- Hardcover
- Publisher: Beehive Pr (June 1974)
- ISBN-10: 9995273950
- ISBN-13: 978-9995273958
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
Review
"Mr. Caldwell's humor, like Mark Twain's, has as its source an imagination that stirs the emotions of the reader."--New York Herald Tribune
"Caldwell displays a talent which is unique.”--New York Times
"An original, mature approach to people who ignore the civilization that contains them as completely as it ignores them."--The Nation
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
Set during the Depression in the depleted farmlands surrounding Augusta, Georgia, Tobacco Road was first published in 1932. It is the story of the Lesters, a family of white sharecroppers so destitute that most of their creditors have given up on them. Debased by poverty to an elemental state of ignorance and selfishness, the Lesters are preoccupied by their hunger, sexual longings, and fear that they will someday descend to a lower rung on the social ladder than the black families who live near them.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
a brooding black comedy on being poor
Mar 7 2002
Format:Paperback
Erskine Caldwell has more in common with James M. Cain than John Steinbeck and this, by far his most famous book (he wrote an awful lot of them) is a vastly entertaining pulp novel about the worst of the wretched.
Things are so bad for this family that it has surpassed the epic tragedy of the under-privilaged 'farmer class' of the Depression and into the deserving squalor of hell reserved for the lazy, the ignorant and the spiteful. The story begins with a well-rounded plot to steal a bag of turnips from a man everyone is trying to convince to marry one of the daughters--his much younger cousin.
Things do not improve and you'll find yourself growing to enjoy the increasing absurdity of the miserable things that happen, and enlightened by the consistant hopes and failures of each of the many characters.
Much better than I'd expected, I blazed through it in a workday and a half, just prior to taking a trip I had planned to read this book en route to.
Is it even plausible?
Mar 23 2002
Format:Paperback
Boy, talk about 'moan and groan acres.' The people depicted in Caldwell's short novel are almost unbelievable not only in their ignorance but in their immorality. Women are treated as little more than commodities, while the elderly are totally ignored. The scavengers feeding on the Serengheti plains in Africa have nothing on these rapscallions. Can more selfish, self-serving characters even be imagined? Any comparison with the Joads in "Grapes of Wrath" is frivolous, it seems to me. The Joads are no less than moral giants when compared to the folks on "Tobacco Road." A fascinating read, but are these characters plausible enough to be taken seriously? Tobacco Road makes Dogpatch seem like a college town.
A tale of desperation and self-interest
Dec 21 2001
Format:Paperback
This tragic and at times humorous tale of Jeeter Lester and his dysfunctional family has become part of American Culture. The characters may not be as famous as the Joads but how often have you heard the derisive term "Tobacco Road" used? Read this book and you'll realize that you've probably been understating the image of Tobacco Road. Rarely do we get such a portrait of despair, poverty, and self-interest. It is a wonderfully written book that reminds me somewhat of the works of Steinbeck in his depiction of the poor or down-and-out. Steinbeck, however, allowed his characters some nobility. Caldwell strips away any notion that the Lesters are noble.
Want to see more reviews on this item?
Most recent customer reviews
THE UNDERBELLY OF SOUTHERN CULTURE
Written during the depression era, this southern classic uncovers the ugly side of southern culture steeped in poverty. Read more
Published on Aug 7 2001 by Bonita L. Davis
My Mother Made Me Read This
When I was young, and still ashamed of being a Southerner, my mother made me read this book. She told me it would enlighten me as to stereotypes believed about Southerners by... Read more
Published on Jun 7 2001
Tobacco Road
Written in a plainative style reminisicent of Hemingway, Caldwell does a fasinating job creating his characters who are all concerned only with themselves and seem to disregard the... Read more
Published on Jun 4 2001 by "atomeka"
stark reality
When I - a Yankee - moved to the South after having lived abroad for 15 years, I had some romantic notions about it, mostly gleaned from listening to country music way out of... Read more
Published on Mar 20 2001 by xkraut
It's a short book but it's more suited to a short story
Very little content and extremely repetitive dialogue which effectively does portray the pathetic life of the main characters but left me as a reader thinking I was reading a... Read more
Published on Jan 26 2001 by "axiom20"
Tobacco Road
In Tobacco Road, Erskine Caldwell tells the humorous yet incredibly detestable tale of an extremely poor southern family during the Great Depression. Read more
Published on Dec 8 2000 by Mark
The Grapes of Mirth
Sort of "The Grapes of Mirth"; it's a lighthearted look at the zany antics of amoral, ignorant, stupid, inbred, deformed sharecroppers in the Piedmonts. Read more
Published on Nov 2 2000 by Orrin C. Judd
Hardscrabble realism...or is it?
Tobacco Road is, and has repeatedly been, billed as a novel that shows, through realism, the dark and foolish underside of the poor in the south during the 1920s-40s. Read more
Published on Jun 5 2000 by Kelly Whiting
Ouch! The Stupidity Hurts!
Deep, deep in the South and deep, deep into the Depression comes this tale of unsurpassable ignorance, decrepit behavior, and misguided ambition in the lives of a remarkably poor,... Read more
Published on May 11 2000 by Mark Valentine
Thoroughly enjoyable reading
Excellent story of an unfortunate family in the hard old days of the rural South in America.
I felt very sorry for the poor old grandmother who was treated just like the dirt... Read more
Published on Aug 19 1999
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
