emilykatereads's review against another edition
1.0
This is the first book I've received through goodreads giveaways that I didn't like.
I just never got into it, I had to force myself to finish it.
There wasn't much of a story to get hooked on to and I never grew to love the characters. The only thing that kept me going through the book was the music. I have a love for music and this book shows how music can bring people together.
I just never got into it, I had to force myself to finish it.
There wasn't much of a story to get hooked on to and I never grew to love the characters. The only thing that kept me going through the book was the music. I have a love for music and this book shows how music can bring people together.
sharonfalduto's review against another edition
I see what you were going for here, Clyde. Kind of written in a bluesy sing song style. It's a story about a rising band in the early 1960s and the black friend who helps them find their sound, and about racism and civil rights I guess, but I just did not care for the writing style. I finished it more out of a sense of obligation than any feeling of care for the characters.
nonna7's review against another edition
5.0
When I go to the library, it's usually because I have reserved books waiting. I have a tendency to stay away from the stacks, especially the new books, because I have a tendency to "load up." After reading several unsatisfactory books, I was in the mood for some Richard Russo. I had read his recent books, so I thought I would reach back. Unfortunately the library didn't have Mohawk. They only had his recent novels, all of which I've read.
However I found this book on the new acquisitions shelf. I don't know how I've missed Clyde Edgerton. He is a wonderful writer and was just what I needed. He was born in Durham, NC and lives in Wilmington, NC. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and has had five books on the New York Times Notable Book List. After reading THAT on the book jacket, I felt really stupid.
The story takes place in 1963. It centers on the "forbidden friendship" of two boys, one black and one white, in a small SC town. Dwayne, the white boy, loves James Brown. Larry Lime is learning about jazz from a local musician known as The Bleeder. He is a fan of Thelonius Monk. It's a gentle story.
There is no dramatic climax. I love the way the author compares and contrasts the two sides of "the tracks." They work together yet separately. They eat the same kind of food. Yet they see each other as so different. Their commonalities are seen through the filter of a local television show. It's a great story, and it has made me an Edgerton fan.
However I found this book on the new acquisitions shelf. I don't know how I've missed Clyde Edgerton. He is a wonderful writer and was just what I needed. He was born in Durham, NC and lives in Wilmington, NC. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and has had five books on the New York Times Notable Book List. After reading THAT on the book jacket, I felt really stupid.
The story takes place in 1963. It centers on the "forbidden friendship" of two boys, one black and one white, in a small SC town. Dwayne, the white boy, loves James Brown. Larry Lime is learning about jazz from a local musician known as The Bleeder. He is a fan of Thelonius Monk. It's a gentle story.
There is no dramatic climax. I love the way the author compares and contrasts the two sides of "the tracks." They work together yet separately. They eat the same kind of food. Yet they see each other as so different. Their commonalities are seen through the filter of a local television show. It's a great story, and it has made me an Edgerton fan.
emilyrdean's review against another edition
4.0
Music connects us. A short novel about friendship, music and race relations. Enjoyable.
melanie_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Reads more like a short story than a novel but the surprise (somewhat) at the end is worth it. A great take on a relationship between a young white kid and young black kid just finding their way in the 1963 south.
sickwithsin's review against another edition
2.0
Kind of boring.
**Received for free via Goodreads First Reads.
**Received for free via Goodreads First Reads.
djrmelvin's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing sense of time and place: early 1960's small town North Carolina. Martin Luther King Jr and the SCLC are beginning to make waves in little towns that thought everybody was happy with the status quo. Starke is just such a place, segregated by history, physically divided by railroad tracks. Edgerton uses the metaphor of his protagonist discovering Jazz at the same time as someone he considers a friend discovers R&B. Just as popular music began crossing over and blending genres in the 60s, so do some of the people who live in Starke. Others don't want things to change, and that's where this story finds its narrative.
hollowbook's review against another edition
3.0
He could have and should have taken the story and the themes farther. There was colorful language, hints of promise, then forward-reaching events, with no character development to bring it all together. Quite simply, the author ended the book far too soon.
jgn's review
4.0
Whites and African-Americans in a rural town in North Carolina, experiencing the civil rights movement from afar, and exploring R&B and jazz. Not as laugh-out-loud funny as Raney, but a good humane read.
nce14210's review
2.0
Interesting character study. I am a big fan of Clyde Edgerton, but this one was not my favorite. A couple of storylines didn't seem to resolve themselves. Maybe just my poor reading.