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Quite a Year for Plums: A Novel
 
 
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Quite a Year for Plums: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The spring edition of agrisearch came out with a picture on the front page of Roger standing in the middle of a field holding a..." (more)
Key Phrases: storage lab, wilt virus, sorry dog, Jim Wade, Betty Sheffield, Dean Routhe (more...)
3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)

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Quite a Year for Plums: A Novel + Sleeping at the Starlite Motel: and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home + Nothing with Strings: NPR's Beloved Holiday Stories
Price For All Three: $30.96

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  • This item: Quite a Year for Plums: A Novel by Bailey White

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Bailey White's dry, low-key drawl is a familiar (and welcome) sound to millions of National Public Radio regulars. On the radio, her intimate vignettes of small-town life are loosely held together by their subjects, who are themselves tightly held together by love, family, and idiosyncrasy. This episodic mode suits her just as well as a novelist. In this audio version of Quite a Year for Plums--which, aside from the occasional bit of atmospheric banjo music, features none but the author's voice--even the temporary denizens of her fictional southern Georgia town have their oddities. A bird artist is obsessed by a vanishing breed of chickens. Another character dreams obsessively of typography. The permanent townsfolk include a woman who believes in little spacemen, a pair of bookish retired schoolteachers, and plant pathologist and banjo picker Roger Meadows, whose peers would like nothing better than to see him settle down with the right woman. The author has an eye--and, of course, ear--for the telling detail and the decisive, domestic moment, and listeners will no doubt enjoy her adept storytelling skills. (Running time: five and one-half hours, four cassettes) --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From Library Journal

National Public Radio essayist White's raspy voice is so distinctive that no one else could narrate this, her first novel. Rather than tell us about her relatives and neighbors, as she does in her radio stories, White introduces us to a group of people who could well be her kin. In a series of vignettes, we meet Roger, plant pathologist and peanut virologist, whose well-being is the subject of much concern on the part of retired schoolteachers Hilma and Meade. Roger may be falling in love with newcomer Della, an artist who specializes in painting birds, whom he meets because of the explanatory notes she affixes to items she consigns to the town dump ("This fan works, but it makes a clicking sound and will not oscillate."). People in this community treat one another to strong opinions and with loving respect. Outsiders may consider them eccentric, but in their view they are getting through life as they should. The author's humor is gentle, and the listener will smile often during this recording. Recommended for public libraries.ANann Blaine Hilyard, Lake Villa Dist. Lib.,
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 220 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage; 1st Vintage Books Ed edition (April 6, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0679764925
  • ISBN-13: 978-0679764922
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #268,337 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

68 Reviews
5 star:
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 (13)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (7)
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Average Customer Review
3.1 out of 5 stars (68 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars What a charming little book, May 2, 2000
Bailey White writes a very small, understated story that takes place in a little south Georgia town. The joy of reading this book is spending time with a very unusual cast of characters...a peanut disease specialist, wildlife artist, collector of electric fans, to name just a few. While reading, you get to watch, unobserved, the comings and goings of these quirky people, as they go about the business of their lives. This is a beautifully written book. It's funny and witty, especially the dialogue. How wonderful to spend time with these people. Ms White doesn't disappoint.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, March 26, 1999
By A Customer
Reading Quite a Year for Plums is like walking among the residents of a small town, becoming part of their lives and they part of yours, without ever being seen. Bailey White has an uncanny knack for creating characters that come alive. When I finished reading Quite a Year for Plums I was left with the same empty feeling in the pit of my stomach that I had the day I moved from my childhood home in rural Virginia.

Like moving to a new locale, it takes a while to get to know each of the characters. My only criticism of the novel is that during the first few chapters I often found the need to refer to the list of characters. When I purchased the book, I believed that a cast list for a relatively short novel was presumptuous. I later learned that it was a necessity.

I highly recommend Quite a Year for Plums, as well as Mama Makes Up her Mind and Sleeping at the Starlite Motel.

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars I loved it, it took me right back to North Florida!, September 29, 1999
By A Customer
Bailey White's latest is a masterful recreation of the people and places that make up the North Florida, South Georgia region. Her sense of place is sure and strong and her words took me right back to places I have known and loved. Sure, not much happens in the book, but the people were mostly real for me and I empathized with their frailties and shortcomings in their attempts to care about each other. I found the book relaxing and evocative of another way of life.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars not excellent but still good reading
quite a year for plums is not flawless like bailey whites short stories but still a good read. she captures the qualities of southern life that prove the south has risen again.
Published 11 months ago by Fred Jordan

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure
This book is a wonderful little treasure. White's storytelling is always a gift that I eagerly dive into. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Beth Hoffman

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant reading for anyone with a brain & sense of irony & above average smart humor!!!
First "read" as a book n tape on the road this inspired me to laugh and revel in subtle brainiac humor. AND it sure made driving down, down, down Interstate 95 meaningful. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Bliss E. Frings

4.0 out of 5 stars Harsh criticism aside...I loved this book
I have no idea why those who say they "love Bailey White's NPR pieces" do not "get"this book and dish out harsh criticism and/or call it boring. Read more
Published on January 31, 2008 by Zephyr

4.0 out of 5 stars Everybody's a Little Bit Crazy
One character seems to be taking care of everybody while her son is pessimistic about people and everything around him. Read more
Published on June 16, 2006 by Sal

1.0 out of 5 stars Ho Hum
This is my first exposure to Bailey White and after having read some of the other reviews of this book I am inclined to try her one more time. It couldn't get worse. Read more
Published on November 18, 2005 by Eugene Schoch

1.0 out of 5 stars Head-Shakingly Disappointing
I realize I'm coming to the game late, since this book has already had 61 reviews over the past 5 years with an average rating of 3 stars, but I just can't resist sharing my... Read more
Published on October 18, 2005 by BEN RILEY

5.0 out of 5 stars A Charmer
I loved this book from start to finish. Life isn't about plot, it's about the little events that shape your life each day. Read more
Published on December 18, 2004 by Miss Lively

2.0 out of 5 stars Quite a topsy turvy book!
It's one thing to make your readers work, but it's another to make the reader work, and then for nothing.

Thank goodness I got this from the library. Read more

Published on February 10, 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars CHARACTERS WHO TOUCH YOUR HEART
Popular radio commentator Bailey White's first novel abounds with smile-provoking snapshots of lovable yet eccentric inhabitants of rural Georgia, very much like her early... Read more
Published on February 7, 2004 by Gail Cooke

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