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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “I think of books like this as palate cleansers for the brain. Sometimes, you need something wholesome, where you don't have to worry about the errant tit or bloody stump ambushing you. Its a well-written story about a young boy starting to experience the complications of life outside the farm...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“A nice little story about a young boy in depression-era North Carolina. Jim's life is circumscribed by the small village of Aliceville, his mother and three bachelor uncles, against a backstory of his deceased father and a mean grandfather who lives in a neighboring town. ”
travelingmamma wrote this review Thursday, June 18 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No1 of 1 members found this review helpful“I think of books like this as palate cleansers for the brain. Sometimes, you need something wholesome, where you don't have to worry about the errant tit or bloody stump ambushing you. Its a well-written story about a young boy starting to experience the complications of life outside the farm where he was raised. Very good.”
amandaeye wrote this review Thursday, April 9 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Reviewers raved about this book, using words like "poingnant" and "delightful". Although I agree that it's well-written, I found it too simple and dull for my taste.”
Ginny wrote this review Sunday, March 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Readers of classic "boy" literature such as Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows who feared that no one would ever write anything similar to them can now relax. Tony Earley has penned a charming and delightful first novel that fits comfortably on the shelf right beside those wonderful stories.
Mr J wrote this review Wednesday, January 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
There are no beloved dogs in this tale of a childhood in rural North Carolina during the days of the Great Depression, but there are many life lessons put into young Jim Glass' path. For starters, his father died a mere 10 days before Jim was born; and his paternal grandfather is notorious for his mean streak and the years served in prison for building a liquor still up in the mountains. (It seems the Internal Revenue Service doesn't take kindly to people thumbing their noses at the government by selling illegal moonshine.)
Jim's widowed mother refuses to marry any suitors, so the only male companions in Jim's life are his three bachelor uncles who live next door, a friendly traveling salesman named Whitey Whitesides, and his best friend and ball-playing classmate, Penn Carson.
The author allows readers to vicariously grow and learn with young Jim as he gradually begins to branch out from his sheltered home to other untamed parts of the world. We see the wisdom of experience his uncles and Abraham the farm hand bestow on him as he ventures into town and has his first run-in with some thugs. We share his wonder as he encounters the ocean for the first time, and marvel along with him as he takes his first view from the neighboring mountain and realizes how small his home town really is.
Jim the Boy is a gentle, charming book that should have no trouble finding legions of fans. I eagerly look forward to more from Mr. Earley and hope that he soon revisits Jim and his family and allows us to see him grow from boy to man. ”
“Story of an adolescent boy growing up in the early 20th century, it was a quick read and entertaining, but nothing profound or particularly memorable.”
Marisol E wrote this review Friday, January 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“againstthetide said: 3 stars
Play Book Tag Shelf wrote this review Friday, December 26 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
I'm so proud of myself - - I've now read every tag for the month - - mystery and all four administrator tags. And, I'm done with 49 books so I think I'll make my 50 book goal for this year. Yeah! Ok, enough patting myself on the back - - onto the review.
I am very torn about what rating to give this book. The story is about a young boy, Jim, who is being raised by a single mother and her three brothers during the depression era in the South. On one hand, it is very well written. Earley has a masterful and evocative writing style. You can picture everything he describes, and his writing is very fresh. He just brings the story of Jim to life in a beautiful way. There is nothing about the story that is forced or contrived. It's a simple tale, and you can finish this book in a day or two (I know because I did, and I'm not an especially fast reader).
So why not five stars? Or at least four?
Well, I just felt like the story was a little too simple for my taste. It is a tale you could easily read aloud to a child. It could end up being a classic, but it really seems more like a series of short stories about Jim's life, and somehow the plotting was just too simple to really make me say "Wow!" at the end. The narrative does move along at a nice pace, but at the end, I just sort felt like, "oh, that was a lovely little tale.". And "a lovely little tale" just doesn't make me want to give it 5 stars.
This book is not one I'd choose, but my face to face book club is reading it as part of All Rochester Reads, where the whole town reads the same book. I just prefer more complexity to my books and characters. Jim is well developed, but no one else really is. It really just seemed like a platform to show how well Earley can evoke images without using a single stale word. Good for him! Now, if he'd just take it to another level plotwise, I'd think he was truly a masterful genius.”
“Coming of age novel set during the depression. A quick but worthwhile read.”
Janet H wrote this review Friday, May 2 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“It is 1934 in rural North Carolina, and 11 year-old Jim and his mother and uncles are watching the electricity poles go up around town. In this coming-of-age story, the reader watches with a nostalgic eye as Jim and his town grow and change.”
Becky S. wrote this review Monday, April 28 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This is a good book to read. It goes fast. you get into the story quickly and you realy feel you know the characters. It makes me anxious to read the sequel that just came out. I highly recommend this book to anyone. --Gerard Zemek, husband of author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"”
Gerard Z wrote this review Thursday, March 20 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Wow. I read this book's sequel, The Blue Star, first and then followed up with Jim the Boy. Both novels were amazing reads--and read in only a few hours. Jim the Boy is the story of Jim Glass, a 10-year-old boy growing up in a small farming community in North Carolina with his widowed mother and her three brothers, the Uncles. It's a coming of age story; we see Jim go to school, make friends, make mistakes. The author has a beautiful narrative voice whose undercurrent is the purity and integrity of simple living. I was moved by both novels and mark these among my all-time favorites. Now I am going to see out any and all other writings by Tony Earley.”
Karen wrote this review Sunday, March 16 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
