A Death in the Family by James Agee Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of A Death in the Family
Book Review: One of the Handful of Great American Novels
Summary: 5 Stars
Agee, who gave us the words to Walker Evans' photoessay "Let Us Now Praise Famous Men" and the script for the African Queen, was a genius. Like may geniuses he was erratic. I cannot read Let Us Now Praise Famous Men. I find it Joycian in all the worst senses of that word. But A Death in the Family is a different story.
If you read this and have the courage to really let it sink into you, you will feel the extraordinary pain of a family torn apart by a pedestrian but tragic event - an automobile crash. The shock hits you. The grief overcomes you. You feel the loss. In short, you understand. That is what all artists strive to do and what Agee stunningly succeeds at here.
The beauty here is the beauty of truth, mainlined slowly into your being. This is a book that can and probably will change the reader.
Several reviews have mentioned the breathtaking prelude "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" and some mention the Samuel Barber soprano version of this. To me that Barber piece ranks as one of the great American musical moments. That two such enormous accomplishments should derive from one small book is a tribute to the power and brilliance of James Agee at his finest.
Book Review: One of the greatest American novels
Summary: 5 Stars
I am currently "re-reading" this book in audio, by Recorded Books, Inc. The reading, by Mark Hammer, is superb. But what I really want to say is that, as a writer, I was shocked to realize that this book was a great influence on my own writing. I first read it when I was in my early twenties; now I am fifty and it is as exquisite as ever, and influencing me just as much as it did in my youth.It is the mysterious, hushed intimacy of the book; the perfect dialogue of grieving people; the child's view of huge loss; the minute-by-minute telling of a story that must unfold slowly. Wow. I recommend it highly to all those who love literature. Just one warning: lay in a store of tissues. It's a two-box-er, at least.
Book Review: Powerful literary masterpiece
Summary: 4 Stars
Set in Knoxville, Tennessee shortly after the turn of the twentieth century, James Agee's novel, A Death in the Family, is a powerful story of a close-knit family whose happiness is destroyed when tragedy befalls them. Within the few days that the novel spans, Agee powerfully portrays a grief-stricken family struggling to cope with a death in their family.In this Pulitzer Prize winning novel, readers meet the Follets, a family bound tightly together by the love they share for one another.
...Throughout his novel, Agee explores several literary aspects. Although the narration varies, Agee primarily relays his story through the character of Rufus Follet, a six-year-old boy who can not comprehend the concept of death.....
With a combination of young and older characters, Agee is able to successfully depict the typical reactions to death that people of various ages experience.
As the title of the book reveals, it is not surprising that A Death in the Family contains a sympathetic tone. Since the time frame of the book spans only a few days, Agee is able to describe each character's response to the tragedy in detail. Therefore, readers get a real sense of feeling for the Follet family and what they are going through. By focusing solely on the few days leading up to and following the death, Agee draws readers into the plot and makes the story much more moving and heartfelt than it would be if the novel was about Jay's entire life. Thus, it is James Agee's exceptional use of techniques that makes A Death in the Family a literary masterpiece.
Book Review: Praise for the incredible depth and detail of the language
Summary: 5 Stars
In reading Agee's A Death in the Family again after 30 years, I discovered why it had compelled me when I read it as a young teenager: the power of Agee's language, his attention to the minute detail of grief, from inside to out--the way a child might, in the midst of her grief and fear, notice a robin on the front lawn; the way in which a family, dealing with shock and grief of a young family member, will find itself appreciating humor and at the same time wondering how to do the ordinary things of life.There should be more information on this writer and his work. I think he has captured grief and loss as well or better than any writer I've read.
Book Review: Read it if you can handle it
Summary: 3 Stars
James Agee mastered the art of communication in his autobiographical novel, A Death in the Family. It is about Rufus, his mother, and his family as they try to cope with the loss of his father after a tragic car accident.I would not have chosen this book off the shelf. In fact, I found it dreadfully dull when I was reading it for a class deadline. It dragged on while I impatiently pushed further to see if anything else happened (nothing else happened). This novel is definitely not the remedy for boredom, as it will bore you even more. However, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, A Death in the Family is the perfect book. When the reader can take their time and enjoy every single detail in the book, you really get a good sense about what Agee had noticed as a child robbed as his father. It's not about the fights, or the actual death of his father, but about the subtleties humans use in communication and how people deal with pain. For about half an hour of reading, Rufus' mother is talking with Aunt Hannah about what she needs to do before she goes to bed. They address each other politely, becoming nauseatingly repetitive if you are in a hurry, but displaying realistic human shock and unspoken communication. His mother also hangs onto her rosary beads, crosses herself and prays non-stop through out the novel, but Agee did not put all of the prayers in so we knew which ones she was saying. It was clear that she was looking for confidence in her religion, but was not sure if her God had actually betrayed her. Perhaps she should abandon religion? The atheists in the book are jilted as the dead father is not allowed a proper funeral ceremony since he was never baptized. Perhaps they should adopt religion? Why is it exclusive? These are all questions of human interaction that Agee's novel provokes. Ideally, Agee arouses introspective analysis in the reader. That is, if you have the patience.
Perhaps the book would have flowed better had Agee had a chance to edit it himself, but what the reader gets is the raw writing. Life with the family prior to the accident is exposed in two inserts of corresponding literature Agee wrote but did not originally put in the book. His widow and the publisher decided to stick the sections in to serve as dividers, creating three sections of the book and giving some perspective to the family. Those sections are some of the most beautiful sections of writing I have ever read. Agee turned Knoxville, Tennessee into the readers home, and made the front lawn something worthy of reading about.