The Member of the Wedding

Yes, a gem! Why I found it amazing and thus worth five stars is explained below in the partial review.

I will only add here a bit about the book's setting: Georgia, 1944-45. You see the world through the eyes of 12 year old Frankie, or F. Jasmine Addams. SHE, not I, will explain to you why she appropriated this name. Not only do you see the emotional turmoil of a preteen but you also get the racial tensions in the South and the tension created by the War. We know it is 1944 from the simple line that "Patton is driving the Germans out of France". One line and so much is said. No long discourses on history.

Do you remember when you were caught between being a child and an adult and belonging nowhere? Alone....and the world is a scary place.

The narration is fantastic; it is read slowly, with feeling, and it is easy to follow. Wonderful Southern dialect.


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After part two of three OR after three fourths of a 6 hour audiobook:

Lend me your ear for a moment please. I consider myself pretty hard to please. For this reason I tend to prefer non-fiction because then I tell myself I will at least learn something if the writing disappoints, if the story fails. But the most stupendous books are those of fiction where the writers create a marvelous gem all from NOTHING. They create a tale from assorted words and how they string them together, their imagination and their ability to capture human emotions that we all share. So when I run into astoundingly beautiful writing, and by that I do not mean "pretty" but rather writing that speaks to us all, that has the ability to to pull us out of our own existence and allows us to share common experiences and emotions, now that is something else. THAT is what Carson McCullers does in this book. Fantastic writing.

Do you remember your preteens, when you didn't feel comfortable in your own skin, when the whole world changed over night and all was frightening? Physical changes and emotional changes that throw you off balance. Do you really remember that period in your life? Here it is again captured in writing.

Don't read this. Listen to it narrated by Susan Sarandon. Stunning performance.

Don't miss this audiobook.

Yep, I have listened to " The Heart is a Lonely Hunter". This is even better!

An interesting insight into the South through the eyes of 12 year old Frankie. She is desperate to escape a world where she doesn't fit in. Susan Sarandon's narration was excellent.