WOW! I didn't buy this book expecting much. Yes, I knew it was written by the granddaughter of the Ernest Hemingway and yes, I know it was about 'fishing'....but I really had no idea. Really..no idea how this woman's words would grab me. Knowing that she lives in the same city where I work, I'm hoping to one day stumble across her and just tell her how much impact this book had on me. A co-worker just went through alcohol de-tox and this book gave me some vague notion of what he went through. Thanks for that! I'm not a fisherwoman....but I love fish and I work with dead fish parts daily as a science-lady, and this book is full of fish-wisdom, honesty and beautiful, true words. This book is full of all that. Humor, honesty and love. Again, WOW!

Forget all that you've read about redemption and the bad girl made good, if you like to live in the real world and to fish, this book is for you. Not to mention that it's pretty damn well written to boot. Good Stuff!

For anyone who has ever witnessed a loved one do the slow dance with alcoholism, Lorian Hemingway's memoir is waiting for you. Yet another lesson that life is best described with four letter words: love, hate, hope and dirt. I laughed out loud at her hilarious drug hazed antics and cringed as she began her long drawn out fall. Her honesty is astounding: no regrets, no finger pointing, no pass off of responsibility of her actions. Thank you, Lorian, for this memorable book.

Warning: Do not read this book if you don't want your heart wrenched, your brain scrambled and your teeth rattled. It's powerful and painful. Do read it if you want in inside view of what it's like to be an alcoholic, or the child of one. This one will transport you.

Wow. If anyone out there liked "White Oleander" by Janet Fitch, read this book! It will absolutely change your life, and make you contemplete such surreal questions as, "What if I killed someone and no-one ever found out?" Hmmm. I bought this book years ago and can honestly say it is the best book I've ever read. It changed my whole perspective on everything...really! This is the real deal and my God, you'll get a pang of familiarity out of this no matter WHO you are!

I am surprised this book is out of print. I found it at a used book sale and decided to give it a try. I am so glad I did. Lorian Hemingway's words are written so well, the scenes are so vividly described, whether they be touching or grittily disturbing, that you feel as if you are there with the narrator at all times.

Eva starts out bad and gets worse. The main character of a book filled with many unsavory characters, she doesn't seem to fare much better. But you can't help rooting for her and hoping that everything turns out well in the end. She is born to an alcoholic, submissive, weak, and sometimes completely insane woman named Rita, who more often than not prefers having sex with her abusive husband than actually caring for her child. Rita leaves Eva's father, a crazy man in his own right who enjoys dressing up in women's clothes, early on and takes up with John Earl, who supplies her with illegal liquor and frequent beatings. Eva must learn to survive on her own, and it's a long road to happiness.

At times, the novel is weighed down with turmoil, so much you can't ever see it getting any better. A sort of salvation lies with Eva's strange aunt Freda, who cares for her when no one else will, and shows her how to be strong. She is the most powerful, positive character in the book.

I was hoping to find more fiction by Lorian Hemingway after this wonderful debut, but have only found a memior. I hope to read more of her work in the future, because this was quite an enjoyable read. I recommend it highly to anyone who is looking for a challenging, engaging story.

This book seems out of place in the "disaster book" genre. The author seems more concerned with reliving her childhood. Not a very good read.

I found this book to be fascinating as well as compelling. As a survivor of a terrible tornado that hit Wichita Falls, Texas in 1979, I could relate with the author's quest to find out how the Jackson, Mississippi tornado had impacted the lives of the survivors there. Lorian Hemingway has done a terrific job of presenting a painful subject with grace and compassion.

I would like to make two comments about this book. Most important, it is powerful, beautiful, and interesting, and is a great example of literary reporting, as well as memoir.
My second comment is to express my anger at the amazingly ill-informed and inaccurate comments made by "a reader from Arlington, Virginia," who saw fit to give the lowest rating possible to a book that, by all appearances, he or she has not even read. The comment that it is "poorly researched" could not be further from the truth, and his condescending suggestion that the author should have made use of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History makes him look like a fool, since that institution was cited as a source of information, as was the Eudora Welty Library. The reviewer is right that the town of "Byram" is not spelled correctly, though his argument is rather deflated in light of the fact that he cannot correctly spell the word "rectified" himself. There are many Jackson natives that would take issue with his assertion that there is not a single live oak tree in Jackson. One of the most amazingly ignorant "criticisms" is that "there were very few eyewitness interviews in the book"-----There were more than twenty. Even more outrageous is the claim that there is "very little on the impact the event had upon the community of South Jackson." (sic)
In reality, this impact is the subject of the ENTIRE BOOK.
It's unfortunate that this person's careless reading was translated into a review. Listen instead to The New York Times, which praised A World Turned Over and called it "lush" and "evocative."