One Sweet Quarrel: A Novel

by Deirdre McNamer

Daisy Lou Malone leaves the Midwest to seek a singing career in New York, while brother Carlton becomes a gambler and brother Jerry homesteads in Montana, leading to a sibling confrontation at a Montana heavyweight bout. $20,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Genres: The United States Of America, Historical Fiction, Fiction

280 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes when a used book is added to your library, there are comments or underlinings from other readers. I don't mind that too much, unless they get carried away or use bright yellow highlighter.

My copy of this book came with check marks, a few underlinings, and various comments throughout the story so I felt like I was in a ghostly buddy read. Previous Reader marked passages she liked and others that helped us both keep the story straight, such as this in the first chapter:
So there we have them, some long time before the real story begins, the lineaments of their adult selves already present. Carlton thick and unheeding. Jerome aghast, resistant. Daisy in a dream.

The story tells about their lives and how each of them are drawn sooner or later to Shelby, Montana; which in 1923 hosted a prizefight between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons. Jerome was actually the first to arrive in the town, years before the fight. For reasons of his nervous system, he needed a quiet place to live, a place where he did not feel he would be forced into a standardized life style. Poor Jerry, he was always two steps behind Opportunity and good luck. Carlton was not as regular a visitor to these pages, he was a high roller off in the wide world, so he was more on the edges of the story.

But Daisy? Later known as Amelia? She was the other main focus and my favorite, even living as she did in a sad little dream world, never quite understanding what Real Life was all about.

The story actually begins in 1973 in our children's old age, but shifts back and forth in time and weaves their separate lives together as we go along. Eventually we learn the significance of the watch on the cover. And Through it all there is the author's lovely writing. I usually get annoyed with time shifts and characters changes, but somehow this worked smoothly for me.

I don't know if Previous Reader liked the book or not, but she did keep going all the way to the end. I wonder what she thought of the Discussion Question which wanted us all to explain what the title of the book meant? I had and have no idea, I am just glad to understand about that watch.

This was my second title by this author; I have one more left in my bookcase. I will keep an eye out and see if I find any others in the future. I like her style.

[Vicky · Rating 5 out of 5]

“There was just a very small, very quiet little rail town with edges that frittered out onto a huge swelling prairie”. Shelby, Montana, July 4, 1923, the Jack Dempsey-Tommy Gibbons fight for the heavyweight boxing championship of the world. This is such a wonderful story of three siblings, two of whom end up in Shelby, Montana and are on hand for this historical event. (Story and photos at
https://406mtsports.com/406mtsports/o...
It is pure pleasure to read a writer with such a strong narrative voice and whose love of language is evident in every sentence. She earns comparison with Ivan Doig for her ability to capture the landscape of Montana and the optimism and hardships of its early settlers.

[Darlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

But for the shuffling chronology (1910-1973), I would have rated this book 5*, as the author nails her flawed but resilient characters to an unforgiving Montana plains landscape, while scenes and opinions drip with local historical color and detail and irony.

[Greta · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in learning about life in North East Montana over one hundred years ago, then you might like this story. I have read a couple other novels by Deirdre Mc Namer, both set mostly in Montana. Her characters have flaws, they're human and live ordinary lives with the usual challenges of love, home, work and family. She makes the ordinary seem interesting.

[Martha R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is beautifully written. The verbiage is lyrical. The author made me feel that I was present in every scene. I could feel the searing heat, the dry grittiness of the blowing sand. Or the despair or the euphoric joy of the characters. I think this is a book to be savored more than once.

[LindaN · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book relates the history of the Malone Family of Ohio, from the early 1900s through the 1970s, in New York, Montana, and elsewhere. The main characters are siblings--Carlton, Daisy Sue, and Jerry. The book is loosely structured around the events of one day in 1973 when two of the siblings attend a commemorative event. Interspersed are memories, letters, narrations. And so it is for the elderly-- the past is always there, making itself known and not always with a simple and straightforward time line, and sometimes in unexpected ways. Central to the. book is the Dempsey/Gibbons heavyweight boxing match held in Shelby, Montana, in 1923. While the book is lacking a true plot where all is tied up neatly at the end, the characters are multifaceted and real. This is true for the major as well as the minor figures. The author is a master of noting the detail that brings a character to life, often the heartbreaking detail. The author also provides the reader with a picture of homesteading in Montana, the optimism of the homesteaders and the harsh ruthlessness of the country. This book is a masterpiece.

[David Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my twenty-fifth book that I have received and read from Goodreads. For me this book was at first hard to understand and get into, but the more you read the story,the more it made sense. The story is about three siblings Carton, Daisy Sue, and Jerry,their lives from the early 1900s through the 1970s. The author tells you about the characteristics of Carlton, he is a bully, growing up never leaves home town,know it all. Daisy Sue self proclaimed singer, stays at home with mother till she passes away,goes to New York city and trys to become a singer. Jerry shy moves to Montana at young adult age, to get land in a homestead act, meets wife Vivian who also is a homestead,marries has children and they live in really rough hardship conditions. This story brings the siblings together for the Dempsey/Gibbens heavyweight fight in 1923 held in Shelby Montana. The author does a great job with the characters and details and the hard lives in that time period.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing reminds me of Ken Haruff's writing in Plainsong and Evensong. McNamer displays a distinct style of incomplete sentences, vivid description and characters. It's difficult to follow the three main characters, two brothers and a sister, following their doomed optimistic lives, that end in unrealized dreams. However, pursuing the American dream is a worthwhile pursuit and that is what the three characters do. Their plight was their failure to realize they were driving in the wrong direction when it was too late to reverse their fortunes.

[Kathleen Yohanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. It was a little hard to get into at first but then I got caught up into the lives of this family and their adventures. I like the history aspect of the story. It gives you an idea of how people lived in the early 1900's. Give it a try.

I received a free copy of this book through the Goodreads First Read Program. Thank you so much for this book.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first half of this book, but the second half focused on the prizefight and dragged on and on and on... The last few chapters were so utterly depressing, I wanted to go and bury the book in the backyard, to spare others from such wretched sadness and bleakness!

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and I would recommend to pick up a copy


I won this book through good reads first reads for free.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of Nancy Pearl's rediscoveries. The book gives an excellent sense of time (pre-Depression) and place (Montana.

[TERRI DURAN · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard for me to get into

Supposedly well written? Doesn't flow well and the story left me dry. Finally just forced myself to finish it. Get it over with.