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by Erskine Caldwell

A novel on "race-mixing".

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Erskine Preston Caldwell was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was holding the region up to ridicule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erskine_...

Reviews

[burgundowa_melancholia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trzeba się nieźle postarać, żeby aż takie gówno napisać.

[Misheczka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bardzo dobrze napisana książka o trudnej sytuacji czarnoskórych mieszkańców miasteczka na południu Ameryki

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once in a while Caldwell can occasionally throw you a whopper of a curve ball for books. Like with Stephen King, you have the notable writing style that really draws you into the story, the characters and builds the scene up within you head.

Similarly to other Caldwell books, the story is only over a two or three day period. A snapshot of life if you will. Here, Caldwell focuses on a new marriage and the consequences and fall out of a lovers spat. Here, the issues and theme that is highlighted is race and the police. On once side, the legal system on its ‘White Bias’ and, the severe brutality of unfortunate parts of the police on the black community.

The scenes between the police officer and young black gentleman, shocking, harrowing and really rams home what has and could happen. Taken out of context the scenes depicted could unfortunately happen in America at many different time periods. Unfortunately some things never change.

[Drozniczka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Throughout my reading I was accompanied by an unavoidable thought: the world has changed terribly. And then the thought: maybe not so much. Human nature remains largely unchanged.

I didn't know if what I was reading was racist or it was empowering for Afro-americans people: a short novel stripped of its cultural context (I live in Europe) and the times gone by might seem uncomfortable. Whites beat, harass, kill and insult blacks, blacks accept this fate. And all this in a small, inconspicuous southern town. The main character first arouses sympathy, and then he seems a fool.
It was a very interesting reading and intellectual adventure, today I will say some things you don't write and say. Caldwell writes straightforwardly what people thought of himself, and it is uncomfortable, but also instructive.
Some things do not change: the strong people win and the weak, lose.

[Love_in_Night_Dream · Rating 1 out of 5]

BARDZO CHCIAŁABYM TO ,,ODPRZECZYTAĆ". Ale pewnych rzeczy się nie da odzobaczyć 😱💀☠

A powód to niewyobrażalnie okrutne potraktowanie tu ludzi, ale też to, że narrator wcale nie pokazuje, że to JEST TAK ZŁE, ŻE GORZEJ SIĘ CHYBA NIE DA.
To nie jest taka sobie ,,najgorsza książka" , bo tak tylko nie ma fabuły (choć też  nie ma, ale pomińmy), że jest napisana prostackim językiem (tak, jest), że ma płaskie postaci (to też), ale to JEST NAJGORSZA KSIĄŻKA POD WZGLĘDEM SZKODLIWYCH TREŚCI.

[Saiid Abdul Baqi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable novel about a white man (Native Hunicutt)who dared to sleep with a colored woman. What makes this story even more valuable, however, is its efficiency in providing an inner sight to the typical southern American society's core, which is also typical of Caldwell's novels.

[Kacper Lubiewski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird is the perfect word to describe this book. Plot has a few holes, it's quite predictable and very weird in terms of the race issue. Weird, because of the language. Interesting, because it's a deep and wide portrayal of race tensions in US.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only Caldwell can create such characters and such emotional anguish.

[Russell Bittner · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a bit difficult to know how to categorize this story. On the one hand, a lot of it is classic Erskine Caldwell: poor white trash living in a small, poor Southern town where violence, prejudice and injustice reign supreme. On the other hand, this is the first book of his I’ve read that dwells at some length on an inter-racial love affair. She’s an octoroon (one eighth black); he’s white. The dynamics of the relationship are quite dramatic.


Perhaps a couple of direct citations will suffice.


On p. 75, we read: “(t)here are mulatto Patterson faces in Sycamore County just as there are white Patterson faces. And anybody can say the same about Longstreet and Tilden and a lot of other family faces. And they didn’t get that way by being born in a pumpkin.”


Or this, on p. 215: “(m)y daddy used to tell me the surest way to appreciate a woman was to eat her cooking. Now, if I could have a bite to eat—“

“’I’m going to cook supper for you tonight, Native,’ she told him, standing close and looking up at him. ‘I’ve been planning all day what I’m going to have for you. There’ll be everything you like to eat.”

Are these citations trivial? By no means—but you’ll have to read the entire story to understand why not.


Trust me: it won’t be a waste of your time.

RRB
Brooklyn, NY
29 February 2020

[Andrés Zelada · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nativo Hunnicutt es, como buen protagonista de una novela de Erskine Caldwell, un perfecto miserable. Se precia de su suerte, pero vive en una casucha en medio de un camino. Ahora se acaba de cazar con Maebelle, una viuda rica. Pero no tiene interés en su dinero ni en ella: solo en que le prepare buena comida casera, pues está harto de comer porquerías. Su verdadera pareja es Josene, la criada negra de Mabelle, con quien Nativo lleva años liado. A Maebelle no le sienta bien descubrirlo e inicia una venganza en la cual serán los negros quienes sufran las consecuencias de las pasiones de los blancos.

Una de las ideas principales de esta novela es que no hay hombre blanco que no fornique con frecuencia con mujeres negras, ya que estas son más pasionales y no te tienes que casar con ellas. Lo que te da una chica negra, se sostiene literalmente, luego no te lo da tu esposa blanca y claro, la adaptación es complicada. Uno se pregunta por el mundo en que nació Caldwell y por sus propias experiencias, la verdad.

[Oktawian Piwowarski · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a mf can do to eat some good dinner than rather eat *****. Whole story but i enjoyed it.

[książniczka · Rating 1 out of 5]

Że co?

[Weronika Pawlik · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bardzo ciekawy styl narracji.
TW!

[magda · Rating 3 out of 5]

6 ꙳
a typical caldwell novel with some south america core. the slurs to the people of colour had me literally sick to my stomach, not even mentioning about the thread of Clyde's bias. as i am speaking about the threads, many of them were not finished. i personally think this book is not for sensitive people, because of the racisms.

[Bettycindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disturbing. I had to consider when it was written.