How to Make an American Quilt (Mass Market Paperback)

by Whitney Otto (Author) "WHAT YOU NEED: You need a large wooden frame and enough space to accommodate it..." (more)
Key Phrases: Glady Joe, Crazy Quilt, Anna Neale (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Otto's remarkable debut, a series of vignettes that cumulatively reveal the lives of eight members of a women's sewing group, spent seven weeks on PW 's hardcover bestseller list and was a Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
"Intensely thoughtful...honest...intelligent....The book spans half a century and addresses not only (these women's) histories but also their children's, their lovers', their country's, and, in the process, their gender's."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Eight women gather together over the years to piece together an extrarodinary quilt of their own imaginative devising. And as they stitch, we listen to the stories they have to tell of their successes and failures, their lives and loves, their dreams, desires, and the surprise and sometimes joy of living.
A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE COMING OUT FALL 1995
-- with Winona Ryder, Maya Angelou, and Rip Torn


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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Mti edition (February 23, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345370805
• ISBN-13: 978-0345370808
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #60,708 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great, but the movie was better, April 17, 2000

By	Judy (Gold Coast, Australia) - See all my reviews

I read the book only because I loved the movie. I expected the book to contain more storyline and depth, but I was terribly disappointed in finding that the movie in fact was by far, more informative. The book itself was very original: comparing a quilt to love and life. It's blend of fiction and non-fiction was done successfully by Otto. However, one thing that lacked in Otto's book was a main character. It seemed that there were numerous supporting characters, and an attempt to create the main character Finn, and yet Finn had the least lines out of all of them. If more info and depth was written about Finn, then Otto's book would have been as successful as the movie. However, because it lacked in this factor, I was majorly disappointed and gave it only 3 stars when it deserved 5.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting concept....., May 6, 2002

By	Ratmammy "The Ratmammy" (Ratmammy's Town, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

How to Make An American Quilt by Whitney Otto

HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT is a patchwork of lives that make up a quilting group. The ladies all live in Grasse, California, a small town outside of Bakersfield. Whitney Otto wrote this short novel by interspersing chapters dedicated to quilting, in-between chapters dedicated to each of the quilters in the group. What I didn't figure out right away was that each chapter that described the quilting related to the character description of the next quilter. Each person was different and therefore each quilt that could be created by each woman, had different aspects to it.

I have to confess I found the chapters on quilting a bit dull, and it is probably because I am not a quilter. I love to look at quilts; I love to feel them. But reading these chapters on the process of quilting was trying my patience. However, I understood what the author was attempting to do, to compare a quilt to a group of women whose lives were patched together and somehow made them one.

The chapters that talked about the history of each character were very interesting, and I saw how they all were somehow connected to the others. Reading the book was a walk through history, as the women were of varying ages and spanned generations. We got to see Hy and Glady Joe as they are now, in their old age, but also what they were like in their younger years. We saw Anna and her daughter Marianna grow and mature as black women living in a white society. And then there is Finn, who is the narrator of the book. She is the one that is building this patchwork of people, helping to tell the story of women whose lives are somehow intertwined.

I found this book very easy to read, but I didn't find it as interesting as I think it could have been. I feel the author missed her mark, although I give her points for the idea.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to Make an American Quilt~, January 18, 2002

By	Sandra Mitchell "Sandra Mitchell" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In How to Make an American Quilt you will meet the ladies of the Grasse Quilting Circle. Glady Jo, her sister Hy, and friends Anna, Marriana, Constance, Sophia and Em gather once a week in Glady Jo's home to assemble quilts. Their current project is to assemble Hy's grand-daughter, Finn's, marriage quilt. It is during this process that we get a glimpse into each of these women's love stories and learn what stitches & fabrics their individual marriages are made up of.

I felt slightly disadvantaged reading this novel, after having seen and loved the movie dozens of times. When I realized the movie was based on a novel by Whitney Otto, I couldn't wait to delve into it. Because I love the movie so much, I found it very hard to be objective while reading the book. To it's credit, the movie follows the book very closely. The novel does provide some additional tidbits, but overall, I didn't feel that I learned a whole lot more from the book.

This book was well written and uniquely drawn, tying in the intricacies of quilt making with each woman. What we learn from the story is how different and complex marriages can be in various shapes and forms, but the common string that binds them all is one of love.