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Dorothy Allison

Two or Three Things I Know for Sure Paperback – August 1, 1996

by Dorothy Allison (Author)

4.3 292 ratings

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Bastard Out of Carolina, nominated for the 1992 National Book Award for fiction, introduced Dorothy Allison as one of the most passionate and gifted writers of her generation. Now, in Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, she takes a probing look at her family's history to give us a lyrical, complex memoir that explores how the gossip of one generation can become legends for the next.

Illustrated with photographs from the author's personal collection, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure tells the story of the Gibson women -- sisters, cousins, daughters, and aunts -- and the men who loved them, often abused them, and, nonetheless, shared their destinies. With luminous clarity, Allison explores how desire surprises and what power feels like to a young girl as she confronts abuse.

As always, Dorothy Allison is provocative, confrontational, and brutally honest. Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, steeped in the hard-won wisdom of experience, expresses the strength of her unique vision with beauty and eloquence.

Print length

94 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Penguin Books
Publication date

August 1, 1996
Dimensions

4.73 x 0.29 x 7.41 inches
ISBN-10

0452273404
ISBN-13

978-0452273405
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About the Author

Dorothy Allison is the acclaimed author of the nationally bestselling novel Bastard Out of Carolina, which was a finalist for the 1992 National Book Award. The recipient of numerous awards, she lives in Northern California.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books (August 1, 1996)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 94 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0452273404
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0452273405
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.36 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.73 x 0.29 x 7.41 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #133,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #166 in LGBTQ+ Biographies (Books)
- #439 in Author Biographies
- #1,358 in Women's Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.3 292 ratings

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Dorothy Allison

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Dorothy Allison is the bestselling author of several novels including Bastard Out of Carolina, Cavedweller, and Two Or Three Things I Know For Sure. The recipient of numerous awards, she has been the subject of many profiles and a short documentary film of her life, Two or Three Things but Nothing For Sure.

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4.3 out of 5

292 global ratings

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Skye Marie

Reader {Hillsborough, NJ}

Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2005

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Dorothy Allison is a amazing writer, she speaks the truth about her life. She is telling all of us a story about what really has happened to her, we should all be very luck that this dosent happen to every women out there. She is not a "man hater" as someones review has said. I also read this book in college and loved it, i went out and bought 2 more of her books. Whoever did state that it was a horriable book... needs to go back to their college english class..try and just try to put yourself in her shoes. Maybe then you'll get it.

3 people found this helpful

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Peggy Vincent

Memoir from the inimitable Dorothy Allison

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2004

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A self-proclaimed and widely-admired story teller, Dorothy Allison goes from novels into straight memoir with Two or Three Things I Know for Sure. But here's the thing: it's lyrical, poetic, gorgeous writing. Shouldn't be a surprise, I guess, as she IS a poet (something I blush to admit I didn't actually know), but surprised I was.
Sprinkled throughout the `story' are little 3-4 line snippets in italics, each one beginning with the words her aunt used to say: Two or three things I know for sure... And then she completes the sentence in different ways, based on what she's focusing on. Here's one: "No one is as hard as my uncles had to pretend to be." This very short little book (less than 100 pages) is so beautifully written, dense with pain and the cruelty of her South Carolina childhood, as well as that of not just her family, but her townsfolk, her whole "white trash" social class. Topics range from lust, rape, rage, loss, poverty, beatings, agandonment, and that's just for starters. Dorothy Allison has an ability to write about exceedingly painful subjects with a luminousness that transforms the cruelty of life. The cadence, the rhythm, the music of the words and the writing carries the reader along. Apparently this was written as a performance piece, and it shows. Old family photos are included, and I found myself flipping constantly to the ID list to get a bead on who she was talking about.
And yet, it's a beautiful book. Don't miss it.

17 people found this helpful

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Fabulous read - simply superb

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2006

Verified Purchase

I bought this book because the author's books `Skin' and `Trash' are spotlighted in the anthologies `Courting Pleasure' and `Lovers: love and sex stories' by Tee A. Corinne. I enjoyed them both tremendously and sought out this book.

From the back of the book - [...] Out of Carolina, nominated for the 1992 National Book Award for fiction, introduced Dorothy Allison as one of the most passionate and gifted writers of her generation. Now, in Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, she takes a probing look at her family's history to give us a lyrical, complex memoir that explores how the gossip of one generation can become legends for the next.

Illustrated with photographs from the author's personal collection, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure tells the story of the Gibson women -- sisters, cousins, daughters, and aunts -- and the men who loved them, often abused them, and, nonetheless, shared their destinies. With luminous clarity, Allison explores how desire surprises and what power feels like to a young girl as she confronts abuse.

As always, Dorothy Allison is provocative, confrontational, and brutally honest. Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, steeped in the hard-won wisdom of experience, expresses the strength of her unique vision with beauty and eloquence.
Lambda Literary Award: Finalist

3 people found this helpful

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AH

An interesting yet punctuated memoir

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2013

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Allison has a hard time creating a physical world, but she successfully creates a world of her life as we move through her childhood to her adulthood. The use of pictures is really interesting but doesn't ground you, since you're never really sure who the subjects of the pictures are. Some may not like the style, as it is fast-paced and the rhetorical structure is almost violent at times with choppy stories and very little grounding in time. I thought the ending was too surreal and strange, but the rest of the book can be quite enjoyable.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Wow

Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2022

What a great read!

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2022

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Bought for class and read it and it worked out great. Fast delivery perfect...

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Dawn

Writing is excellent!

Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2022

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I found the author by accident having seen her on a panel recently. I felt a kinship in the open and honest way she spoke..i hv since ordered several of her books and am waiting on the 4th...
Do yourself a favor....open any one of her books.

2 people found this helpful

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white cat 56

Two or three thing I know for sure by Dorothy Allison

Reviewed in the United States on September 14, 2012

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From the Author's note at the end of the book..."'Two or Three Things I Know for Sure' was written for performance in the months of completing my novel 'Bastard Out of Carolina'."

The book is adapted from that material. I sure wish I had Allison's storytelling ability. She tells what it's like for the women of her family, a family from rural South Carolina, what it was like for her being part of that family. What it's like is your dreams get done under early on in life, any possibility of being more than your family get squashed out of you by denial or brute reality of being poor and female in the South. That this didn't happen to Allison, that she continued to rise up, is a boon to the rest of us, and does what Marianne Williamson says so wonderfully, "by shining, she gives the rest of us permission to shine too." By daring to tell her story, she allows the rest of us to tell ours too. Difficult stories are the ones that NEED to be told.

Thank all the gods above and below for Dorothy Allison.

7 people found this helpful

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R M Lewis

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

Arrived in excellent condition- this is such wonderful book.

Kindle Customer

I felt like there was a lot of repetition in terms of ...

Reviewed in Canada on February 12, 2016

Verified Purchase

I felt like there was a lot of repetition in terms of every chapter seemed to state up front that there were: "two or three things I know for sure" but, to me, that knowledge was never clearly explained. It seemed a bit like an inside story that was not offered to the reader in any specific detail. To be fair, maybe I should read it again to see if what I was missing is actually there but, despite the fact that the author is obviously a beautiful writer, I don't think I could handle a do-over at this point.

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