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The Harbrace Anthology of Short Fiction - Fifth Edition
380 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1941
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March 3, 2023This are my thoughts about Eudora Welty, Why I Live at the P.O.
Read with the Short Story Club
Since a started the day with a bad rating let’s continue in the same style.
I don’t get it. I don’t understand why this short story is so appreciated and called one of the best short stories ever. Sister is mad Stella-Rondo has left her husband and returned home. She is bitching about it to whoever happens to be around. The other members of the family are also awful, to Sister and in general. Sister decides to move out of the house to the Post Office, where she works. Nobody cares.
It was supposed to be humorous and maybe a bit sad but I could not laugh or care less.
Read with the Short Story Club
Since a started the day with a bad rating let’s continue in the same style.
I don’t get it. I don’t understand why this short story is so appreciated and called one of the best short stories ever. Sister is mad Stella-Rondo has left her husband and returned home. She is bitching about it to whoever happens to be around. The other members of the family are also awful, to Sister and in general. Sister decides to move out of the house to the Post Office, where she works. Nobody cares.
It was supposed to be humorous and maybe a bit sad but I could not laugh or care less.
February 8, 2023
Review of title story, Why I Live at the P.O.
I’ve long known Eudora Welty was an important name in US literature (she won a Pulitzer), so was glad to sample one of her most anthologised works for The Short Story Club.
It portrays a middle class Mississippi family, presumably around 1940. It’s told by a young woman referred to as Sister. She's broadly content, living at home with her parents and grandfather, and running the post office - until her younger sister turns up. Stella-Rondo has left her husband and her unexpected return opens old wounds across the whole family.
“She's always had anything in the world she wanted and then she'd throw it away.”
That could be interesting. I believe it’s meant to be humorous. It didn't engage or amuse me. The closest was this line:
“So I merely slammed the door behind me and went down and made some green-tomato pickle. Somebody had to do it”.
I (almost) wish I’d done some ironing (see Origin, below) instead of reading it.
Image: A pile of items to iron (Source)
Clearly, Sister is resentful and harbours grudges, so the fact everyone in her family seems so irredeemably horrid has to be taken with a pinch of salt. But she's no better herself. They're all utterly awful and it’s all too ludicrously puerile. I don’t mind reading about nasty people; sometimes I positively enjoy it. But they have to be interesting and believable.
Origin - and an alternative
Welty was a photographer as well as a writer. She had the idea for this story when she saw and photographed a woman ironing at the back of a Mississippi post office. It was first published in 1941 in A Curtain of Green and Other Stories.
In the group, my saying that I prefer ironing to this story prompted Leonard to share another short story, I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen. It portrays very different family stresses, but there’s love in it, and it was brilliantly written. See my review HERE.
Short story club
I read this as one of the stories in The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story here.
You can join the group here.
I’ve long known Eudora Welty was an important name in US literature (she won a Pulitzer), so was glad to sample one of her most anthologised works for The Short Story Club.
It portrays a middle class Mississippi family, presumably around 1940. It’s told by a young woman referred to as Sister. She's broadly content, living at home with her parents and grandfather, and running the post office - until her younger sister turns up. Stella-Rondo has left her husband and her unexpected return opens old wounds across the whole family.
“She's always had anything in the world she wanted and then she'd throw it away.”
That could be interesting. I believe it’s meant to be humorous. It didn't engage or amuse me. The closest was this line:
“So I merely slammed the door behind me and went down and made some green-tomato pickle. Somebody had to do it”.
I (almost) wish I’d done some ironing (see Origin, below) instead of reading it.
Image: A pile of items to iron (Source)
Clearly, Sister is resentful and harbours grudges, so the fact everyone in her family seems so irredeemably horrid has to be taken with a pinch of salt. But she's no better herself. They're all utterly awful and it’s all too ludicrously puerile. I don’t mind reading about nasty people; sometimes I positively enjoy it. But they have to be interesting and believable.
Origin - and an alternative
Welty was a photographer as well as a writer. She had the idea for this story when she saw and photographed a woman ironing at the back of a Mississippi post office. It was first published in 1941 in A Curtain of Green and Other Stories.
In the group, my saying that I prefer ironing to this story prompted Leonard to share another short story, I Stand Here Ironing by Tillie Olsen. It portrays very different family stresses, but there’s love in it, and it was brilliantly written. See my review HERE.
Short story club
I read this as one of the stories in The Art of the Short Story, by Dana Gioia, from which I'm aiming to read one story a week with The Short Story Club, starting 2 May 2022.
You can read this story here.
You can join the group here.
March 4, 2023
Single Short Story Only "Why I Live at the P.O." by Eudora Welty
Sister, the narrator, tells about her younger sibling, Stella-Rondo, returning to the family home after separating from her husband. The Southern family has communication problems including lying, misinterpretation, denying reality, and jealousy.
Various family members seek refuge from the bickering - the grandfather sleeps on the hammock, the uncle zones out on prescription medication, and Sister feels that even the back room of the post office would make a better home.
Reread for the Short Story Club. The writing was good, but I was glad I wasn't reading a long novel featuring these squabbling characters. There are a couple of casual mentions of the N-word which was unfortunately common for that time and place.
Someone merged this review with the Harbrace Anthology which I have never read.
Sister, the narrator, tells about her younger sibling, Stella-Rondo, returning to the family home after separating from her husband. The Southern family has communication problems including lying, misinterpretation, denying reality, and jealousy.
Various family members seek refuge from the bickering - the grandfather sleeps on the hammock, the uncle zones out on prescription medication, and Sister feels that even the back room of the post office would make a better home.
Reread for the Short Story Club. The writing was good, but I was glad I wasn't reading a long novel featuring these squabbling characters. There are a couple of casual mentions of the N-word which was unfortunately common for that time and place.
Someone merged this review with the Harbrace Anthology which I have never read.
January 21, 2019
3.5 I have tried numerous times to read this well known Southern author, but have continuously failed. Her novels are just too much for me, too wordy for one thing. I came across mention of this short story in a memoir I'm reading called Heavy: An American Memoir, where the young author whose Catholic school has closed, now is one of four black children attending the white Catholic school. This was assigned reading and despite himself he finds himself pulled into this short story.
A humorous story where her younger sister, thought married, returns home with a two year old child, she claims was adopted. She then sets out to turn the rest of this family, odd ball, quirky character sgeinet her older sister. So, I have found it much easier to digest Weltys writing in short stories. Did love her tongue in cheek humor.
This was found free on you tube, read by Welty herself, though I did find her rendition rather too quick.
A humorous story where her younger sister, thought married, returns home with a two year old child, she claims was adopted. She then sets out to turn the rest of this family, odd ball, quirky character sgeinet her older sister. So, I have found it much easier to digest Weltys writing in short stories. Did love her tongue in cheek humor.
This was found free on you tube, read by Welty herself, though I did find her rendition rather too quick.
February 14, 2022
Nobody does Southern humor better than Eudora Welty. I think some of the bickering when I was young was caused by that infernal heat.
You Can Read it HERE
You Can Read it HERE
February 11, 2023
{Note: the listing here has been corrupted from the original short story, to a mis-titled anthology.}
Eudora Welty was a well-known writer from Mississippi, U.S.A. This short story is the only work of hers that I've read (see: Why I Live at the P.O. and Other Stories.
Writers from the Deep South tend to provoke complicated reactions today. "Why I Live at the P.O." is humorous, the tale of a dysfunctional family, and is an enjoyable, satirical romp until we abruptly arrive at offensive language, of the sort used so casually in the South. This language wiped any enjoyment right off my face.
Recently, reviewing a 1920s Hemingway collection, I mentioned the rude and offensive language and excused it in its historical context. Here, my reaction was stronger and I had to ask myself why. Hemingway's rude labels were dispersed in all directions; here the target was narrow. Also since this story was intended as humour the language seems to stick out more, and jam the works.
I had to google Eudora Welty and racism in order to learn a little more. There are readings of this story on YouTube and the wording is altered for modern audiences. The version I read was published in the 1950s.
2023 update: Re-read this story as part of the Short Story Club, and the online version there has the offensive language edited out. The voice overall is wonderful, and the family dynamic perfectly perverse. Rounded up to 4 stars, or rounded down to 4 stars, but in any event a story that stands up to repeat visits.
Eudora Welty was a well-known writer from Mississippi, U.S.A. This short story is the only work of hers that I've read (see: Why I Live at the P.O. and Other Stories.
Writers from the Deep South tend to provoke complicated reactions today. "Why I Live at the P.O." is humorous, the tale of a dysfunctional family, and is an enjoyable, satirical romp until we abruptly arrive at offensive language, of the sort used so casually in the South. This language wiped any enjoyment right off my face.
Recently, reviewing a 1920s Hemingway collection, I mentioned the rude and offensive language and excused it in its historical context. Here, my reaction was stronger and I had to ask myself why. Hemingway's rude labels were dispersed in all directions; here the target was narrow. Also since this story was intended as humour the language seems to stick out more, and jam the works.
I had to google Eudora Welty and racism in order to learn a little more. There are readings of this story on YouTube and the wording is altered for modern audiences. The version I read was published in the 1950s.
2023 update: Re-read this story as part of the Short Story Club, and the online version there has the offensive language edited out. The voice overall is wonderful, and the family dynamic perfectly perverse. Rounded up to 4 stars, or rounded down to 4 stars, but in any event a story that stands up to repeat visits.
January 21, 2023
I enjoyed this short story about one day from the life of a family in the American South in the first part of the 20th century. It is funny on the surface but rather sad between the lines. Then I found the audiobook and listened to it because I wanted to hear those brilliant dialogues pronounced with Southern drawl.
(...)"It's too late to stop me now," I says. "You should have tried that yesterday. I'm going to the P.O. and the only way you can possibly see me is to visit me there."
So Papa-Daddy says, "You'll never catch me setting foot in that post office, even if I should take a notion into my head to write a letter some place." He says, "I won't have you reachin' out of that little old window with a pair of shears and cuttin' off any beard of mine. I'm too smart for
you!"
"We all are," says Stella-Rondo.
But I said, "If you're so smart, where's Mr. Whitaker?"
So then Uncle Rondo says, "I'll thank you from now on to stop reading all the orders I get on postcards and telling everybody in China Grove what you think is the matter with them," but I says, "I draw my own conclusions and will continue in the future to draw them." I says, "If people want to write their inmost secrets on penny postcards, there's nothing in the wide world you can do about it, Uncle Rondo."
"And if you think we'll ever write another postcard you're sadly mistaken," says Mama.
"Cutting off your nose to spite your face then," I says. "But if you're all determined to have no more to do with the U.S. mail, think of this: What will Stella-Rondo do now, if she wants to tell Mr. Whitaker to come after her?"
"Wah!" says Stella-Rondo. I knew she'd cry. She had a conniption fit right there in the kitchen.
"It will be interesting to see how long she holds out," I says. "And now—I am leaving."
"Good-bye," says Uncle Rondo.
"Oh, I declare," says Mama, "to think that a family of mine should quarrel on the Fourth of July, or the day after, over Stella-Rondo leaving old Mr. Whitaker and having the sweetest little adopted child! It looks like we'd all be glad!"
"Wah!" says Stella-Rondo, and has a fresh conniption fit.
"He left her—you mark my words," I says. "That's Mr. Whitaker. I know Mr. Whitaker. After all, I knew him first. I said from the beginning he'd up and leave her. I foretold every single thing that's happened."
"Where did he go?" asks Mama.
"Probably to the North Pole, if he knows what's good for him," I says.
But Stella-Rondo just bawled and wouldn't say another word. She flew to her room and slammed the door.
"Now look what you've gone and done, Sister," says Mama. "You go apologize."
"I haven't got time, I'm leaving," I says. (...)
(...)"It's too late to stop me now," I says. "You should have tried that yesterday. I'm going to the P.O. and the only way you can possibly see me is to visit me there."
So Papa-Daddy says, "You'll never catch me setting foot in that post office, even if I should take a notion into my head to write a letter some place." He says, "I won't have you reachin' out of that little old window with a pair of shears and cuttin' off any beard of mine. I'm too smart for
you!"
"We all are," says Stella-Rondo.
But I said, "If you're so smart, where's Mr. Whitaker?"
So then Uncle Rondo says, "I'll thank you from now on to stop reading all the orders I get on postcards and telling everybody in China Grove what you think is the matter with them," but I says, "I draw my own conclusions and will continue in the future to draw them." I says, "If people want to write their inmost secrets on penny postcards, there's nothing in the wide world you can do about it, Uncle Rondo."
"And if you think we'll ever write another postcard you're sadly mistaken," says Mama.
"Cutting off your nose to spite your face then," I says. "But if you're all determined to have no more to do with the U.S. mail, think of this: What will Stella-Rondo do now, if she wants to tell Mr. Whitaker to come after her?"
"Wah!" says Stella-Rondo. I knew she'd cry. She had a conniption fit right there in the kitchen.
"It will be interesting to see how long she holds out," I says. "And now—I am leaving."
"Good-bye," says Uncle Rondo.
"Oh, I declare," says Mama, "to think that a family of mine should quarrel on the Fourth of July, or the day after, over Stella-Rondo leaving old Mr. Whitaker and having the sweetest little adopted child! It looks like we'd all be glad!"
"Wah!" says Stella-Rondo, and has a fresh conniption fit.
"He left her—you mark my words," I says. "That's Mr. Whitaker. I know Mr. Whitaker. After all, I knew him first. I said from the beginning he'd up and leave her. I foretold every single thing that's happened."
"Where did he go?" asks Mama.
"Probably to the North Pole, if he knows what's good for him," I says.
But Stella-Rondo just bawled and wouldn't say another word. She flew to her room and slammed the door.
"Now look what you've gone and done, Sister," says Mama. "You go apologize."
"I haven't got time, I'm leaving," I says. (...)
January 4, 2021
Não consigo achar graça às personagens castiças que Eudora Welty cria, mas pensei que talvez resultasse o seu humor peculiar compactado num conto sobre uma rapariga que se incompatibiliza com a família e vai viver para o posto dos correios. Não resultou.
‘It’s too late to stop me now’, I says. ‘You should have tried that yesterday. I’m going to the PO and the only way you can possibly see me is to visit me there.’
So Papa-Daddy says, ‘You’ll never catch me setting foot in the post office, even if I should take a notion in my head to write a letter some place.”
‘It’s too late to stop me now’, I says. ‘You should have tried that yesterday. I’m going to the PO and the only way you can possibly see me is to visit me there.’
So Papa-Daddy says, ‘You’ll never catch me setting foot in the post office, even if I should take a notion in my head to write a letter some place.”
March 4, 2023
Edited 3/3/23: I have not read this anthology. Goodreads has apparently absorbed the stand-alone short story "Why I Live at the P.O." by Eudora Welty under this title, and my review is of the Welty story only.
“I was getting along fine with Mama, Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again.”
The word is that Eudora Welty developed this story from one of her own photographs of a woman ironing in the back of a post office. Welty had the eye to find this image as well as the creative mind to spin a story around it.
And spin she did! It has all the grudges and exaggerations you’d expect to hear in a real family fight. What is so brilliant is the way Welty captures this. You feel like you’re right there because it’s written exactly as it would be told across the fence.
"'Do you realize,’ I says, ‘that she hasn't spoken one single, solitary word to a human being up to this minute? This is the way she looks,’ I says, and I looked like this.”
So it’s more than a story. It’s an experience. And as my grandmother might have said, it just tickles me to death, every time I read it.
“I was getting along fine with Mama, Papa-Daddy and Uncle Rondo until my sister Stella-Rondo just separated from her husband and came back home again.”
The word is that Eudora Welty developed this story from one of her own photographs of a woman ironing in the back of a post office. Welty had the eye to find this image as well as the creative mind to spin a story around it.
And spin she did! It has all the grudges and exaggerations you’d expect to hear in a real family fight. What is so brilliant is the way Welty captures this. You feel like you’re right there because it’s written exactly as it would be told across the fence.
"'Do you realize,’ I says, ‘that she hasn't spoken one single, solitary word to a human being up to this minute? This is the way she looks,’ I says, and I looked like this.”
So it’s more than a story. It’s an experience. And as my grandmother might have said, it just tickles me to death, every time I read it.
January 24, 2023
Sister tells us first hand why she has to leave her mean-spirited, conniption -throwing family to go live at the Post Office where she works. Everybody in her family is being turned against her since her sister Stella-Rondo separated from her husband and moved back in. Welty tells the story so comically, but I felt sadness for a family that cannot talk through their issues. But go ahead- let’s hold that grudge or stick to our guns, and we too can live alone with our radio and butter-beans at the P.O.
But here I am, and here I’ll stay. I want the world to know I’m happy.
And if Stella-Rondo should come to me this minute, on bended knees…I’d simply put my fingers in both my ears and refuse to listen. Sister.
But here I am, and here I’ll stay. I want the world to know I’m happy.
And if Stella-Rondo should come to me this minute, on bended knees…I’d simply put my fingers in both my ears and refuse to listen. Sister.
April 23, 2022
"I am not telling you to do anything," he said softly, "only asking you."
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
⇢The Boat in under 15 words
- The choice between tradition and the unknown
- Incredibly moving plot twist/realization at the end
⇢Thoughts
So I read this for class, and I surprisingly enjoyed it more than I thought I would?? I think I really appreciated the contrast created by the main character’s parents and their two opposing worldviews, and then that ending… It took me a while to register what the author suggested the father did but when I got it, my appreciation for this story increased A LOT. That part was so sad but so good, and really emphasized the father’s sacrifice for his son.
The story did drag a bit, and maybe took a little longer than necessary to convey the point that it was trying to get across, but still enjoyed it!
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
my carrd ❦
BOOKISH PRODUCTS: USE MY CODE JAZ10 ❦
BOOKMARKS, BLIND DATE WITH A BOOK ETC: USE MY CODE JAZ10 ❦
BOOKMARKS AND CANDLES: USE MY CODE JAZ10 ❦
August 3, 2022
A Southern short story by a master of the genre. Having lived in Kentucky, Virginia, and Alabama I had to read it aloud with a Southern drawl. Such fun!
January 23, 2023
Welty gave us an amusing tale, one bereft of the ribald and and the metaphysical. The rather short story details a Mississippi household dispute on the Fourth of July. An outspoken family member is quick to burn bridges amongst her kinfolk. The dialogue is interesting but all too brief.
January 22, 2023
This short story depicts life in a day of a family reunion of sorts on July 4th, in China Grove, Mississippi, in perhaps 1941. Stella-Rondo returns to the family home upon separation from her husband, Mr. Whitaker, and brings with her her two year old supposedly adopted daughter. While Mother is glad to see her, Stella-Rondo’s exactly one year older sister, referred to only as Sister, who also narrates the story, is not so glad to see her. The bickering starts immediately and continues for the entire story.
It is clear that the two sisters have never shared much in the way of a friendly, loving, sisterly relationship, other than sharing Mr. Whitaker, who was firstly betrothed to Sister before running off with Stella-Rondo.
Stella-Rondo needs to be the centre of attention at all costs and all times. Her language and demeanor work to betray her sister and to turn everyone against Sister, and in fact, is the reason Sister moves out of the family home and into the local P.O., where she is the local Postmistress.
Although much of the bickering is petty, it reaches back to time and events when the girls were very young, and each conversation further pits the sisters one against the other. Conversations include pokes and jabs at each other, tales of the past, lies of earlier in the day, all in an effort of Stella-Rondo seeking for Mother, Uncle Rondo, and Papa-Daddy (grandfather) to side with her. It’s as if the sisters are twelve years old again.
The conversations carry a southern vernacular and while the sisters’ immature behavior is at times funny, it is also rather sad. For the family to be torn apart, each side, and almost all participants swearing they will never speak or set foot in the post office again is really rather tragic.
This is my first read of the writings of Eudora Welty, and I will seek out more of her work. While the writing was entertaining, I’m not certain if she intended this to be a humorous look at a dysfunctional family, or a sad commentary on what a petty argument can do to a family….. it’s open for discussion either way.
This was the weekly read for the GR’s Short Story Club.
It is clear that the two sisters have never shared much in the way of a friendly, loving, sisterly relationship, other than sharing Mr. Whitaker, who was firstly betrothed to Sister before running off with Stella-Rondo.
Stella-Rondo needs to be the centre of attention at all costs and all times. Her language and demeanor work to betray her sister and to turn everyone against Sister, and in fact, is the reason Sister moves out of the family home and into the local P.O., where she is the local Postmistress.
Although much of the bickering is petty, it reaches back to time and events when the girls were very young, and each conversation further pits the sisters one against the other. Conversations include pokes and jabs at each other, tales of the past, lies of earlier in the day, all in an effort of Stella-Rondo seeking for Mother, Uncle Rondo, and Papa-Daddy (grandfather) to side with her. It’s as if the sisters are twelve years old again.
The conversations carry a southern vernacular and while the sisters’ immature behavior is at times funny, it is also rather sad. For the family to be torn apart, each side, and almost all participants swearing they will never speak or set foot in the post office again is really rather tragic.
This is my first read of the writings of Eudora Welty, and I will seek out more of her work. While the writing was entertaining, I’m not certain if she intended this to be a humorous look at a dysfunctional family, or a sad commentary on what a petty argument can do to a family….. it’s open for discussion either way.
This was the weekly read for the GR’s Short Story Club.
Read
January 10, 20237.0/10
While I acknowledge Welty's skill at painting accurately, both time and place, these are not portraits that engender anything in me but mild annoyance. The characters grate on me, like a mixture of chalk and cheese.
While I acknowledge Welty's skill at painting accurately, both time and place, these are not portraits that engender anything in me but mild annoyance. The characters grate on me, like a mixture of chalk and cheese.
August 20, 2021
According to Wikipedia, this short story was inspired by a photograph that showed a woman ironing in a post office. The narrator, Sister, is postmistress in a very small town in Mississippi and tells how she ended up living in the post office. I've never read any books by this author, and this was a good introduction.
November 1, 2017
I had to read this ridiculous babbling nonsense crap story twice - twice! - during my undergrad years, for two different literature courses. Ugh!
July 20, 2021
Pessimistic and overly reflective.
Read
June 1, 2022I listened to Eudora Welty read this famous short story of hers after Ann Patchett told me to read it in These Precious Days.
January 24, 2023
one of the most beautiful stories and painful
the relationship with his father is pure and well developed and written so well that I almost cried great great book
the relationship with his father is pure and well developed and written so well that I almost cried great great book
June 24, 2018
Powerful short story. Wished it went to more detail and 'discussion' on duty vs. what you really want to do. Vivid imagery that made me picture and feel the story so clearly. Happy to be analysing it for english.
December 8, 2022
Gorgeous, touching and haunting. One of the most revolutionary collections of modern short-stories that depicts how land shapes people and their relationships. My favourite short story from here is 'In the Fall' but all of them are so packed with emotion you will not be able to put this down!
March 10, 2020
Short story. Humorous and enjoyable.
October 21, 2020
3.5/5 stars.
July 14, 2021
A really poignant story about the narrator's childhood and how he lost his father to the sea.
Want to read
March 3, 2023Amazing
December 26, 2025
He leído Why I Live at the P.O. de Eudora Welty con The Short Story Book Club. Me ha parecido una historia divertida, triste y absurda a la vez.
August 11, 2021
I came across this story title and its writer while reading "Bradbury’s Greatest Writing Advice", in Literary Hub. In the article, Ray Bradbury discusses the importance of studying the work of the masters. He adds:
"I used to study Eudora Welty. She has the remarkable ability to give you atmosphere, character, and motion in a single line."
I decided to read one of her stories.
"Why I Live at the P.O." is about a family (grandfather, uncle, mother and two daughters) who leave in a very small rural area of the American South.
The story, written in the language distinctive of the area, relies heavily on dialogue and is told in the first person by a young woman narrator who is referred to by other characters as "Sister".
The narrator's sister returns home after breaking up with her husband and brings with her a toddler she claims is her adopted child. A dispute occurs between the two sisters, and our narrator decides to leave home and set residence at her place of work: the post-office.
As Bradbury suggested, the writer manages to convey much with very simple lines, including characters, setting, action, mood and humour.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
"I used to study Eudora Welty. She has the remarkable ability to give you atmosphere, character, and motion in a single line."
I decided to read one of her stories.
"Why I Live at the P.O." is about a family (grandfather, uncle, mother and two daughters) who leave in a very small rural area of the American South.
The story, written in the language distinctive of the area, relies heavily on dialogue and is told in the first person by a young woman narrator who is referred to by other characters as "Sister".
The narrator's sister returns home after breaking up with her husband and brings with her a toddler she claims is her adopted child. A dispute occurs between the two sisters, and our narrator decides to leave home and set residence at her place of work: the post-office.
As Bradbury suggested, the writer manages to convey much with very simple lines, including characters, setting, action, mood and humour.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
November 15, 2022
A southern retelling of the "Return of the Prodigal Son," featuring daughters instead of sons. Told from the perspective of the devoted daughter who remained behind. I found myself just as irritated with Stella-Rondo (the Prodigal Daughter) as the narrator. So you could say I still don't understand the lesson of the Prodigal Son, except that, I see a significant difference between the two stories. In the biblical version, when the son returns home, he's turning away from his sin. He's repentant. "I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.'”(Luke 15:18-19) So it isn't just a return home, so much as a turning away from a sinful way of living. There's no better reason to slay the fatted calf. In Eudora Welty's version, I don't see evidence of repentance in Stella-Rondo. Maybe that's why I sympathize with the devoted daughter. There's no reason to celebrate. There's no reason to "stretch two chickens over five people."
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2018
Had to read this one twice. The first time cold. I didn't really get it. I felt bad for the narrator. Checked out Spark Notes and found out it was a comedy. Read it a second time with that in mind. It was funny. I could see it all go down in such a dramatic fashion. We all know a drama queen like Sister.
I have a lot of questions about Southern culture. Do they call people names like Papa Daddy. Would I call my sister by her married last name? I watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Maggie calls her sister and brother-in-law Sister Woman and Brother Man. I suppose Brother Man beats his other name - Gooper. Do they do that in real life down south? Big Daddy and Big Momma I can understand. We have a Big Daddy's Donuts here locally.
Anyway, I would like to listen to Ms. Welty read this novel herself. There is an audio recording available and I will track it down.
I have a lot of questions about Southern culture. Do they call people names like Papa Daddy. Would I call my sister by her married last name? I watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Maggie calls her sister and brother-in-law Sister Woman and Brother Man. I suppose Brother Man beats his other name - Gooper. Do they do that in real life down south? Big Daddy and Big Momma I can understand. We have a Big Daddy's Donuts here locally.
Anyway, I would like to listen to Ms. Welty read this novel herself. There is an audio recording available and I will track it down.
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