The View from Delphi

by Jonathan Odell

Set in pre-civil rights Mississippi, The View from Delphi follows two young mothers, Hazel and Vida— one wealthy and white, the other poor and black—who find a common cause in an unfair world. This absorbing novel is the story of a town, a people, and a society on the verge of great changes— and how great changes begin with small things, like friendship.

About the Author
Jonathan Odell was born and raised in Mississippi, growing up in the institutional segregation of a small town. In college he became an activist and sold The Ebony Pictorial History of Black America door to door in black neighborhoods across the South while the Klan tried to discourage him. He spent his business career as a leadership coach to Fortune 500 companies and now resides in Minnesota. The View from Delphi is his first novel.

“With the commonality of their loss and the sense of invisibility within the constraints of a small town, the two women move from loathing to mutual resilience and finally friendship on the eve of social changes seeping into the South.”
– Booklist

“Not a single character, black or white, receives short shrift in this remarkable novel. Odell paints a vivid picture on a human scale of what life was like in the South during a period that’s rapidly becoming ‘ancient history.’”
– Rocky Mountain News, “Great Debuts of 2004”

“Odell ultimately proves himself a master craftsman…This lyrical new voice, unflinching in its honesty, no doubt has many more courageous tales to tell about race in America.”
– Minneapolis Star-Tribune

“…a fascinating read. It’s the best novel about the late segregation era and the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement that I’ve read in years.”
– Creative Loafing

“Odell captures the idiom, the fear, the tenor of the times, in a magnetically readable story.”
– Lavender Magazine

“…the plot churns through the hideous, bitterly ironic, and, yes, somehow also beautiful social turmoil of the South in the sixties.”
– The Rake

“A story of two strong women who overcome insuperable odds, turn a small Southern town on its head and forge a most unusual and empowering friendship…a fine and readable story.”
– Ann LaFarge, “The Constant Reader”

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Southern, Book Club

510 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2004

About the author

Born in Mississippi, I grew up in the Jim Crow South and became involved in the civil rights movement in college. I hold a master’s degree in counseling psychology and have been active in human resource development for over 30 years, including holding the position of Vice President of Human Resources for a Minneapolis based corporation and later founding my own consulting companies.

I am the author of the acclaimed novel The View from Delphi, which deals with the struggle for equality in pre-civil rights Mississippi, my home state. My new novel, The Healing, explores the subversive nature story plays in the healing of an oppressed people and will be published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday early 2012. In 2015 Maiden Lane released Miss Hazel and the Rosa Parks League, a reimagining of my first novel

My short stories and essays have appeared in Stories from the Blue Moon Café (Macadam/Cage 2004), Men Like That (University of Chicago Press, 2001), Letters of the Twentieth Century (Dial Press, 1999), Breaking Silence (Xanthus Press, 1996), Speakeasy Literary Magazine, and the Savannah Literary Journal.



I am also putting the finishing touches on a volume of personal essays tentatively titled: Growing Up a Gay Fundamentalist Southern Baptist in Mississippi or God What Were You Thinking?

Reviews

[Julie M · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in the past 5 years. 'The Help' times 10 - more complex and interesting. O'Dell blends history in with one of the best stories about families, politics, race and social relations in the Jim Crow South (MS) and the community of Delphi. I'm going to read 'The Healing' next. Jonathan O'Dell is an amazing writer, and I noticed he settled in MN.

[Julie Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a first novel, the author truly caught pre-Civil Rights in Mississippi in the 50's and his style of writing matches the slow, descriptive talking, the culture of small Southern towns, and horrible tenseness & terrors felt at that time. The first part reminded me of the most recently written THE HELP, but it had more depth into the problems experienced by the two ladies, one black and one white that become friends. Although I did not want the story to end, it ended in the only way that it could to give it credibilty.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forget The Help--read The View from Delphi instead. I picked this up because Jonathan Odell came to speak at our church on MLK Sunday and blew my socks off with his keen, beautiful insights about growing into awareness of the racial divide, but I'm not much of a "fiction person." It's all genre fic and non-fic for me, usually. But this book was beautiful and engrossing, and I chowed through it in record time. The last general fiction novel I got sucked into so rapidly was Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, and this book was like the glorious multiracial love child of that book and The Help. It handles the same civil-rights topics with such grace and beauty, and without the "white woman comes to help the poor coloreds" feel. Go read this book right away.

[Sabrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few people have compared this book to "The Help". And I can see why. However, the character development in "The View from Delphi" goes much deeper which makes this a solid read.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does a gay white man write a book about the struggles of a couple of women, 1 white and 1 black, during the dawning civil rights era in Mississippi? Very well.

[MartyB · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, The View from Delphi was worth reading, as it held my attention and the second half was a page turner. Specifically, it captured the relationships and emotions that prevailed in the deep South at the dawn of the Civil Rights era, insofar as I can understand and empathize with these as a Caucasian who was a child when this upheaval was in its infancy.

That said, the first half of the book was disappointing in its minimalist mention of two key characters, whose deaths are the basis for the relationships that ultimately bind the two protagonists to one another. Also, the ending of the book is anticlimactic, addressing only peripherally the complex situations that bind the various characters to one another.

I chose to read this book primarily because of having enjoyed a later book written by the same author, Jonathan Odell. That book, The Healing, gets much higher marks from me. It would appear that Odell has matured in his writing and hopefully will turn out more worthwhile novels with experience.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this story!! At the heart it is a story of two separate women (one white, one black) in rural Mississippi during the civil rights struggles (pre movement / early movement) who do end up crossing paths. From there, many stories / characters interact - there is a lot going on, and the third quarter of this book seems to drag a bit... Many character. It does all come together in the last quarter

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too dull for 500+ pages. Made it halfway.

[Read In Colour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much longer than it needed to be. I enjoyed The Healing much more.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, I was captivated by all the different narratives and stories weaving throughout one another. Heartbreaking and heartwarming. This story will stick with me for awhile.

[David Jabaley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Read it slowly at the end to make it last longer.

[Mary Timbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly engaging book about the South in the Civil Rights era. Families, black and white, interact and ignore each other and experience the changes going on about them. Author Jonathan Odell has created unforgettable, lovable characters (and believable villains) and takes the reader on a journey he or she will not forget. I really loved this book.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish this man would write a book more than once every eight years. His two books have moved me. His last book was compared to The Help and it should be reversed. His two books speak with clarity and research and with no maudlin retrospect. You know he lived. It.

[Pandlbradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This it the author of The Healing...which I loved. This is his first novel, and I also enjoyed it. It is very similar to The Help on a few levels. I still enjoyed The Healing more, but this was a good read. I look forward to the third publication by J. Odell, hopefully in 2013.

[Lisa Lingrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

An incredibly long story with little growth. Beautifully written with too many words for my liking though persevered unwillingly, hence I lost interest many times. There are too many books that I'm wanting to read and often felt frustrated with the length of this one.

[Alison]

kindle (toreadsoon)

[Mardee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much more authentic and substantive than The Help

[Jeanette Lukowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blending things I liked about "The Help" and (another book I cannot manage to think of at this moment), this "Yankee" reader couldn't help but be moved by the struggles of--and the unusual friendship that blossomed between--the two women who really became the novel's focal points.

[Judangra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Dolores Voorhees · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved The Healing, and liked this book, but it felt like it could have used a good editor. It was a little too long!

[Tamara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read this one because I read his second novel The Healing and really loved it and many reviews said they liked this one even better, but I felt the opposite, I think I liked The Healing better but this was still a good read. Historical fiction dealing with race in pre-civil rights era. Great characters but maybe a bit too long spent on main character development. It didn’t really start getting good until page 250 or so when the two main characters meet.

[Linda Swick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was thought provoking.
Takes place in Mississippi in the 1950’s.
Segregation is very prevalent.

[Bonnie Morse · Rating 5 out of 5]

This saga of women's rights, race relations, and the intertwining of complex family histories is one of the best books I've ever read. The characters are rich and deep, the local dialect is applied--with appropriate differences--to Black and white alike, and Jonathan Odell is right up there with Michael McDowell when it comes to writing awesome women. This book is an emotional rollercoaster backed with an intelligent story that keeps it from being soppy or preachy. And the mysteries are sufficiently mysterious to keep you guessing til the end.

[Sharron · Rating 4 out of 5]

finally got around to reading this very interesting study about two young women, both poor and uneducated, living in rural Mississippi during the civil rights struggles. Vida, carries a secret as she becomes the maid to Hazel in order to spy on the neighbors, snobs and politicians, who manage both their lives in some ways. It is a very readable story that contains sadness and humor.

[Marcella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, but was a little disappointed at the ending. It was a slow read to start. It took a while to figure out how the characters were going to connect. Some of it reminded me of The Help, but the story is more involved. I felt a range of emotions reading this book. Would recommend.

[Sylvia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good character development of complicated people in complicated times. A little wordy but well written enough to keep me turning the pages and not give up. Good southern, per-Civil rights story.

[Edwina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first book is almost as good as his second, Healing. Slower start but great characters, people you'd often be proud to call friends, and scoundrels you'd like to see destroyed. A great read; hope he is a fast writer because I'm ready for the next book.

[Antigo Martin-Delaney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my second book by Jonathan Odell. I loved the first (The Healing) and this one was very good also. I look forward to other offering from this author. His prose feel nature and very "southern".

[Sheryl Kowalczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad story about race relations in Mississippi in the 50's. How can people treat other people so badly? On a lighter note it said a lot about women joining together to support each other in the face of powerful and corrupt men.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book made all the more special after meeting the author and hearing him talk about growing up in MS. His personal perspective of growing up during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement and how racism informed his life was unique in its telling.