In This Our Life (Hardcover)

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Buccaneer Books (September 23, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568496273
• ISBN-13: 978-1568496276
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #4,318,519 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A colorful, stark book on the changing of the social tides., June 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: In This Our Life (Hardcover)

"Your creeds are dead, your rites are dead,/ Your social order too!/ Where tarries he, the Power who said:/ See, I make all things new?" As the lines indicate from the beginning of Ellen Glasgow's, In This Our Life, this is the core theme that is throughout the whole book: New order vs. Old order. It takes place during the forties with a family named Timberlake. There is Asa, Lavinia, Roy and Stanley (both daughters). Both daughters are married or soon will be, but the younger sister, Stanley, runs away with Roy's husband and vice versa. After that, tragedies begin to pile up. The daughters refuse to listen to their father's wise old order advice and knowledge. They feel their more modern, new order view is better -- 'with it'. The book is really about the fabric of what keeps a family united: love, tradition, character, values, patience, etc... However, what happens when there is a split of opinion of what keeps a family together? Will that family survive? Ellen Glasgow does a wonderful job at making readers see the changing of social values as technology became and continues to be more powerful and the youth more determined to get that 'quick gratification' or 'instant fix'. Though published in 1941 and later awarded the 1942 Pulitzer Prize for literature, this book could have a lot to say even in today's times. The youth of America could get some profound wisdom out of this book. It deserves more acclaim then it has received!

1 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Life in America Today., June 15, 2006

By	Betty Burks "Betty Burks" (Knoxville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In this our life, (Hardcover)

Winkie had been mugged by persons unknown. Merely aspiring toward precision, he gave the detailed description of this attacker. What he couldn't understand was why he'd been singled out. Jack had been investigating the murder of an actress when called to come to the scene of this charade. It was in his district where he'd reigned supreme for 33 years. His spouse of fourteen years was causing him problems with her new, bizarre ideas about their staid marriage. The excitement had gone out of his dead marriage and Jan turned into one of those desperate housewives.

Winkie had a big ego inflated by adoring females of all ages. His motto: "It's not what you say, it's how you say it" and he was the expert at perpetuating a false image. He'd received a lot of kidding about his name and had considered using another. But he was loved by his fans, too late now to try a new personna. For many years, he'd glided by all this business by keeping his distance. He'd basked in the adulation, his 'just reward' for being calm and collected at all times. Nothing pleased Winkie. He did his slot, at times called the tunes and pace, but eventuallly he was demoted (everyone gets replaced at one time or another) and took out his frustration on "someone very special" who had trusted him the most. She did not know the real Winkie, only the part he kept low-key. He could not afford a scandal of any kind.

This was such a total shock and she made a big fuss over it. He'd told her "it was not 'becoming' in the least to use call someone bitch." This time, Winkie had apparently met his match, and had to pay a penalty. She'd told him, "You'd better pray, as you will pay." This is a strong indictment on the way of the world today, not just the environment.