Life with Its Sorrow, Life with Its Tear

By Lester Atwell

Book Overview

Once in America there were houses with deep, shady porches and cool, green lawns under hundred-year-old trees and sunlit attics filled with memories and old furniture where you could sit and read... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671782061
• ISBN13: 9780671782061
• Release Date: July 1972
• Publisher: Pocket
• Length: 409 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

i cannot understand...

why i didn't know about this book, before a very well-read friend gave it to me and told me that it was one of her all-time favorites. readable, accessible, but beautifully-written and perfectly-described, it will absolutely transport you to another world. what can i say? it's made me give up TV. and i'm dreading reaching the final page because i just don't want it to end. do yourself a favor and order this one.

Life With Its sorrow, life with its tear

This book is one of the best I've ever read---the story is wonderful, as well as the writing. I first read it when I was a teenager--now in my 40's, I have reread it more times than I can count. I am now passing it on to my daughter to read; I am sure she will enjoy it as many times as I have!

My mother said you've GOT to read this!

Paul. Uncle Reggie. Aunt Dottie. Aunty. Audrey. Aunt Viv. The cousins. "As the train roared in" you will be on that train and instantly captivated in their tale. The Great Depression is just a nuisance; Prohibition is a joke. Their parties and plans and hopes continue. Paul,the orphaned son of the family's sister, has heard from his late father about the family's extravagances and 'pretensions' all his life, but finds himself drawn into their way of life. Encouraged by them all, especially Uncle Reggie, his dreams grow beyond anything he had ever imagined, only to find that the people who love you most can have nearly fatal flaws.

The characters become real as you journey through the novel.

I first came upon this book in a thrift store, and bought it because liked its title. From the moment I began to read it, I was totally absorbed in the story line, but what impressed me most was the character development. The characters ran the gamut from flamboyant and boastful to young and shy. Although the characters were all very different from one another, they melded perfectly in this story. This book has a very special place in my heart, alongside Gone With the Wind, Grapes of Wrath, and Thorn Birds. It is well worth the read.

Young boy lives with mother's family after parents' death

This is by far the gretest book I've ever read and I am a voracious reader. I've read this at least 30 times over the past ten years. It is the story of a young boy who is taken in by his mother's family upon the death of his father. His mother has been dead since he was 3 years old. The family consists of kind Uncle Reggie, a frustrated writer, flamboyant Aunt Dottie, dramatic Aunt Vivi, sensible old Aunty and cousin Audrey. This is a close knit family that enjoy each other and the finer things in life. They take in young Paul who, having lived with his dour, ultra-practical father, is unused to the cheerful, loving way this family lives every day. His uncle takes him under his wing and through much patience and encouragement, begins to bring shy Paul out of his shell. Unfortunately, things are not as rosy as they seem to Paul and the end of the book brings a sad and awful surprise. The reader is left to answer many questions about forgiveness. The characters in this book are so diverse and real. It is a book that you cannot put down and if you re-read it, you will always discover new elements to the book that you did not notice before. I couldn't recommend it highly enough. I even think it should be part of a college English class.