Helpful Score: 5
Some of this country's strongest women emerged from the Great Depression and WWII. This book celebrates those women and their relationships. I felt like I was wrapped up in a warm blanket listening to stories about my grandmothers. Gibbons lends a wonderful voice to the young Southern girl and weaves relationships that aren't ashamed to show their flaws. I now remember why I enjoyed reading Ellen Foster many years ago.
Helpful Score: 2
This was a quick, easy read. Well written and interesting. A light read for the beach or pool!
Helpful Score: 2
Another Gibbons Great! She writes with such grace, her characters are so charmingly eccentric. I know when I pick up a Kaye Gibbons novel, I will never be dissapointed. Charms for the Easy Life is no exception!
Helpful Score: 2
This is a wonderful book about three generations of strong women who refuse to be stereotyped. Beautifully written and inspiring. A piece of fiction that describes the kind of strength that a woman truly wishes for herself and her daughters.
Helpful Score: 1
A wonderful story. Not able to put it down. A women's book.
Helpful Score: 1
A very strange story set in the backwoods of North Carolina during the depression and WW2
Helpful Score: 1
Fantastic book. I love Kaye Gibbons, and I think this one is her best.
A good old fashioned type book about three generations of women.
I loved this book. It was the first book i have read by Kaye Gibbons and it certainly will not be my last. It was very well written and in an easy, conversational dialogue.
The book details the lives of grandmother Clarissa "Charlie Kate" Birch, a smart, stubborn, quirky, self-taught alternative healer/midwife, the mother, Sophia, the most romantic of the family, and main character and daughter Margaret, practical, intelligent, yet romantic- are unique, they stand out from the average woman of the 1930s-1940s of the South. Yet at the same time, they have the same basic desire, to be loved and respected, as anyone else.
The story is told from granddaughter Margaret's point of view but mainly centers around the grandmother, the hero of the family. Charlie Kate is the larger-than-life character, an "Ubermensch." Charlie delivers babies, heals with herbs, reads two books a week, saved a person from a lynching; sewed body parts together, treated malaria, and comforted the dying, along with directing the lives of her daughter & granddaughter.
The book details the lives of grandmother Clarissa "Charlie Kate" Birch, a smart, stubborn, quirky, self-taught alternative healer/midwife, the mother, Sophia, the most romantic of the family, and main character and daughter Margaret, practical, intelligent, yet romantic- are unique, they stand out from the average woman of the 1930s-1940s of the South. Yet at the same time, they have the same basic desire, to be loved and respected, as anyone else.
The story is told from granddaughter Margaret's point of view but mainly centers around the grandmother, the hero of the family. Charlie Kate is the larger-than-life character, an "Ubermensch." Charlie delivers babies, heals with herbs, reads two books a week, saved a person from a lynching; sewed body parts together, treated malaria, and comforted the dying, along with directing the lives of her daughter & granddaughter.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'm not sure if I can really explain why. It was easy to read, and moved along quite well. The best thing was the quirky, interesting characters. My favorite was the grandmother. Oh, how I wish this had been a true story. Or at least, based on a real person. I didn't want it to end, but at least it didn't leave me unsatisfied with the ending.
Not a book you "can't put down", but a good one nonetheless. Well written story about three women and their lives.
My favorite of her books. Grandma, mother and daughter all sassy and extraordinary!
absolutly wonderful,another one I just couldn't put down.
This is a lovely book about a young girl growing up with her grandmother and mother during the 1920's until the early 40's in North Carolina. I loved this book - couldn't put it down.
Another Kaye Gibbons book that I enjoyed very much. Her characters come alive; Gibbons makes reader care what happens to every one of them.
I enjoyed it. If you're from North Carolina you will like it too. About 3 stubborn Carolina women around the 1930's.
Cozy and romantic.
This is one of my all time favorite books. I have read it 3-4 times and shared it with my daughter in law, who loved it too. What a group of women they are!
A very moving book! another awesome Gibbons book:)
In the verdant backwoods of North Carolina, in a sad and singular era, the Birches are unique among women of their time-living gloriously rich it decidedly offbeat lives in a private world abandoned by men. And though misery often heats a path to their door, headstrong Sophia and her y, brilliant daughter Margaret possess charms to ward off loneliness and despair-thanks to the uncompromising strength, uncommon wisdom, and muscular love of a remarkable matriarch and self-taught healer who calls herself Charlie Kate.
In Charms for the Easy Life, Kaye Gibbons has created a luminous, truth telling novel that gives life to her most passionate and tough minded women yet.
In the verdant backwoods of North Carolina, in a sad and singular era, the Birches are unique among women of their time-living gloriously rich it decidedly offbeat lives in a private world abandoned by men. And though misery often heats a path to their door, headstrong Sophia and her y, brilliant daughter Margaret possess charms to ward off loneliness and despair-thanks to the uncompromising strength, uncommon wisdom, and muscular love of a remarkable matriarch and self-taught healer who calls herself Charlie Kate.
In Charms for the Easy Life, Kaye Gibbons has created a luminous, truth telling novel that gives life to her most passionate and tough minded women yet.
I don't really read her stuff. But, I figure a lot of folks do. So. Here it is!
I read this years ago and loved it, so when I saw a copy at a used book sale, I grabbed it to share.
Like all my other books, this book has been registered at BookCrossing.com. While it won't hinder your reading of the book, I'd sure appreciate a journal entry telling me what you thought of it.
Like all my other books, this book has been registered at BookCrossing.com. While it won't hinder your reading of the book, I'd sure appreciate a journal entry telling me what you thought of it.
