Lookaway Lookaway Wilton Barnhardt Scott Shepherd Books
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Lookaway Lookaway Wilton Barnhardt Scott Shepherd Books
I pre-ordered this title as soon as I became aware of it; I have enjoyed Wilton Barnhardt's other novels (Gospel, in particular, is one of my all-time favorite books). I had no idea of the subject matter at the time, and only became aware of that as early reviews appeared. As it happens, I lived in Charlotte for ten years some time back (I left just before the time in which the opening events in the novel are set). There's no question that the city and its character -- for good and bad -- play a central part in the novel, I think those with some familarity with Charlotte will enjoy it all the more, but it's not essential to enjoying Lookaway, Lookaway. This is a satire and Barnhardt telegraphs pretty well what he's skewering.The story involves a family of some importance and tradition in Charlotte, having perhaps lived out the heyday of that status: certainly the world their status represents has changed out from under them. The arc of the story is told through separate chapters or sections each devoted to one of the major members of the extended family. Through these various characters' points of view the bigger picture gradually unfolds, revealing... well, lots of interesting twists and turns that keep the reader's attention. The characters and their relationships to each other and the facts behind those relationships unfold into a fascinating version of American life.
Beyond the story as such, the writing is fun. It's funny, erudite, and compelling, with a biting edge, (all as I would expect from Barnhardt). It's not all light; there is darkness behind many of the characters and their stories. But overall it's a fine novel (and about time, given the delay since the last one).
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Lookaway Lookaway Wilton Barnhardt Scott Shepherd Books Reviews
As someone who has moved to the south (near Chapel Hill NC) after living 70 years in snow country, I was most interested in what it means to be a southerner in today's world. The book is a novel, set in the Chapel Hill area, with each chapter focusing on one person in a large family with supposed links to a major Confederate general thus giving the family almost aristocratic bearing. Along the way there are serious revelations about the new South.
The title is taken from the opening lyrics of Dixieland. I hadn't been aware that it was written to be performed by a minstral, someone in black-face, reminiscing about the good old days on the plantation, the white mans presumption big time!
The book gave me a much clearer picture of the dilemmas facing families with long ties to southern culture.
I was so happy to see Wilton Barnhardt come out with a new novel. After reading "Gospel" years ago, and missing his writing, it was great to get to read him again.
"Lookaway, Lookaway" is a perfect tromp through a Southern family that reflects today's reality. I won't synopsize the story as other reviewers have provided that aplenty.
If you are not truly Southern, you won't get much of the texture of the story. If you are, and you're upset by it, then you are probably a bit too Jerene for this book.
What I loved was the language, the humor, the peeling back of the veneers to get to know these characters for all their flaws despite their attitudes of acting otherwise just fine. For those reviewers who disliked this book, I noticed several commenters that had a problem with the language being racist, the descriptions as mocking of Southern culture, and the accurate depictions of sex and drug use. Welcome to the South for all its flaws in the 21st century and long-term (if dysfunctional) traditions.
Barnhardt tells it like it is, warts and all, and that's what makes him such an enjoyable writer. If what you read makes you uncomfortable, don't place it on the quality of the writing - which is excellent here.
Okay, I admit I like books set in the South. And books about people who seem - through the author's good writing - as if they could walk off the pages of the book you're reading and sit right down next to you and chat about things important to you both. This is "Lookaway, Lookaway", by North Carolina author Wilton Barnhardt and it'll go down as one the 10 best novels for me in 2013.
Barnhardt has given the reader an introduction into the lives of the Johnston family of Charlotte. The book begins in 2003 and ends nine years later. Each member of the family, retired lawyer and Civil War reenactor father Duke, tough-as-steel mother Jerene, their four grown children, and various other family members and friends are each given a chapter of the book. The book is not written in the first person so the chapters are not personal, but rather written in the third person, each chapter has that person as the main character.
"Lookaway" is a masterful look at a family and the state in which they live. The book is as much a story of Charlotte and other some NC towns and universities as it is about the Johnston family. It reminds me a bit of work by Tom Wolfe, except that Wolfe is a less concise writer than Barnhardt (whose work I'd never read but I sure will go read his backlist!). Barnhardt writes with a conciseness that doesn't waste a sentence. There are no "likeable" or "unlikable" characters in "Lookaway", only nuanced portrayals of people, people we can see in the mirror everyday. A family whose secrets are spilled in one very funny Christmas dinner. The secrets, however, also show how a family, with it's disparate members CAN change and evolve over time. The sins of the grandfathers need not be repeated to succeeding generations.
I am not going to write a long review because the book was aptly reviewed by all the other reviewers and garnered a wide range of ratings. I will say that the first part of the book may be tough reading but, if possible, please read further. I think you'll be rewarded with an excellent, really excellent novel about a family and its time and place.
I pre-ordered this title as soon as I became aware of it; I have enjoyed Wilton Barnhardt's other novels (Gospel, in particular, is one of my all-time favorite books). I had no idea of the subject matter at the time, and only became aware of that as early reviews appeared. As it happens, I lived in Charlotte for ten years some time back (I left just before the time in which the opening events in the novel are set). There's no question that the city and its character -- for good and bad -- play a central part in the novel, I think those with some familarity with Charlotte will enjoy it all the more, but it's not essential to enjoying Lookaway, Lookaway. This is a satire and Barnhardt telegraphs pretty well what he's skewering.
The story involves a family of some importance and tradition in Charlotte, having perhaps lived out the heyday of that status certainly the world their status represents has changed out from under them. The arc of the story is told through separate chapters or sections each devoted to one of the major members of the extended family. Through these various characters' points of view the bigger picture gradually unfolds, revealing... well, lots of interesting twists and turns that keep the reader's attention. The characters and their relationships to each other and the facts behind those relationships unfold into a fascinating version of American life.
Beyond the story as such, the writing is fun. It's funny, erudite, and compelling, with a biting edge, (all as I would expect from Barnhardt). It's not all light; there is darkness behind many of the characters and their stories. But overall it's a fine novel (and about time, given the delay since the last one).
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