Customer Reviews

A Death in the Family

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While reading James Agee's posthumously published novel "A Death in the Family," I realized that this unjustifiably overlooked writer is one of the more accomplished American prose stylists of the mid-twentieth century. Apparently also a renowned film critic, journalist, and poet, Agee applies a technique that finds modes and moods associated with other famous Southern writers, showing shades of Faulkner's descriptive flair and Eudora Welty's sensitivity to emotions and domestic despair, without overdoing any single aspect of his style.

The story takes place in 1915 in Knoxville, Tennessee, where Jay Follet, an ordinary man approaching middle age, lives with his wife Mary and their two small children, Rufus, who is about six, and Catherine, who is almost four. One night he gets an anxious telephone call from his brother Ralph beckoning him to the bedside of their ailing father, who appears to be at death's door. Jay agrees to go, and in an excellent scene in which Mary makes breakfast for him before his departure, the reader gets a clear view of the kind of relationship they have. The alarm turns out to be a false one, but death is still in the cards: Returning home, Jay is killed in a car accident.

The rest of the novel demonstrates the sudden impact on Mary and her well-meaning family. Her aunt Hannah is the most helpful and the most sympathetic to her piety; her father is an agnostic who takes a practical view of things while her partially deaf mother listens through an ear trumpet; her brother Andrew tries to console her by explaining the relatively merciful circumstances of Jay's death with an interesting forensic reconstruction of the accident. Andrew is a cynic who seems to derive his personality from his father; he is quick to detect sanctimoniousness and sourly decries the priest who refuses to give the unbaptized Jay full burial rites. And, in regard to a difficult telephone conversation with Jay's inarticulate brother, he delivers the novel's best line: "Talking to that fool is like trying to put socks on an octopus."

The text of the novel is interspersed with sections relating the young Rufus's memories of growing up and perspective on his father's death, the seriousness and finality of which he is not quite old enough to understand. There are nostalgic scenes depicting days and nights on the Knoxville streets, his expectations of a "surprise" which turns out to be the birth of his younger sister, an epiphanous lesson on race relations from his black nurse Victoria, the torment and ridicule he suffers from older, bigger boys when he starts school, and, most piquant of all, a Charlie Chaplin film to which his father takes him.

Although religion plays a role, the novel is not filled with uplifting, hyperreligious cliches that try to find some higher purpose in the tragedy. Agee explores trauma and grief with the hard eye of a playwright, rendering his novel warm but not sentimental, melancholy but not depressing or humorless, melodramatic but not hysterical. "A Death in the Family" is as pure an elegy on the American family as any the previous century could conceive.

Agee has done something utterly amazing through this lyrical, slow-moving work. You often feel as if you moving through a dream - or, perhaps, a world running in slow motion where you can anticipate what will happen but you can't do anything to stop it.

As the book starts off, a boy is making a trip to town with his dad. The boy worries about making his dad proud. The dad worries about his boy's perception of him. The dad is also incredibly lonely...and you begin to get attached to him, but you don't want to get too attached because you know he won't be around too much longer. (My apologies if this ruins the story, but I'm pretty sure this is well known.)

As you become introduced to the rest of the characters, you realize that everyone is honorable (for the most part) and that their internal concerns & worries just comes out of their being human. For example, though the father is lonely, it's not because he has a horrible wife. In fact, he has a wonderful wife...but he is trying to wade through the complexity of relationships, internal peace and life in general. And so are all the characters.

The story progresses slowly, predictably, and you watch as the characters all act & react in various ways. Agee allows you to see the world through each character's eyes, and then how the world perceives that character. This narrative style leaves you feeling compassionate for each member of the family whereas it would normally be easy to be annoyed with or dismissive of many of the characters.

It is also worth mentioning how honest and thoughtful Agee is in showing his characters' motivations and flaws. When the little boy learns that his father has died, the loss completely goes over his head. Instead, he tries to leverage this event for popularity from the schoolchildren. "Surely they will be nice to me today," he thinks.

Later, when the mother kneels to pray, her aunt has amazing insight that the mother is praying not from her heart but rather from pride - praying what she thinks a holy woman would pray in such a circumstance. Such commentary on our actions and motivations can hit a little close to home...but I believe it must have come from his own experience. He never condemns his characters...he just lets them be fully human.

As I said in the beginning, I believe this work to be a true masterpiece. Though I was often horrified by the true despairing picture he portrayed, my mind was also deeply impressed by the truth he conveyed. And he does give hope, after his own fashion.

My interest in this book came about after seeing a performance of Samuel Barber's opera "Knoxville Summer of 1915". Before the performance there was reading from "A Death in the Family" the book for which the opera was named. A few days later I purchased the book. When I began reading I immediately understood why Agee's writing would inspire such a beautiful piece of music. No, the book is not perfect. It is tedious and repetitive in spots and some parts just don't work, but it is some of the most beautiful prose I have ever read. Agee does a wonderful job of capturing the world from a child's point of view: the almost dream-like descriptions of the Rufus' environment; the love and trust he has invested in his parents,in God and in the world; the sleepy sense that time is moving slowly for him etc. I believe the book is well worth the read despite the rough spots. As another reviewer pointed out the book was unfinished at the time of the author's death, and I believe this certainly accounts for many of the rough spots. It also offers a unique chance to see a published novel as somewhat of a work in progress and to learn something about the writing process. This is one of my most cherished books.

I first read this book in the mid-60's when I was still in high school - I read both the novel and the play that it became (All the Way Home). It was and still is one of my favorites and I am anxious to get my hands on a copy of the re-release of this wonderful story of a family and their loss. I'll read it again as if I were visiting with a long lost friend.

I first read A Death In The Family for a book report for my English class. At first, it started out slow and i wanted to quit, but i kept going and read the whole thing. When i finished the book, I realized that the book was one of the most touching books i have ever read. James Agee really brings the emotion of each character to life. I really recommend this book to everyone.

"Have to double the charge mister, cross at night" he said.
"You generally always come o' Sundays, yer womurn couple o' young-un's?"
"Yeahp"
This is generally the way Jams Agee wrote in a death in the Family. This would be a typical conversation between to African American men in the 1940s
The setting is a very important aspect of this novel. Agee writes about what he sees in everyday life in the cold winter of the 1940s. If it had been set in the summer it would not have been as powerful. Also it would not have shown the struggles of an African American family if it was set at a different time.
The diction in Agee's novel plays the most important role in telling the story. Agee writs what he hears people saying. Just as if it was right in front of a person.
An example of this would be "till", "don't believe"
The characters in this novel make the story come to life. These people are the typical people of this time. There's Jay, his wife, their two kids, Uncle Ralph, grandma and grandpa Follet. There is a very exciting twist in the book when Jay goes to check on his father (grandpa Follet).
A Death in the family is a very exciting book. It contains a lot of twists and turns. You'll never want to put it down.

For the most part I thought this book was very descriptive. The way he was able to put the character's emotions in words was amazing. The only thing I didn't find so interesting was the stroyline. The book never gets anywhere; it never moves.All in all it was a terrific book and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes affectionate types of stories.

A fascinating tale of a "death in the family" experienced and seen through various eyes, wife's, brother-in-law, aunt and two small children. An unforgettable account of human emotions, empathy, love, misery, sadness, too gruesome to imagine. The irony is that this book was published after James Agee passed away. We can all relate to Rufus when he describes in detail the taunts, ridicule he endures from the older boys. It is a very shaky and unsafe world seen through young impressionable unsure eyes. A must read.

James Agee wrote this book through the time of his death, and was so tramatized by his fathers death that he was never able to finish it. It spans 4 days in addition to selected prose inserted as memories of the main character Rufus' childhood. On some level, Rufus is a representation of Agee himself as a child. This is a fantastic book which thoroughly explains what death means and what the consequences of death are. I would reccomend this book to anyone, it is fantastically written, and contains an even more impressive message.

James Agee's "A Death in the Family" is a moving novel about the struggles of a family trying to cope with the tragic loss of one of their own. The story, set in Knoxville, Tennessee, is a relatively easy read, despite the fact that some parts are unfinished. Rufus, the protagonist of the story, is shaken from his childhood innocence by the sudden death of his father. He does not fully comprehend what death is and how it will effect him, but by the end of the story he begins to understand.
Religion is a major theme in "A Death in the Family". It also causes many disputes within the family and eventually leads to Rufus' confusion abvout what death really is. Another major theme in the novel is the childhood viewpoint that the story is told from. This helps you to understand what Rufus feels and allows you to sympathize with him.
James Agee uses flashbacks in "A Death in the Family" to give the reader some background information about the family. This helps the reader understand what Jay, Rufus' father, was like. This also helps the reader feel the depth of Rufus' loss. Agee also uses symbolism in the end of the book to convey the thought that life goes on.
"A Death in the Family" is all in all a very moving novel. The lack of vulgarity and profaneness is a nice change from most books. I would recomend it to anyone.