The Bootlegger's Other Daughter (Volume 4)

Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life, sponsored by Texas A&M University-Commerce

by Mary Cimarolli

The generation that toiled through the Great Depression and won the Second World War has become known as “the greatest generation.” But not all of them qualified for that exaggerated epithet in the eyes of their own children. In this tender but unsparing memoir, Mary Cimarolli remembers a world in which the family home was lost to foreclosure, her father made his way by bootlegging, and school was a haven to hide from her brother’s teasing. Her stories are about struggle and survival, making do and overcoming, and, ultimately, reconciliation.

From her perspective as a child, she describes the cotton stamps and other programs of the New Deal, the yellow-dog Democrat politics and racism of East Texas, and the religious revivals and Old Settlers reunions that gave a break from working in the cotton patch. The colorful colloquialisms of rural East Texas that dot the manuscript help express both the traditionalism of the region and its changes under the impact of modernization, electrification, and the coming of war.

Along with these regional and national trends, Cimarolli skillfully interweaves the personal: conflict between her parents, the death of her brother a few days before his sixteenth birthday, and her own inner tensions.

184 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a decent read. At first, I was afraid it was going to be a little on the sugary side: I do not like memoirs that romanticize a hardscrabble existence. The fact that she wrote about unpleasantness without countering it with something pleasant in the same paragraph was much appreciated. That being said, she also did not over-emphasize the unpleasant side of her upbringing or life in East Texas.
I do wish she would have covered more of the bootlegging activities and a little more about her dad and mom in their later years, perhaps something more of her sister. I wouldn't have minded reading something more about her college life.

[Smalltown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mostly for its local setting. Quite well written memoir of growing up in East Texas prior to and after WWII.

[Jim Ainsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book just after it was published in 2004—a time when I was busy writing my own memoir that eventually became my first novel. From that experience, I know that Cimarolli deftly did something that I now know is extremely difficult—she wrote her story and the story of her family and of an era with unvarnished truth, wrapping it all in a cloak of love.

She writes not only about the worst hard times (the Great Depression) but also about how family love can overcome severe economic hardship and surpass our deepest character flaws. One reviewer said that her book is “farm life noir”. I don’t disagree with that characterization, but Cimarolli’s memoir goes much deeper than noir. It strikes to the heart of a culture, place and time that is slipping from our memories. Do yourself a favor and read this touching story of things that should not be forgotten.

[Gail DiVico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the book! It was like taking a journey back into time, and for me, it was really a learning experience since I wasn't born until the 1950's. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the 1930's.

[Margaret Dee]

wrong book