In Memory of Junior (Hardcover)

by Clyde Edgerton (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Edgerton ( Killer Diller ) again expertly conducts a chorus of ornery individuals in this prime example of entertaining, down-home Southern fiction. With considerable panache and humor, he assumes the first-person voices of the busybodies, war vets, good old boys and sole misunderstood teen "hippie" of Summerlin, N.C. These forthright folks are concerned--more pragmatically than emotionally--with the impending demise of waning, elderly Glenn Bales and his second wife, Laura. Glenn and Laura each have children from previous marriages. If Glenn dies first, his two sons lose their right to the family property and Laura's daughter becomes the legal heir; if Laura is the first to go, vice versa. Naturally, Summerlin's know-it-all residents take sides in the morbid endurance contest and can't resist proffering biased, highly amusing remarks on family loyalty, compromise, morality and death. Some 20 major and minor characters have their say, yet through some miracle of narrative the tale remains consistently uncluttered. Skilled storyteller Edgerton performs an enviable balancing act that demonstrates mastery of dialogue, irony and characterization. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The Bales-McCord family of North Carolina are distantly related to the Copeland family of Edgerton's The Floatplane Notebooks ( LJ 10/1/88). Their story is similar, too, with strained relationships and cemetery gatherings. The humor here is wry and more restrained than in Walking Across Egypt ( LJ 3/15/87), the tone more somber. Faison and Tate were deserted by their mother when Tate was just a baby, and father Glenn remarried and produced Faye. Now Faye's mother and Glenn hover near death, and their offspring worry about who will die first and who will inherit the family acreage. Meanwhile, Uncle Grove (brother to Glenn's first wife) is heading home to die, and Faison and his ex-wife are fighting over what goes on her son Junior's gravestone. Complicated? Yes, and often morbid, but Edgerton is the new master of Southern family tales.
- Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1st Edition edition (January 10, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565120108
• ISBN-13: 978-1565120105
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,702,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dreary and Dry, May 26, 2004

By	"trwprid" (Durham, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Memory of Junior (Paperback)

My relationship with Edgerton's books is usually hit or miss. I keep going back and reading more of them because a) I have a fierce loyalty to North Carolina writers, and b) I really enjoyed _Walking Across Egypt_ and _Killer Diller_.

That said, I must confess that I really disliked _In Memory of Junior_. ["Hate" is such a strong word and I shall reserve it for a book that really makes me grind my teeth in disgust.]

This, as well as other Edgerton books, are marked as being humorous. I found nothing to laugh at in this work. While _Lunch at the Piccadilly_ was lighthearted in its handling of old age and the inevitability of death, I found _Junior_ almost tacky.

I didn't bond with any of the characters,so I won't bother picking them out here. They all seemed ridiculously shallow and so poorly expounded upon that they seemed to be almost afterthoughts in the writing process.

For once, this Edgerton title has a conclusive ending, however by the time I got to it, I really didn't care. Making it to the ending was a real accomplishment.

The humor in this book is almost sterile compared to the gut-busting bawdiness of _Egypt_ and _Killer Diller_, and honestly, I miss that.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Down home fun!, September 28, 1997

By A Customer

Twisted- my one word description of the author, Clyde Edgerton. He's a Dave Barry from the deep south. Just when you think you've figured out the plot, he adds a new twist to the story. Did you ever think you'd see a pink tombstone? Or a circular runway? And who would ever think to steal a grave...not the stone, but the spot. Great reading!

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You'll laugh out loud & what's better than that?, June 20, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: In Memory of Junior (Mass Market Paperback)

I've read all of Clyde Edgerton's books & whereas I like them very much primarily for their humor, this is by far the funniest. Not just the funniest Edgerton book, but perhaps the funniest book I've ever read & I'm a voracious reader. There's a book called "Scoring in Heaven." It contains photos of tombstones & other memorials which seem like subject matter that shouldn't be that funny but the pictures are highly amusing. This book deals with death but while the characters are still alive