--describing what it's like to mature into the class beauty in a one-picture-show Texas town--that make this book such a charming read. -- Entertainment Weekly

Product Details

• Hardcover: 321 pages
• Publisher: University of North Texas Press; 1st edition (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157441030X
• ISBN-13: 978-1574410303
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,308,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A memoir that reads like a fine novel., February 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow? (Hardcover)

What I found most fascinating about Ceil Cleveland's book is that she writes about a largely unknown group of women: modern "pioneer" women of Texas in the 1950s, women whose trials and tribulations are known to the rest of us, perhaps, mainly in the lyrics of country music. The difference is that the women in Ceil's book are real, and she writes about them with subtlety. This is a memoir that reads like a novel. Ceil's girlhood would've put Houdini to shame -- she was a smart (and pretty) girl who escaped the constraints of a small redneck town. The town she describes was so suffocating, literally and figuratively. While reading her vivid prose, I could practically feel the intense Texas heat choking the life out of the houseplants. At the same time, I was annoyed (at the town fathers) that the town didn't even have a library. Yet Ceil prevailed. She read Greek myths because of their powerful goddess figures (remember, this was the 1950s). At the same time, she won local beauty contests and saved the money for college. And she got out. Somebody ought to base a "women's" film on this book, or just a film, because her themes are so universal -- and yet so personal. My mother, the toughest critic of all, read this book, couldn't put it down, and concluded, "Ceil must be a very gutsy woman.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So good you wish it had twice as many pages, January 7, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow? (Hardcover)

Ceil Cleveland's memoirs of growing up in a small Texas town in the '50's is an absolute joy. Her description of the roads she traveled from then to the present is warm, witty, and often gut-wrenching. If you have a daughter, give her a copy. I am forcing myself to read it at intervals because I don't want it to end!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "...this river remembers its source...", May 24, 2002

By 

diane roidt (Grafton WI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow? (Hardcover)

After a recent visit to Archer City (Thalia) Texas, I read Whatever Happened to Jacy Farrow, expecting a light-hearted rebuttal to Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show, a sort of "comin' back atcha" kind of book. This work, however, is at once, a serious reflection of a life, a social and cultural commemtary, and a source of great wisdom, insight, and humor. I was unprepared for the depth of emotion that it triggered, and for the way I interacted with it. I was not simply an observer, but a participant. I sat up late at night thinking of my own story, and the stories of my mother and grandmother. Ceil's memoir has encouraged and helped "this river remember its source". I read many reviews that claim "the book will be remembered long after the last page is turned". I usually scoff at that because it is often untrue. However, it is surely something that should be written about this one...it is being remembered and continues to be thought-provoking. I recommend it highly.