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Title: The Mammoth Cheese: A Novel by Sheri Holman ISBN: 0871139006 Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press Pub. Date: July, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25
Rating: 5
Summary: Simply Remarkable
Comment: In Sheri Holman's previous work, A Stolen Tongue and The Dress Lodger, it's been noted how informed the novels are by Holman's diligent research and attention to detail. With a contemporary setting, I wondered before reading The Mammoth Cheese how she would put her research to work.
And yes, there's the issue of multiple births and plenty of historical reference; these should have satisfied the author's penchant for holing herself up in the library. But it's Holman's attention to the details of the heart, the authenticity with which she creates her principal and supporting characters, and the clear-eyed but affectionate way that she describes life in a small town that makes this novel come to life.
A wonderful story, told with remarkable skill. Holman has done a marvelous job, infusing the story with trenchant observations of politics and contemporary values, without ever taking away from the sincerity of her characters' hopes and desires.
Rating: 3
Summary: Fun to Read but the Story Falls Apart
Comment: If you have ever wondered what the real difference between fiction and non-fiction is, the answer is that good fiction actually has to make sense and be plausible. Real-life, non-fiction often doesn't make sense but a good story had better make sense.
Sheri Holman's Mammoth Cheese is guilty of failing to meet the standard. That's not to say I didn't enjoy reading it and would even recommend it to some of my friends but there are too many absurd plot lines to be ignored.
The setting of the story is a small town known as Three Chimneys in Virgina. In my opinion the main character is a farmer named Margaret Prickett who is a divorced, boutique cheese maker forced to make ends meet and raise a junior-high age daughter. To say she is quirky is an understatement; she forbids her daughter many of the modern pleasures of current life including brand name clothing, fast food, and movies. She often rails against corporate American and especially corporate farming being the death of the family farm.
That's not surpirising because her dairy farm is in foreclosure, so she gets behind a presidential candidate named Adams Brooke who promises to enact an amnesty regarding farm debt to save family farmers.
It's a pretty basic story but somewhere along the way we get to learn more about Three Chimneys. One such person is a woman named Manda Frank who breaks the record for births after taking fertility drugs and being counseled by a local clergyman who happens to be the father of Ms. Prickett's hired hand. The hired hand is also a history buff who likes to dress up as Thomas Jefferson and re-enact many of his speeches. Somewhere along the line he mentions the idea of delivering a giant cheese to the new president based on something that actually happened to Thomas Jefferson. The idea is pushed by his father who starts to feel some guilt regarding the advice he gave to Manda Frank. Farmer-cheesmaker Prickett ends up making the big cheese for the President, but I will not reveal more of the plot.
The problem is that there is too much absurdity for all of this to work. Multiple firms, Jefferson impersonators, big cheeses, etc. One story device might have worked, but after all you wonder if the purpose is to come with a farce. The good news is that Holman can write well so she takes you along and you have fun reading.
The problem is that it eventually fell apart when Holman moved away from the plot and dealt with human emotions. The middle school-aged daughter's relationship and feelings regarding her history teacher was somewhat offensive. Ms. Prickett's relationship with her daughter and farmhand and ex-husband turned her from being a sympathetic character to one that I began to hate.
As a whole, it's an ambitious book but it lost me in the end. After reading it, I didn't gain added sympathy or understanding for farming life which I think was one of her points. Given the positive points of the book, I will probably read other works by her but this one is a tough one to like.
Rating: 3
Summary: Uneven, but interesting
Comment: The author chose to write the book with a third person, removed narrator, who tended to give an overview of the very interesting, and usually funny, goings on in the town. This prevented the author from revealing the inner thoughts of the characters at times. This was particularly true of the mother of the eleven babies. The narrator gave us the information, for the most part, that the mother would allow to be known, if a real person. While this added to her character development in someways, I wanted more insight into her thoughts (and her husband, too.)
One interesting aspect was the pastor's realization that his messages from God were tainted by the filter of his own self-interest. I came to like this character very much.
A good read.
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Title: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time : A Novel by Mark Haddon ISBN: 0385509456 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 17 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy ISBN: 0743244354 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Dogs of Babel (Today Show Book Club #12) by Carolyn Parkhurst ISBN: 0316168688 Publisher: Little Brown & Company Pub. Date: June, 2003 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger ISBN: 193156146X Publisher: MacAdam/Cage Publishing Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty ISBN: 1401300316 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: July, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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