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A review by rissaleighs
The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty
4.0
This book could bear thinking about for a long time.
I had the hardest time hearing the words of this book in a southern accent, so I looked up some YouTube recordings of Welty being interviewed and reading her own work--after that, I felt better equipped to ease into the tone of the book. As a midwesterner living in the south who has seen southern funeral preparations, this book was particularly recognizable to me. The gathering of neighbors, the extraordinary amount of offered food, the flurry of activity. One character exclaimed, "great day in the morning!" which phrase I thought was unique to my husband's family!
I think this book would resonate with anyone who has witnessed someone age and sink down into death. If it wasn't a library book, I would have underlined all sorts of wise passages. It was very poignant and insightful. And such a relief when everyone left after the funeral and we got to sit alone with Laurel and her own thoughts.
Wow. Everything about this book was just so well crafted. Trying to explain it in a review seems to unfairly reduce it.
I had the hardest time hearing the words of this book in a southern accent, so I looked up some YouTube recordings of Welty being interviewed and reading her own work--after that, I felt better equipped to ease into the tone of the book. As a midwesterner living in the south who has seen southern funeral preparations, this book was particularly recognizable to me. The gathering of neighbors, the extraordinary amount of offered food, the flurry of activity. One character exclaimed, "great day in the morning!" which phrase I thought was unique to my husband's family!
I think this book would resonate with anyone who has witnessed someone age and sink down into death. If it wasn't a library book, I would have underlined all sorts of wise passages. It was very poignant and insightful. And such a relief when everyone left after the funeral and we got to sit alone with Laurel and her own thoughts.
Wow. Everything about this book was just so well crafted. Trying to explain it in a review seems to unfairly reduce it.