Rhoda finally has everything she has ever wanted, but when she begins to question the simplicity of her upper-class, mid-1950s existence, it throws her into a frenetic and rebellious course toward destruction
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
8 1.5-hour cassettes
Gilchrist's latest--the coming-of-age autobiography of Rhoda Manning, introduced in In the Land of Dreamy Dreams (1981)--is, as usual, heavy on sensitivity and sexual soul-searching, but it's not as dazzling in its display of southern society as Gilchrist's earlier work. Rhoda Manning is cousin to Anna Hand (The Anna Papers, 1988). In her late teens, Rhoda is moved to Dunleith, Alabama, from Kentucky, and she struggles--via friends, college, sororities, affairs, and finally a bittersweet marriage--``to break the bonds'' her father ``tied me with.'' She is part rebellious late- 50's/early-60's adolescent, part ``rich and spoiled and pampered and charming.'' She wins a freshman writing contest at Vanderbilt, meets Charles William Waters, on his way to becoming an architect (``my first true running buddy, my first imaginative peer''), and- -not knowing ``that I was made of light, of star carbon and molecules'' (a Gilchrist motif in recent books)--she suffers when her careless driving leads to the death of friend Clay. After Rhoda recovers and has it out with her father (who's worried about a lawsuit), it's back to college and the trials and tribulations of a young woman who's smart. This is 1955, so an attempted rape goes unreported, but finally there's Malcolm, and marriage, and children, and separation, and civil rights, and a brief affair with a civil-rights worker, which leads to an abortion, and another attempt to make her marriage work: ``We were 23 years old and we had suffered.'' She reads Freud, drinks too much, and then Charles is dying of heart disease: ``Please don't die on me.'' But time passes, he does, and the book ends. Parts of this southern saga are schmaltzy, but Gilchrist's saving grace is, as always, her style--a mix of devil-may-care confession and emotional anarchy full of moving nostalgia for a lost world. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 6.39
From United Kingdom to U.S.A.
Seller: WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, United Kingdom
Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR012299696
Quantity: 3 available
Seller: Montclair Book Center, Montclair, NJ, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: USED Good. Dj lightly worn and scratched. Seller Inventory # 190013
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: WeBuyBooks, Rossendale, LANCS, United Kingdom
Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. Seller Inventory # wbs9226954252
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Willis Monie-Books, ABAA, Cooperstown, NY, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Seller Inventory # 35635
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Willis Monie-Books, ABAA, Cooperstown, NY, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. Seller Inventory # 94472
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Wonder Book, Frederick, MD, U.S.A.
Condition: Very Good. First edition copy. . Very Good dust jacket. (southern states, fiction). Seller Inventory # X04H-00951
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Chaparral Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition. Minor shelf wear to binding. Light wear & soiling on edges of text block. Dj lightly shelf worn with scuffs, creases & small scratches in a mylar cover. Seller Inventory # PARSgilNET
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Dan Pope Books, West Hartford, CT, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. 1st Edition. Faber & Faber, London. 1993. First U.K. edition. First printing. Hardbound. Very Fine in a very fine jacket. A clean tight unread copy, with price in pounds (14.99) intact on front jacket flap. Comes with archival-quality mylar jacket protector. Seller Inventory # 3700-1
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Hessay Books, York, United Kingdom
Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. 360 pp, complete dustjacket in removeable plastic cover. Flyleaf removed, stamps to title page, otherwise clean. A Rhoda Manning story, set in Alabama. Ex-Library. Seller Inventory # 8788
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Hessay Books, York, United Kingdom
Hard Cover. Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. 360 pp, complete dustjacket a little rubbed to edges. A clean copy. A Rhoda Manning story, set in Alabama. Seller Inventory # 1756
Quantity: 1 available