Helpful Score: 12
Wow - this is one everyone should read just to understand how easy we have it today! This is a deeply moving novel, and although it is set in the depths of poverty and difficulty, it offers a glimmer of hope, as well. The characters are intensely drawn.
Helpful Score: 9
i read this, because my mother in law loves Oprah, so whatever Oprah raves about, she buys and passes it on to me, for the most part these books do not float my boat, but this one sat in my night stand for a year, and i finally picked it up and tried it... i'm glad I did, as the story was gripping, not a light fun happy book, which is what I like in something I read before i fall asleep each night.. this is a great story of a time when things were hard, and life was full of challenges that required more strength than I would ever have! It was a good book that I found myself thinking about after I read it. I passed it on to my mom and she loved it.
Helpful Score: 9
I loved this book! So different from most of today's fiction. The author notes at the end: "I tell my students that you do not write living fiction by attempting to transcribe actual events onto the page. You create a sense of real characters and a real story by putting down one vivid detail, one exact phrase, at a time. The fiction is imagined, but if it is done well, it seems absolutely true, as real as the world around us." I say he is a master, if this book is any indication.
Helpful Score: 6
Wonderful story of a young married couple. I actually had tears in my eyes at times. Also a rather quick read.
Helpful Score: 5
This is the second time I've read this book. There are parts and chapters that have stayed in my mind for a few years - it's that good and that memorable. Remarkable story-telling.
Helpful Score: 4
I agree with everything that's been mentioned in the other member's reviews. I was completely taken with this story from the first page. The author just grabs you and holds on, his beautiful descriptions are wonderful. I really felt like I was there. The character of Julie is drawn magnificently. How this author (a man) was able to write from her perspective just amazes me. The story moves at an amazing pace, too. The author has such control...very good. I laughed, I cried...every emotion was there, without any corniness or melodrama.
I've never been a big fan of the books on Oprah's book club, but this one was very good.
I've never been a big fan of the books on Oprah's book club, but this one was very good.
Helpful Score: 4
This is an interesting story of a marriage--young people growing to intimacy through trials and tribulations. Very good.
Helpful Score: 4
This was an incredibly good book. It held my interest right from the start. Young couples these days have it easy for their first year of marriage compared to Julia and Hank.Could you last the whole winter with 6 cents to your name?
Helpful Score: 3
I enjoyed the contrasts in this book. When things go wrong Julie keeps on working to make the most of every situation to manage their life and make it better. When very low on food, she receives a gift of jam from a visiting neighbor. You can almost taste it as she devours the whole jar! There are subtle and romantic moments that add to the story. Every basic thing, food, clothing, friendship, and any tiny luxury is so appreciated by Julie. This is a compelling view if the way life was and is very different from today.
Helpful Score: 2
This book is a gem. The development of a marriage under hard conditions. The writing is very good. I'd like to read more by this author.
Helpful Score: 2
The main character is such an inspiration--a strong, principled, woman who triumphs against all odds. I really enjoyed reading her story.
Helpful Score: 2
How did any of our forefathers survive? We think it's so hard with the high price of gas and utilities; most people in the United States don't know the meaning of hard times. Captivating.
Helpful Score: 2
This book is beautifully written, but oh, so sad. A woman works her whole life away under the very worst circumstances. It is depressing, but somehow uplifting to see the human spirit at work in spite of all of life's troubles in this post Civil War tale of mountain people and their struggles. Genny
Helpful Score: 2
Terrific read...makes you appreciate the strength of a loving marriage and working hard.
Helpful Score: 1
Operah's book club. I loved this book!! A great read about Appalachia. The author draws a vivid picture of life in the mountains, poverty and marriage.
Helpful Score: 1
Vivid enough to create gutteral responses, this novel sheds the romance of its time in favor of stark reality. The characters are believable, if not likable.
Helpful Score: 1
Oprah's Book Club selection. National Best Seller, A New York Times Noteable Book, Winner of the Southern Book Critic Circle Award. A starkly beautiful story of a strong young woman prevailing over natural disasters and tragedies, as well a cultural barriers, in the first year of her marriage in the last year of the century.
Helpful Score: 1
Great book. One of my favorites. I read this book before but re-read and picked up so much more.
Helpful Score: 1
This book was such a good read. Once I got started, I could not put it down! This book is so simply written, you feel as if you are part of Julie Harmons world. You see her grow as a young woman, as a wife, and as a partner. This is a beautiful story of a marriage- its ups, its downs, and all that's in between.
Helpful Score: 1
A touchingly sweet and honest potrayal of a young marriage.
Helpful Score: 1
I liked it though it started slow. I suspect that some of the references made to household goods didn't yet exist for the time period. However, the pace picked up and the characters were believable. I enjoyed the anticipation of wondering what would afflict this young family next; a bit inspirational in fact.
Helpful Score: 1
Loved reading this book. I always wanted to lead a more simple, self-sufficient life......but I now realize, after reading this book, I probably wouldn't have survived back then.
Helpful Score: 1
This book is excellent. The main character is likeable from the start and the flow of the story is amazing. I read it in one day and wanted more. Julie is a strength to be reckoned with as well as a wonderfully compassionate woman. Her trials through life make you want to be a better human being.
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this book...could hardly put it down.
Helpful Score: 1
I enjoyed reading this story about a strong woman, and the changes she sees in her husband. She stays with him even through hard and scary times.
Helpful Score: 1
A very moving story. Books like these remind me to be thankful of how comparatively easy modern life can be. Great read!
Helpful Score: 1
stayed up all night to finish
Helpful Score: 1
I was in total of of the courage of the character julie in this book...simplicity is the underlying theme. WOW
Helpful Score: 1
Hypnotic writing. How could a man possibly write so well from a female POV? And his Appalachian dialect is impecable...not overdone, just real.
Helpful Score: 1
The story is a hard one, but one that I couldn't put down. The lives of the characters are as real as those of us who read. The hopes, fears, pain, loss and relationships just as bittersweet as mine and people I know. The author is amazing in how he is able to so fully capture the feminine personality of the main character. I had to constantly remind myself the writer with a women's voice was actually a male. I loaned this book to my best friend who usually only likes light reading. She read the whole thing and loved it even with the hard parts because she could so relate to and understand the characters.
READ it. You'll LOVE it...really
READ it. You'll LOVE it...really
Helpful Score: 1
Enjoyed this book very much. Hard to imagine such hardship, and the resourcefulness to overcome. Would like to read more by this author.
Helpful Score: 1
One of our book club books. I really liked it. It just hit me at the right time. Starts out with a gruesome scene, but stick with it.
Helpful Score: 1
Is there a sequel yet??? I lOVED this story and wanted to know more more more about the characters and their neighbors.
Helpful Score: 1
Besides being a 'crackin' good story', GAP CREEK also gives a strikingly realistic picture of the everyday life of a farmer in the North Carolina back hills. Some of the information comes from grandparents who actually lived there. (Along with Oprah) I highly recommend it.
From back cover: Julie Harmon works hard, "hard as a man" they say, so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her. She is just a teenager when her brother dies in her arms. The following year, she marries Hank and moves to Gap Creek. Julie and Hank discover that the modern world is complex, grinding ever on without pause or concern for their hard work. To survive, they must find out whether love can keep chaos and madness at bay.
From back cover: Julie Harmon works hard, "hard as a man" they say, so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her. She is just a teenager when her brother dies in her arms. The following year, she marries Hank and moves to Gap Creek. Julie and Hank discover that the modern world is complex, grinding ever on without pause or concern for their hard work. To survive, they must find out whether love can keep chaos and madness at bay.
Helpful Score: 1
This is an engrossing story of the first year in a young couple's marriage. They go through terrible hardship - I think this takes place just before the turn of the century and is very believable. It's an Oprah Book Club selection.
Helpful Score: 1
This was a really great book, but such a sad and tragic story. It is about a young girl, 17 years old, has had an already tragic life, seeing her younger brother and father die, gets married, moves away from the only family she has known. It's one tragedy after another until her and her husband have to leave the only home that they have known together after they have built it up from nothing. It really opened my eyes to how times really were in 1900. This book reminded me a lot of Cold Mountain. Very good story.
Fabulous book. I couldn't put it down!
Great Book! Oprah Book Club!
Gap Creek was a wonderful story about the commitment of marriage and the trials of real life. I loved it and would definitely read more from this author.
A down-home easy to read book. A heartwarming story of simple hardworking people in a chaotic world. A national bestseller, a New York Times Notable Book, and an Oprah's Book Club selection.
Dull, didn't really care about the characters or believe in their love.
I am glad I read this book. Their life was hard. My life in comparison is SO easy. I almost feel guilty! I was amazed at how the male author was able to write from a woman's point of view with such accuracy of emotion.
From a rocky start to her marriage, Julie manages to hang on to every thread of self-determination, and makes choices that will determine her own future. This story proves the power of God and prayer and fellowship, a great read!
One of the best books I have ever read. This story made me appreciate my lifestyle today.
In turn-of-the-century Appalachia, Julie Harmon marries and faces a hard life of subsistence farming: a constant struggle against not only nature but the unpredictable humans who inhabit her world.
During their first year of marriage, Julie and Hank move to Gap Creek, South Carolina, where a flood that nearly kills them tests the endurance of their relationship.
This book was one of Oprah's Book Clubs' books. When I started to read this book I couldn't put it down. It is a very heartfelt book.
During their first year of marriage, Julie and Hank move to Gap Creek, South Carolina, where a flood that nearly kills them tests the endurance of their relationship.
This book was one of Oprah's Book Clubs' books. When I started to read this book I couldn't put it down. It is a very heartfelt book.
Amazing hardships, but a good story about a simpler life and simpler times.
Wonderful, moving story. I had to keep reading till the end. Wish there was a follow-up as I'd like to know what happened to Julie and Hank. The descriptions and character development reads like a poem. Highly recommended.
Small town folks living a life they are given not what they would actually want for themselves if they had more choices. Hard working woman is stuck in a marriage of convenience even though she thinks it's love. Making life work no matter what circumstances we are given made me feel for her.
This is an Oprah's Book Club Book.
This is one that I read and it was a great love story set back in the day long time ago. Gives a great look into the trials that you would have gone through in the time before we had the car, the store was not close by and you had to be great at gardening and canning. (So forth.)
Zuhoto :)
Zuhoto :)
Story of a 17 yr old girl living over in western NC in early 1900's, poverty, pregnancy, marriage. Enjoyed this book
I found this book and almost didn't read it. It was really a good story.
A Moving story of the hardships of life and Young Marrige in years past in South Carolina. A moving and captivating story. Made Oprahs Book Club list. I enjoyed reading it!
Oprah's Book Club book
I didn't enjoy this story at all. It as the story of a marriage but not a love story. The writers descriptions of the hard life of poor people in the era was excellent.
Great book. easy read. makes you thankful for the lives we live and take for granted.
Great story.
The New York Times Book Review said "At their finest, his stripped-down and almost primitive sentences burn with the raw, lonesome pathos of Hank Williams's best songs." Very well put. This book was so well written. It's impossible not to empathize with these complex characters. A great read.
This was such a good book that once I had time to sit down and get into it, I couldn't put it down.
A story about a hardworking girl who has a lot of tragedy in her young life, how she survives and learns from it all.
This is a nice read.
From Amazon.com:
Robert Morgan's Gap Creek opens with one wrenching death and ends with another. In between, this novel of turn-of-the-century Appalachian life works in fire, flood, swindlers, sickness, and starvation--a truly biblical assortment of plagues, all visited on the sturdy shoulders of 17-year-old Julie Harmon. "Human life don't mean a thing in this world," she concludes. And who could blame her? "People could be born and they could suffer, and they could die, and it didn't mean a thing.... The world was exactly like it had been and would always be, going on about its business." For Julie, that business is hard physical labor. Fortunately, she's fully capable of working "like a man"--splitting and hauling wood, butchering hogs, rendering lard, planting crops, and taking care of the stock. Even when Julie meets and marries handsome young Hank Richards, there's no happily-ever-after in store. Nothing comes easy in Julie Harmon's world, and their first year together is no exception.
Robert Morgan's Gap Creek opens with one wrenching death and ends with another. In between, this novel of turn-of-the-century Appalachian life works in fire, flood, swindlers, sickness, and starvation--a truly biblical assortment of plagues, all visited on the sturdy shoulders of 17-year-old Julie Harmon. "Human life don't mean a thing in this world," she concludes. And who could blame her? "People could be born and they could suffer, and they could die, and it didn't mean a thing.... The world was exactly like it had been and would always be, going on about its business." For Julie, that business is hard physical labor. Fortunately, she's fully capable of working "like a man"--splitting and hauling wood, butchering hogs, rendering lard, planting crops, and taking care of the stock. Even when Julie meets and marries handsome young Hank Richards, there's no happily-ever-after in store. Nothing comes easy in Julie Harmon's world, and their first year together is no exception.
This is one of the my most favorite books ever. It is s simple story with a lot of meaning.
sad parts, but a good book, set in the south, about a young girl who has a hard life and gets married and continues her hard life.
I love this book. The main character is so strong and is a great role model. Reading this book actually has motivated me to work more diligently!
Great Story. Hang in there for the end. :)
OK read, doesnt seem to reach a real climax
This was an amazing book! So moving!
Another of Oprah's Club books. The story of a Carolina turn of the century woman - her childhood and marriage through bad times and good. Very good story of another era full of fasinating characters and events.
excellant book
At first I had a hard time relating to the protagonist, but as the story evolved I began to admire her inner strength and faith in the face of seemingly endless challenges.
Oprah's book club book. Julie Harmon works hard, so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her. She is just a teenager when her brother dies in her arms. The following year, she marries Hank and moves to Gap Creek. Julie and Hank discover that the modern world is complex, grinding ever on without pause or concern for their hard work. To survive, they must find out whether love can keep chaos and madness at bay.
I remember that I loved this book when I read it. The author describes hog butchering and dressing in such detail that I felt like I saw it myself. It's not a gruesome book, but rather a very frank depiction of life in a time when things weren't so easy. I have another of his books on my TBR shelf.
Wonderful Book -
Absolutely loved this book!! Outstanding!
Robert Morgan brings every emotion vividly to life in this novel about a young girl, a new marriage and a life of hard work and all the woes that come along with it.
Robert Morgan brings every emotion vividly to life in this novel about a young girl, a new marriage and a life of hard work and all the woes that come along with it.
Oh so good...moving, sometimes disturbing. A great read.
Gripping tale of bygone years, suffering, and hope. Notable. Unforgettable.
very good book
Oprah's book club selection...
I was totally engrossed in this gripping tale of a young wife and her life.
Great Story!
An Oprah book, this is the story of the south and a strong woman who struggled so heard to overcome their problems and save her marriage.
Set at the turn of the last century, on the North / South Carolina border, the simple and straightforward language of the novel tells of a young woman growing into marriage. Coping with a husband himself struggling to grow up, the young couple faces hard work, natural disaster, and the occasional attention of scoundrels. But they also find a community, a church, and a strength within themselves.
I loved this book.
This is one of the best books I have read, period. Hard life, hard times, and strenght beyond belief.
Oprah Book Club® Selection, January 2000: Robert Morgan's Gap Creek opens with one wrenching death and ends with another. In between, this novel of turn-of-the-century Appalachian life works in fire, flood, swindlers, sickness, and starvation--a truly biblical assortment of plagues, all visited on the sturdy shoulders of 17-year-old Julie Harmon. "Human life don't mean a thing in this world," she concludes. And who could blame her? "People could be born and they could suffer, and they could die, and it didn't mean a thing.... The world was exactly like it had been and would always be, going on about its business." For Julie, that business is hard physical labor. Fortunately, she's fully capable of working "like a man"--splitting and hauling wood, butchering hogs, rendering lard, planting crops, and taking care of the stock. Even when Julie meets and marries handsome young Hank Richards, there's no happily-ever-after in store. Nothing comes easy in Julie Harmon's world, and their first year together is no exception. -- Review from Amazon.com
New York Times Bestseller; Oprah's Book Club "A starkly beautiful story of a strong young woman prevailing over natural disasters and tragedies, as well as cultural barriers, in the first year of her marriage in the last year of the century." - Loyal Jones
This book was interesting. It is a good, quick read.
This book is on Oprah Winfrey's book club list.
Julie Harmon works as hard as a man, so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her.
Julie Harmon works as hard as a man, so hard that at times she's not sure she can stop. People depend on her.
Wow, I really liked this!
Simplistic and yet so real, couldn't put it down.
Very good!
Like this. Oprah picks good books.
While it was well written, this book was just plain depressing! One tragedy after another! The description of the main character prepping that dead guy's body for a funeral, I was like, "oh come on!" Like she really would have done that. Will not read more Oprah picks, she seems to always like depressing stories. Not for me
Oprah Pick
Couldn't put it down, it was just mesmerizing.
Mesmerizing!
