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The Book of Marie
In spring 1962, a young black girl is killed at a civil rights demonstration on a university campus in Atlanta. The next day a home in Georgia is burned. Both events are etched into the memory of Cole Bishop, eerily playing out the predictions of a former classmate named Marie Fitzpatrick. Cole and Marie are high school seniors when they first meet in fall 1954. He is a native-born Southerner accepting the traditions of segregation as a way of life. Marie is a recent transplant from Washington, DC, a brilliant and assertive nonconformist with bold predictions about a new world that is about to be ushered in by desegregation. The story revolves around the fiftieth reunion of the Overton High School class of 1955. The Book of Marie is the story of a generation?whites and blacks?who ignited the war of change. Yet, it is also as much about the power of place?the finding of home?as it is about the history of events.
- GenresFiction
271 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2007
7 people are currently reading
184 people want to read
About the author
Terry Kay
59 books107 followersTERRY KAY, a 2006 inductee into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame, is the author of The Book of Marie, recently released by Mercer University Press. Kay has been a sports writer and film/theater reviewer (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), a public relations executive, and a corporate officer. He is the author of nine other published novels, including To Dance with the White Dog, The Valley of Light, Taking Lottie Home, The Kidnapping of Aaron Greene, Shadow Song, The Runaway, Dark Thirty, After Eli, and The Year the Lights Came On, as well as a book of essays (Special K) and a childrens book (To Whom the Angel Spoke)."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
April 22, 2014
I had the good fortune to be attending the Dahlonega Book Festival as an author myself when Terry Kay walked by my booth. I'd heard him speak earlier in the day and asked him to elaborate on one of the points he made. He was most generous with his time and before leaving, in response to my request, he suggested of all his books The Book of Marie.
In his prologue, he wishes that his readers have met their own Marie's and Cole's and other characters in the book. Though I have to say, I have not, I admit there's a bit of Marie and Cole in me, as I suspect there is in any one.
A fantastic exploration of memory and imagination -- to say more is to give away too much.
In his prologue, he wishes that his readers have met their own Marie's and Cole's and other characters in the book. Though I have to say, I have not, I admit there's a bit of Marie and Cole in me, as I suspect there is in any one.
A fantastic exploration of memory and imagination -- to say more is to give away too much.
July 14, 2014
I was drawn into the world of Marie and Cole in this engaging and very well told story. The writing is wonderful and the pacing is spot on. I especially enjoyed the descriptions of New England and rural Georgia. As someone who also moved to the south, I identified with many of Marie's impressions, and I wish I'd had my own Cole. This book deftly weaves past and present in an unforgettable tale of love, serendipity, unfairness and missed chances. I plan to read more of this author's works.
October 11, 2013
Terry Kay is one of my favorite writers, and The Book of Marie is my favorite of all the ones I've read.
In 1962 the world was awash in social and political change on many fronts. Independence from colonial powers was spreading through Africa and elsewhere. In the American South, the Civil Rights Movement continued the struggle to overturn segregation in schools and other public institutions. Under court order, on October 1, 1962, James Meredith was the first African-American to be admitted to the University of Mississippi. This same year John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, James Watson and Francis Crick received the Nobel Prize for Science for determining the structure of DNA, and Cole Bishop became infamous in his native state of Georgia when a photograph of himself cradling a dying black female civil rights protester appeared in an Atlanta newspaper.
Who? Cole Bishop? If you’ve never heard of Cole Bishop, it’s because you haven’t read Terry Kay’s The Book of Marie (Macon, GA: Mercer University, 2007). And if you haven’t read anything by Georgia novelist Terry Kay, you have been seriously deprived. To delve into any of his books is to have your heart and soul burst open with laughter, tears, suspense, awe and wisdom.
Kay’s best-known book, To Dance with the White Dog, was made into an award-winning film. Of this book, Anne Rivers Siddons said, “(This) is what literature is – or should be – all about, and what the South at its best still is. Terry Kay is simply a miraculous writer, gifted with poetry, integrity and rare vision.”
The Book of Marie is a love story intertwined with the social change of the last half of the twentieth century that saw Jim Crow laws in the South finally struck down. Through his relationship with the eccentric, brilliant and caustic Marie, a transplant from the North, Cole’s eyes are opened to the injustice of the so-called “separate but equal” system of the South that he has until now accepted uncritically. Marie is merciless in her attacks on Cole for his naiveté, but also loving and protective. Too dreamy, she calls him. As their high school friendship develops, they collude in a hilarious fraud to convince their classmates of their great romance. At graduation Marie as valedictorian delivers a scathing appraisal of “the good white people of Overton County:”
“I came to this school, she began in a strong, sure voice, “believing it offered an inferior education. I leave it affirmed in that fact.
“You are good people,” she continued, “but good people are often timid people, and timid people are always afraid of change…
“One of the first things I learned about the history of this town was of the tornado that struck in 1932. Many of you remember it. Many of you had family killed in that destruction. I want to tell you that you are in the path of another tornado, a tornado of change that is gathering strength all around you. It is a tornado that will destroy every tradition you own, sweep away every belief that props you up, assault you like invisible armies. You cannot survive it as you are.
“You will be confused and angry. You will fight back with words and threats. You will vow to stand strong and resist. You will ask yourself, ‘Why is all of this necessary, when things are fine the way they are?’
“But things are not fine.”…
“In twenty years, nothing will be the same.
“You will not work at the same jobs in the same way.
“You will be invaded by people from other nations, looking for jobs, for a chance to be free, and they will teach you things you have never imagined.”…
“Your children will sit in classrooms with red children, yellow children, black children, and you will cry in anguish because you won’t understand what is happening.
“And the answer is so simple: you cannot exist without change.”
After her speech, Marie leaves the South to attend Harvard. Cole goes to college in Atlanta where he also writes for a newspaper.
Quite by accident, he happens to be watching a civil rights protest in Atlanta when a sniper shoots and kills the young black woman standing in front of him. He catches her as she falls, and a photograph of the two blood-spattered young people appears in newspapers across the country. Misreading the situation, the photograph shocks and infuriates Southern whites who project their hatred and fear of race mixing onto him.
As a result of the publicity, Cole loses his job. Eventually he moves to Vermont to become a university professor. Though they go their separate ways, Marie and Cole maintain a lifelong correspondence that deepens and transforms both of them.
Fifty years later, Cole returns for his high school reunion to marvel at how Marie’s prophesies have all come true. In just one lifetime, huge revolutionary changes have occurred.
I graduated from Mercer University, the publisher of The Book of Marie, in 1962. At that time Mercer, a Southern Baptist school, was still segregated, and the Baptist Church on campus refused to allow blacks to worship there. I know the South of that time all too well.
In 1972 I moved to the West Coast where I still live, but I go back South periodically. It has changed, though remnants of the Old South remain. I am still amazed when I visit and see a mixed-race couple casually walking down the street holding hands and no one runs around that the sky is falling. Who would have believed that this would have been possible fifty years ago, not to mention that the U.S. would have a black President, with an African name no less?
The world needs both dreamers and realists, does it not? It is easy to despair when we consider all the problems facing the planet in this first quarter of a new century: climate change; poverty; racism; growing disparity between the rich and poor; more wars; less peace. But every generation seems to rise to the occasion with its own dreamers and realists to meet the challenges of their time. I trust this generation to do the same if the rest of us will just get out of their way.
This vision and hope is only one of the priceless gifts Terry Kay gives the reader in his beautiful books. Keep writing, Terry Kay, about how it was, how it is, and how it can be!
In 1962 the world was awash in social and political change on many fronts. Independence from colonial powers was spreading through Africa and elsewhere. In the American South, the Civil Rights Movement continued the struggle to overturn segregation in schools and other public institutions. Under court order, on October 1, 1962, James Meredith was the first African-American to be admitted to the University of Mississippi. This same year John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, James Watson and Francis Crick received the Nobel Prize for Science for determining the structure of DNA, and Cole Bishop became infamous in his native state of Georgia when a photograph of himself cradling a dying black female civil rights protester appeared in an Atlanta newspaper.
Who? Cole Bishop? If you’ve never heard of Cole Bishop, it’s because you haven’t read Terry Kay’s The Book of Marie (Macon, GA: Mercer University, 2007). And if you haven’t read anything by Georgia novelist Terry Kay, you have been seriously deprived. To delve into any of his books is to have your heart and soul burst open with laughter, tears, suspense, awe and wisdom.
Kay’s best-known book, To Dance with the White Dog, was made into an award-winning film. Of this book, Anne Rivers Siddons said, “(This) is what literature is – or should be – all about, and what the South at its best still is. Terry Kay is simply a miraculous writer, gifted with poetry, integrity and rare vision.”
The Book of Marie is a love story intertwined with the social change of the last half of the twentieth century that saw Jim Crow laws in the South finally struck down. Through his relationship with the eccentric, brilliant and caustic Marie, a transplant from the North, Cole’s eyes are opened to the injustice of the so-called “separate but equal” system of the South that he has until now accepted uncritically. Marie is merciless in her attacks on Cole for his naiveté, but also loving and protective. Too dreamy, she calls him. As their high school friendship develops, they collude in a hilarious fraud to convince their classmates of their great romance. At graduation Marie as valedictorian delivers a scathing appraisal of “the good white people of Overton County:”
“I came to this school, she began in a strong, sure voice, “believing it offered an inferior education. I leave it affirmed in that fact.
“You are good people,” she continued, “but good people are often timid people, and timid people are always afraid of change…
“One of the first things I learned about the history of this town was of the tornado that struck in 1932. Many of you remember it. Many of you had family killed in that destruction. I want to tell you that you are in the path of another tornado, a tornado of change that is gathering strength all around you. It is a tornado that will destroy every tradition you own, sweep away every belief that props you up, assault you like invisible armies. You cannot survive it as you are.
“You will be confused and angry. You will fight back with words and threats. You will vow to stand strong and resist. You will ask yourself, ‘Why is all of this necessary, when things are fine the way they are?’
“But things are not fine.”…
“In twenty years, nothing will be the same.
“You will not work at the same jobs in the same way.
“You will be invaded by people from other nations, looking for jobs, for a chance to be free, and they will teach you things you have never imagined.”…
“Your children will sit in classrooms with red children, yellow children, black children, and you will cry in anguish because you won’t understand what is happening.
“And the answer is so simple: you cannot exist without change.”
After her speech, Marie leaves the South to attend Harvard. Cole goes to college in Atlanta where he also writes for a newspaper.
Quite by accident, he happens to be watching a civil rights protest in Atlanta when a sniper shoots and kills the young black woman standing in front of him. He catches her as she falls, and a photograph of the two blood-spattered young people appears in newspapers across the country. Misreading the situation, the photograph shocks and infuriates Southern whites who project their hatred and fear of race mixing onto him.
As a result of the publicity, Cole loses his job. Eventually he moves to Vermont to become a university professor. Though they go their separate ways, Marie and Cole maintain a lifelong correspondence that deepens and transforms both of them.
Fifty years later, Cole returns for his high school reunion to marvel at how Marie’s prophesies have all come true. In just one lifetime, huge revolutionary changes have occurred.
I graduated from Mercer University, the publisher of The Book of Marie, in 1962. At that time Mercer, a Southern Baptist school, was still segregated, and the Baptist Church on campus refused to allow blacks to worship there. I know the South of that time all too well.
In 1972 I moved to the West Coast where I still live, but I go back South periodically. It has changed, though remnants of the Old South remain. I am still amazed when I visit and see a mixed-race couple casually walking down the street holding hands and no one runs around that the sky is falling. Who would have believed that this would have been possible fifty years ago, not to mention that the U.S. would have a black President, with an African name no less?
The world needs both dreamers and realists, does it not? It is easy to despair when we consider all the problems facing the planet in this first quarter of a new century: climate change; poverty; racism; growing disparity between the rich and poor; more wars; less peace. But every generation seems to rise to the occasion with its own dreamers and realists to meet the challenges of their time. I trust this generation to do the same if the rest of us will just get out of their way.
This vision and hope is only one of the priceless gifts Terry Kay gives the reader in his beautiful books. Keep writing, Terry Kay, about how it was, how it is, and how it can be!
April 16, 2022
For me(a Georgia native) Ferrol Sams set the standard for Georgia coming-of-age authors. Terry Kay didn’t come close with this one, y’all.
May 15, 2022
Another good story by a really good author.
Terry Kay had a unique way of telling stories and I wish he had had more time to tell us some more.
I have read most of his novels and I see no reason to stop reading his work.
Terry Kay had a unique way of telling stories and I wish he had had more time to tell us some more.
I have read most of his novels and I see no reason to stop reading his work.
November 2, 2011
This is a wonderful book. Perhaps the lower ratings are from those who can't identify with a town in the south facing desegregation, but it provides an excellent and honest view of that scenario from someone who lived through it. But the bonus is a tale of a wonderful friendship between two amazing characters, and how they impacted each others lives. I loved it and can't wait to read more of his books.
July 15, 2019
It's been a while since I have read a Terry Kay book; I shouldn't let that happen again. His characters are always memorable, his stories can always be read on several different levels, and his wordsmithing is remarkable. Example from the main character: "I have always been at ease in libraries. In libraries, I discover stories that astonish me, stories that make me want to cry out in exhilaration and to worship the minds of those writers who took words and, like oil drops from the palettes of great painters, created visions so vivid they burn the eye of the reader. I like to walk the rows of bookshelves and run my fingers over the spines of books, brushing them lightly, reverently. I like the smell of books, the musk of paper and bindings, the slightly dusty odor of human touch. To me, libraries are like great restaurants and books are the food of my gluttony."
October 3, 2022
Touching story by a Georgia author of a young woman who questioned racism and small town expectations as she is seen through the eyes of a friend 50 years later. You see the ripple effect of hatred and the courage it took to shine a light on it. Change is often best viewed through the lens of time and that's what this book does.
And if there wasn't enough humor to do the trick, he would resort to advice that his brother Toby had given him in his youth concerning moments of dread: All you got to do is put it in your mind that it's not gonna last forever. Just say to yourself that in twenty-four hours you'll be somewhere else, doing something else. It was comforting advice.
And if there wasn't enough humor to do the trick, he would resort to advice that his brother Toby had given him in his youth concerning moments of dread: All you got to do is put it in your mind that it's not gonna last forever. Just say to yourself that in twenty-four hours you'll be somewhere else, doing something else. It was comforting advice.
November 9, 2016
Terry Kay's stories carry me away
Whenever I feel the need for something particularly lyrical yet real, I turn to a Terry Kay novel. He never disappoints. The Book of Marie rates just 4 stars as it braids together the story of an outstanding woman with the changes in The South. Not his best work, but still better than almost anything else out there.
Whenever I feel the need for something particularly lyrical yet real, I turn to a Terry Kay novel. He never disappoints. The Book of Marie rates just 4 stars as it braids together the story of an outstanding woman with the changes in The South. Not his best work, but still better than almost anything else out there.
February 13, 2019
I like this writer, and I could deal with the civil rights issue because it want pushed down my throat. Too many books along this line want to tell rather than show, and I just get tired of it. Didn’t care much for Marie, but I liked Cole very much.
Want to read
May 19, 2020recommended by Karen Herring's sister Lara Silaghi
June 7, 2023
Great book. Wasn’t sure about it initially however, once it grabbed me I couldn’t put it down. Very well written!
May 15, 2024
So far the best book I have read this year. It stayed with me after I closed my kindle. It intruded in my dreams.
November 13, 2024
Genuinely one of my favorite books of all time. Kay’s writing style beautifully intertwines delicate themes of civil rights with romance and aging. Highly recommended read!!
April 22, 2019
This is my first book by Terry Kay and I thoroughly enjoyed the story!
Set in the south in the 60's heading to desegregation and the world ahead, this is a story of Cole and Marie, and his telling of their high school days together. We are with present day Cole getting ready to go back home to Overton to celebrate his 50th high school reunion. He writes of his youth amidst the preparations for the reunion. A coming of age story in a time where a generation of people were struggling with acceptance of the war of change and a history of events that played out in a young man's life affecting who he was.
Set in the south in the 60's heading to desegregation and the world ahead, this is a story of Cole and Marie, and his telling of their high school days together. We are with present day Cole getting ready to go back home to Overton to celebrate his 50th high school reunion. He writes of his youth amidst the preparations for the reunion. A coming of age story in a time where a generation of people were struggling with acceptance of the war of change and a history of events that played out in a young man's life affecting who he was.
September 20, 2008
This was a rare book that really moved me. It touched me in several ways. First, the autho wrote this book and hit on a topic but in an indirect way. The subject, or shall I say, the main subject is racism. Radical racism in the South during the 50’s and 60’s. Normally, the story would be about a black family and how they were impacted from the social atmosphere of the times. But in this story, the author used two white people. Two white people who were not racist. Two white people who grew up in the South and who did not support segregation during that tumultuous time. Cole and Marie. Cole is who the story is about. Cole is in his late 60’s and is dealing with the the past. The past that involved Marie, a force that impacted his life so severely, he needs a psychologist’s help to sort out his feelings. He communicates these feelings thru his writing. His source is letters from Marie. Letters from Marie after she left their hometown in Georgia and moved to New England. Cole met Marie when she moved to his hometown in their senior year of high school. Everyone thought Marie was crazy. Cole did but in a way he was intrigued by her intelligence and boldness. They first come together as a dare. Cole’s friend’s pay him to take her out. He asks her out but returns the money to his friends. Marie and Cole’s relationship is like a play. A lot of their conversation and actions are set up to get a rise out of the community. But when Marie gives her controversial Valedictorian speech about racism in town, she sets the tone for some future dramatic activities. Cole will never see Marie again after graduation. But they continue to communicate thru letters. Marie always said Cole was going to be famous. And famous he becomes. While walking up on a demonstration at the University he is attending, he is caught up on a deadly crossfire. One of the black woman in the crowd is shot and killed and Cole just happens to catch her as she falls. A local reporter captures the moment on film and Cole’s picture is flashed around the world. This does not sit well with the locals in his home town. It becomes the catalyst of a fire set at a black families home that mames a small black boy. One of the black boys Marie wanted to teach to read. Cole, unable to cope with the guilt, moves to Vermont where he becomes a University Professor. After 50 years, one of his class mates contacts him to see if he will be attending the 50 year high school reunion. At first, he doesn’t want to attend. But the thought of the reunion brings back all the memories of the past and he decides to go. The idea of this book and how it was written was so interesting to me. I loved how the author took this controversial topic and weaved a love story within it. The ending was truly as surpise to me. Not what I expected. There are so many things to discuss about this book, I wouldn’t know where to start. I do know that I liked it, it is very thought provoking and I would be interested in reading more books written by Terry Kay.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 27, 2017
What. A. Great. Piece. Of. Art.
April 26, 2014
He calls it his most important work. The Book of Marie by Terry Kay is an epistolary novel that spans fifty years of Cole Bishop’s life. Sparked by an invitation to his fiftieth high school reunion, Cole is thrust into memories of the girl, Marie who moved into his small North Georgia town his senior year – 1955.
Arriving from the “progressive” area of DC, Marie stirs things up in Overton, first by teaching the four small black children of their house maid and then by delivering a valedictorian speech that puts everyone who is listening on notice – the world is changing and unless they change with it, they’ll be left behind.
Kay uses an interesting structure to tell his story. Current time is written in third person. Cole has received the reunion invitation, and on the advice of his counselor, deals with the emotions that it stirs by writing journal entries – written in first person – about his relationship with Marie, beginning with their first encounter. In addition, interspersed are letters that Marie has sent to Cole through the years. While it may sound like a lot is going on, Kay transitions among the voices as smoothly as his own Southern lilt.
Before Marie takes off and leaves Overton for good, she portends Cole’s future as one of fame and notoriety. The prophecy is fulfilled on Thursday in Atlanta when Cole goes to watch a demonstration. He happens to be standing right behind a young black girl when she’s shot by a sniper and as Cole instinctively catches her, his photo image is captured for posterity – to be run on the front page of newspapers all over the US. At the time Cole is a part-time editor for the Atlanta Chronicle, and I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the aftermath Cole experiences is Kay’s personal commentary on what would be first-hand knowledge of the politics of a powerful Southern journalism vehicle. (Kay once worked for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.)
I’m a fan of Terry Kay, and I’ll admit there is some hero worship involved when I read his books. But this one is every bit as good as I anticipated. I picked up The Book of Marie because I recently had the opportunity to chat with him over lunch at the Dahlonega Literary Festival and what he had said about it being his most important book. Regardless, anyone who enjoys Southern literature or just a good story about friendship, love and the sometimes blurry line between the two, will enjoy The Book of Marie.
More reviews at Lit&Leisure.
Arriving from the “progressive” area of DC, Marie stirs things up in Overton, first by teaching the four small black children of their house maid and then by delivering a valedictorian speech that puts everyone who is listening on notice – the world is changing and unless they change with it, they’ll be left behind.
Kay uses an interesting structure to tell his story. Current time is written in third person. Cole has received the reunion invitation, and on the advice of his counselor, deals with the emotions that it stirs by writing journal entries – written in first person – about his relationship with Marie, beginning with their first encounter. In addition, interspersed are letters that Marie has sent to Cole through the years. While it may sound like a lot is going on, Kay transitions among the voices as smoothly as his own Southern lilt.
Before Marie takes off and leaves Overton for good, she portends Cole’s future as one of fame and notoriety. The prophecy is fulfilled on Thursday in Atlanta when Cole goes to watch a demonstration. He happens to be standing right behind a young black girl when she’s shot by a sniper and as Cole instinctively catches her, his photo image is captured for posterity – to be run on the front page of newspapers all over the US. At the time Cole is a part-time editor for the Atlanta Chronicle, and I couldn’t help but wonder if some of the aftermath Cole experiences is Kay’s personal commentary on what would be first-hand knowledge of the politics of a powerful Southern journalism vehicle. (Kay once worked for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution.)
I’m a fan of Terry Kay, and I’ll admit there is some hero worship involved when I read his books. But this one is every bit as good as I anticipated. I picked up The Book of Marie because I recently had the opportunity to chat with him over lunch at the Dahlonega Literary Festival and what he had said about it being his most important book. Regardless, anyone who enjoys Southern literature or just a good story about friendship, love and the sometimes blurry line between the two, will enjoy The Book of Marie.
More reviews at Lit&Leisure.
May 17, 2016
After hearing Terry Kay say this was his favorite book (at the local library) I had to read it. It is a beautifully written lyrical book, much in the form of letters from Marie to her high school friend Cole over 50 years. The story behind the book is fascinating, Terry Kay had written a book about two boys, one white, one black, born on the same day. Written in three parts, their childhood, then their separation and finally, 50 years later they reunite. The publishers only published the first part of the book, which became The Runaway. The last part of the book had been simmering for years, he wrote and rewrote it over years, and in his own words "was so closed to my personal history, it hindered the efforts". This is not a sequel to The Runaway - but a follow-up on the themes. Social change, desegregation, the confrontations that were present at the time. Beginning in the mid-50's in high school, culminating in a 50th reunion when Cole returns back to the South. Again, it is beautifully written, I cried. There are magical stories in these pages, but also stories of a love story with social change in the background.
January 29, 2008
Let me preface this by saying, I love Southern Literature. I'm a Southerner of at least 10 generations. But...
This was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. There are a lot of lousy books, and I don't read them, but I stuck with this one, hoping that Kay would redeem himself. He didn't. My experience (and stomach) was deeply soured when he fixed himself a breakfast (so many breakfasts, and delicate dinners, I see why this book got kicked back by his "regular" publisher...) of grits and feta cheese! WTF? That's nasty!
I've started reading Walter Mosley's "Killing Johnny Fry", hopefully I will get that thought of grits and feta cheese out of my head. I'm confident that Mosley can be counted on to mix his grits with either government or Kraft cheese!
This was one of the worst books I've read in a long time. There are a lot of lousy books, and I don't read them, but I stuck with this one, hoping that Kay would redeem himself. He didn't. My experience (and stomach) was deeply soured when he fixed himself a breakfast (so many breakfasts, and delicate dinners, I see why this book got kicked back by his "regular" publisher...) of grits and feta cheese! WTF? That's nasty!
I've started reading Walter Mosley's "Killing Johnny Fry", hopefully I will get that thought of grits and feta cheese out of my head. I'm confident that Mosley can be counted on to mix his grits with either government or Kraft cheese!
June 1, 2011
About a month ago, I went to a booksigning and reading by Terry Kay. It was for his new novel, Bogmeadow's Wish, which I haven't read yet. People asked him a lot of questions about this book, though, and when someone asked what his favorite is of his own books, he said it's this one. Of course, I had to buy it and have him sign it after hearing that. The structure is interesting, with both first and third person narration, and it's a really good story. It takes place in 1955 and 2005 and involves a high school reunion. The reason it's Kay's favorite, though, is the subject matter of civil rights and integration. He called it the "most important" book he's written.
August 22, 2015
This is my third Terry Kay book and the most memorable. A Vermont college professor, Cole Bishop receives a invitation to his 50th class and reunion and with it comes anxiety attacks, so with advice of his friend and psychologist, Tanya, he starts the Book of Marie. It takes you back to 1954 to when, this new girl, Marie Fitspatrick join the senior class of Overturn High School in Overturn, GA. Dr. Cole Bishop has to face his past and a love that he had for Marie. Very good book, even though bittersweet and one that I will pick up and read passages from for some time. "I love you. Whoever you were, whoever you are, whoever you will become".
January 17, 2011
This was an interesting book--a good look at the way the South has changed in 50 years. The main character is a high school senior quarterback in the same year in which I was a high school senior. A northern girl who dislikes everything about the South moves in to the small town and is befriended by the quarterback. Their senior year is difficult for all.
A series of letters between the two main characters follows the changes in the South leading up to the 50th year class reunion.
A series of letters between the two main characters follows the changes in the South leading up to the 50th year class reunion.
December 10, 2011
As a 90 year old avid reader of all kinds of literature this is MY ALL TIME FAVORITE. To me, it reads like a beautifu poem. I am amazed to see negative reviews of this book. I suppose it goes to show that we all do not the same opinion. I suppose that is a good thing --- "its something to think about."
December 12, 2015
As a teacher of literature, like Cole Bishop in the novel, I can relate to these lines from The Book of Marie: "...I tell stories that other people...have created, and I become, by the power of wishing it, those intriguing adventurers..." and "...teaching is an act of fantasizing, as well as an act of becoming." The Book of Marie is a powerful, moving, important story.
March 17, 2016
One of my favorite all time books. The style and narrative was interesting, unusual and enlightening. I could go on and on! Will be reading many more books by Terry Kay. I would so often stop mid paragraph and just marvel at the ability of anyone to combine words in such a unique and visual way. A true gift this author shares with his readers.
January 15, 2008
Another wonderful book by Georgia author Terry Kay. A former high school quarter back who who graduated in the 1950s looks back on his life, what it meant, and how a classmate named Marie altered the course his life would take.
February 24, 2008
I loved this book!!! It is a beautiful story of friendship and love on one level. And it also doubles as an impressive narrative of the early day days of desegregation and it's effect on the south. It made me cry.
October 1, 2007
another great Terry Kay book. not as great as The White Dog.
February 3, 2008
I am enjoying this one so far.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews