Original Sins

by Lisa Alther

Book Overview

They call themselves "The Five" -- Sally and Emily Prince and Jed, Raymond, and Donny Tatro. Convinced they are special, they spend their Tennessee childhoods trading dreams in the branches of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0394516850
• ISBN13: 9780394516851
• Release Date: April 1981
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Really brings back the memories

Being a Southerner myself and born about the same time as the characters, I could really relate to this very interesting, sometimes quirky, alternately funny and grim story. This book is full of irony, mischief, and a whole lot of truth. I was involved in so many of the "movements" of the 60's. Alther's book often made me squirm. Were we really that self-righteous, hypocritical and plain dumb? I guess at times we were. Highly readable and very informative as well as good fun, that's Original Sins. I am eager to lend it to friends, especially a friend who was in her 40's when she first came to the USA.

An excellent book about life in a small southern town.

I flew through this story about young people growing up in a small town in Tennessee. The characters are interesting -- each one at first glance seems like a quick stereotype of the usual high school suspects -- but there is so much more to learn about them. If you like small town Southern novels, with the extras of civil rights, labor union struggles, and feminism thrown on top -- this is a good read