Generations: Stories

By George Strange

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0865547912
• ISBN13: 9780865547919
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Mercer Univ Pr
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

There are some books you are glad to own . . .

Books you like to read more than once and more than twice. George Strange's GENERATIONS is a multi-read book. The ten stories cover a hundred years of Deep South characters and generations. Some events, such as a killing witnessed by a nine-year-old boy ("Fireflies") are still viable decades and generations later as the boy . . . now an old, retired doctor, coaxes his granddaughter through the complexities of life and death in "If She Should Die." The stories' settings vary from the beaches of the southern coastal plains to its mountains and small towns; the characters reflect the South's three primary ethnic groups. The stories are eclectic, some suspenseful, some humorous, covering the South's historical cruelty as well as its charm. In some way, all the stories connect generations. In "Mockingbird," two old men, one black/one white, try to understand their parent's generation, while in "A Promise to George Washington Gonzales," a young Mexican couple, striving for a new life in the United States, learn a bit about choice and wisdom from their young son. "He was my grandfather and your great-grandfather," begins the collection's first story. "He told this story about his daddy . . . He had a reason for wanting us all to hear this story each year. You keep hearing it from me, and you'll know it by heart one day. It's a way of connecting generations." These stories connected with me, as well. These stories have about them the fluid richness of black water rivers and the solid sureness of the writer's craft. I like 'em . . .

Southern Life Lives in Generations

There are simple and profound as well as complex and powerful stories in this collection. As novelist Janice Daugharty said about the book, "In Generations George Strange explores strength and fear while masterfully connecting time, place, and people." Some of these stories are deceptively simple with their emphasis on conventional family relationships. However, "Mockingbird" focuses on racism in its exploration of broader community concerns, and "If She Should Die" presents on an individual's struggle for survival, both physically and mentally. Characterization, description, and narration are excellently blended in these ten stories in ways which we have come to expect from first class Southern writers. George Strange is certainly one of those.