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Hurry Sundown #1
Hurry Sundown
Gilden, K.B., Hurry Sundown
- GenresFiction
Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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About the author
K.B. Gilden
10 books2 followersPen name of the husband and wife writing team of Katya Gilden and Bert Gilden.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
January 18, 2015
Hurry Sundown is the tumultuous tale of a year in the life of the citizens of Arcady Georgia. It is a study of moral conviction and inner struggles and of love and mistrust in the lives of the residents of a small town just after WWII.
The characters are real, they act a certain way and then question their deeds, struggle with their motives or twist the truth to justify their actions. They grapple with the tension of race and religion,the struggle between honesty, moral obligation, sexual immorality, spirituality. They wrestle with self doubt, self righteousness, the need to be noticed, the need to be needed, the fear of the unknown - the fear of the known.
This story is one that sticks with you. It causes one to pause, to consider all that we struggle for in our everyday lives - and the value of the lesson learned.
The characters are real, they act a certain way and then question their deeds, struggle with their motives or twist the truth to justify their actions. They grapple with the tension of race and religion,the struggle between honesty, moral obligation, sexual immorality, spirituality. They wrestle with self doubt, self righteousness, the need to be noticed, the need to be needed, the fear of the unknown - the fear of the known.
This story is one that sticks with you. It causes one to pause, to consider all that we struggle for in our everyday lives - and the value of the lesson learned.
April 9, 2015
While I was in Vietnam I got the soundtrack to the movie Hurry Sundown and played it a lot. But it was a reel to reel tape and became obsolete. Recently I found the soundtrack again ... it is a favorite of mine. Finally I read a copy of the book and am sorry that I waited so long to read it. The movie was a failure apparently, never saw it. But the book is a novel of rural Georgia in 1947 ... written in 1964 after the Civil Right Movement was well underway. But this book is about the complex issues and relationships in 1947 in the south. It is a book that takes one to the core of feelings about race relations in trying to understand the time of early change. This was the time of Jackie Robinson coming out of World War II and integrating baseball ... but a time in the south when it would be 30 years before changes would begin.
June 10, 2012
During High School, I worked part time for the now defunct W.T. Grant Company. When the book vendor serviced the paper back book racks, he removed old books to replace the new. He tore the covers off to return to his company, wrote the store credit for unsold copies, then left a carton of books in the break room for employees to take.
That is how I got a copy of Hurry Sundown by K. Gilden. I loved the novel so much, I re-read it every year or so. The book is long gone and the only thing I remembered about the book was a pregnant woman sweating while canning. It was, of course, more involved than that.
Several years ago I located a copy at public library. I liked the story as much as I remembered liking it all those years ago, although, I no longer have patience for those long novels.
The story: After World War II, a canning company wants to purchase a large tract of land in Georgia. Owner sells a large tract, but want to buy two smaller tracts. Neither owner wants to sell and they form an unlikely partnership for that time in history ~ one black, one white man. Both struggle to survive nature, racism, treachery while fighting the large cannery to hold onto their land.
That is how I got a copy of Hurry Sundown by K. Gilden. I loved the novel so much, I re-read it every year or so. The book is long gone and the only thing I remembered about the book was a pregnant woman sweating while canning. It was, of course, more involved than that.
Several years ago I located a copy at public library. I liked the story as much as I remembered liking it all those years ago, although, I no longer have patience for those long novels.
The story: After World War II, a canning company wants to purchase a large tract of land in Georgia. Owner sells a large tract, but want to buy two smaller tracts. Neither owner wants to sell and they form an unlikely partnership for that time in history ~ one black, one white man. Both struggle to survive nature, racism, treachery while fighting the large cannery to hold onto their land.
July 1, 2016
Doubleday & Co., 1964. Set in rural Georgia, 1946.
Has this book disappeared from view? disappeared from libraries?
It's a totally gripping 1100-page 2-volume novel that addresses racism, class privilege, small-town politics, sharecroppers, and all kinds of other things. I remember finding it wrenching to read at times, the scenes of pain and injustice are so convincingly described. I found it difficult to imagine how the authors could describe these things in such detail, esp. after I found out they apparently are Northerners, and did not seem to have lived here.
I was going to dump the books, [which I picked up at a Dutch rummage sale, had never heard of it],
as I will probably not reread them, but since they seem so scarce, I may relent and hold on to them...
Here's the blurb on the book jacket:
"Progress had been long coming to Arcady, but by World War II's end -- with the near completion of 'Sunset', a mammoth mechanized farming operation -- the little Georgia town wasn't too many steps away from full industrialization. Only two things blocked Henry Warren from fulfilling his goal of uniting the entire Arcade valley: Rad McDowell's farm, bordering on the river, and Reeve Scott's acreage, adjacent to Rad's and stretching across the valley to the through road.
"Together, the pitiful little dirt farms of these two crackers-returned-from-the-War cut Sunset in two ... and threatened to spilt asunder the wound that 80 years of reconstruction were just beginning to heal.
"As the rival forces of tradition and progress make a battlefield of the valley, several interlocking narratives unfold in this brilliant novel: a member of the archaic Arcady aristocracy attempts to dispossess the family of the woman who had nursed her through childhood and taught her the meaning of good; a powerful industrialist tries to recapture the thrills of his penniless youth; an idealistic young minister works to join his opposing parishes in a spirit of genuine brotherhood, only to meet vicious resistance from both camps; a judge whose activities on the edge of the law have made him wealthy seeks the political plum that has eluded him for 20 years; two physicians -- one spineless and guilt-ridden, the other unscrupulous and unfeeling -- bid for recognition in quite different ways; and the social structure of the whole community pulses and surges as its members try to make their way upward.
"K. B. Gilden is the joint signature of Bert and Katya Gilden, husband and wife, who have previously collaborated on short stories and screen plays."
[see also Wikipedia short page on Kaya Gilden]
For a fascinating and disturbing account of ongoing racism in the South [Louisiana where the film was filmed] in 1965-66 see Wikipedia page on 'Hurry Sundown [film]"
Has this book disappeared from view? disappeared from libraries?
It's a totally gripping 1100-page 2-volume novel that addresses racism, class privilege, small-town politics, sharecroppers, and all kinds of other things. I remember finding it wrenching to read at times, the scenes of pain and injustice are so convincingly described. I found it difficult to imagine how the authors could describe these things in such detail, esp. after I found out they apparently are Northerners, and did not seem to have lived here.
I was going to dump the books, [which I picked up at a Dutch rummage sale, had never heard of it],
as I will probably not reread them, but since they seem so scarce, I may relent and hold on to them...
Here's the blurb on the book jacket:
"Progress had been long coming to Arcady, but by World War II's end -- with the near completion of 'Sunset', a mammoth mechanized farming operation -- the little Georgia town wasn't too many steps away from full industrialization. Only two things blocked Henry Warren from fulfilling his goal of uniting the entire Arcade valley: Rad McDowell's farm, bordering on the river, and Reeve Scott's acreage, adjacent to Rad's and stretching across the valley to the through road.
"Together, the pitiful little dirt farms of these two crackers-returned-from-the-War cut Sunset in two ... and threatened to spilt asunder the wound that 80 years of reconstruction were just beginning to heal.
"As the rival forces of tradition and progress make a battlefield of the valley, several interlocking narratives unfold in this brilliant novel: a member of the archaic Arcady aristocracy attempts to dispossess the family of the woman who had nursed her through childhood and taught her the meaning of good; a powerful industrialist tries to recapture the thrills of his penniless youth; an idealistic young minister works to join his opposing parishes in a spirit of genuine brotherhood, only to meet vicious resistance from both camps; a judge whose activities on the edge of the law have made him wealthy seeks the political plum that has eluded him for 20 years; two physicians -- one spineless and guilt-ridden, the other unscrupulous and unfeeling -- bid for recognition in quite different ways; and the social structure of the whole community pulses and surges as its members try to make their way upward.
"K. B. Gilden is the joint signature of Bert and Katya Gilden, husband and wife, who have previously collaborated on short stories and screen plays."
[see also Wikipedia short page on Kaya Gilden]
For a fascinating and disturbing account of ongoing racism in the South [Louisiana where the film was filmed] in 1965-66 see Wikipedia page on 'Hurry Sundown [film]"
December 7, 2020
A little bit too wordy and verbose, and at times difficult to read. I felt the authors were trying to impress the readers by using obscure vocabulary, and the story was not as intriguing as I had hoped, but on to Volume II!
February 7, 2017
This is a beautifully written book of over 1000 pages. It describes race relations in the south just after the end of WW2. I highly recommend it.
August 18, 2012
An old fictional book about the south and the way blacks and "crackers" were treated. The author constantly went into long, long descriptions of characters thoughts; there was little to turn the pages for. I read over 400 pages and just couldn't finish the last 200. Can't say I didn't try! All the time I spent on this one, even looking through the last 200, I consider it read and sorry I wasted the time on it.
February 28, 2021
I have tried on several occasions to wade through this 1,000 page tome wanting so much to see it through, but it is a tough book to finish. And thus, I have not. Way too long. It goes on and on and although the husband and wife team of K.B. Gilden are very good writers, I question how in the world the editors allowed this rambling opus to go to print without some massive editing. And some of the prose, my goodness. For example, page 293 (yes, I made it that far in the 1st edition hardback.) A woman is having a tick removed from her hand and we read this. "What is love and what is death and what is the death of love? It was immaterial and irrelevant. What is life? What is reality? The physiological timetable of the womb about to cast the unfertilized egg. A physiological pattern, masochism responding to sadism. A tick sucking at the blood, an infinitesimal speck on the blood-rusty edge of a knife blade. Faucet leaking drop on drop. Scuffling for the rent man....." HUH???? This is not an isolated passage. There are many and after awhile it becomes quite tedious and irritating. To compare Hurry Sundown to Gone With the Wind (see book cover) is like comparing Valley of the Dolls to To Kill A Mockingbird. Yes, it takes place in the south, but saw no other comparisons. The characters are strange and unlikeable. The dialog is very odd and ambiguous. I have put it aside for now, but I can see why it never became a classic despite all of it's ballyhoo upon publication.
February 12, 2024
One of those old-fashioned, early Sixties kajillion page long mass markets that I so love. It's not great but just about-- the story keeps you going, the writing keeps the pages turning, and the characters are so well done that you find yourself thinking about them th
roughout the day...
roughout the day...
September 3, 2017
Written so many years ago and the struggle for racial equality goes on
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews