I was first exposed to Mr. Powell's writing in a class I'm taking called "Progressive Fiction." Though the book was a bit difficult to find, the pursuit was well worth it. I'm not sure the best way to do this author justice, actually. He has a bit of Beckettian absurdity, but also a Raymond Carver sense of the downtrodden. Putting the two together results in some idiosyncratic insights. I also appreciate that he seems to be a "geographical" writer. His short-short stories with titles like "Texas", "Kansas", South Carolina" evoke a sense of place that really doesn't need more than the 2 or 3 pages he takes to convey it. My favorite stories were the title story, "Mr. Irony" and "Wayne's Fate," but the story "Texas" actually inspired me to write something of my own along the lines he set out. A must-read for any fiction writer as well as any reader who appreciates formal and linguistic play.

Silly sharp word play, gritty settings, piercing problems, and deadly accuracy keep these stories soaring high. A funny, deadpan, searching, and haunting collection by a stylist with a big heart. Yummy.

Padgett Powell weaves an imaginative South that's as rich as Lady Baltimore cake. Losers and drunkards compete for the attentions of women with big hair and bigger secrets. Powell seems to know them all, and he hints at something darker and more mysterious in the American character, but with a quirky, hysterical style that can take a reader's breath away, and leave him jealous of a writer with so much natural talent. Even his weakest stories are better than almost anyone's else strongest ones.

I enjoyed reading Powell's first collection of short stories entitled "Typical" and looked forward to reading this one, once I got the chance.

Powell has a really great ear for the way people speak, but more to the point, he can really get inside the minds of the down-and-out, somewhat crazy men and women he portrays. The 3 linked stories grouped under the title "All Along the Watchtower" are reminiscent of many of Samuel Beckett's works. (I thought most of "Molloy" and "Malone Dies.") He also has shadings of Flann O'Brien, who is quoted as the Frontispiece to this volume.

For me a hallmark of really great writing is that I find myself reading it aloud, and I was vocalizing muchos veces during this read. The writing can go from downright hilarious to heart-rendingly poignant to deeply troubling with ease. A very great read!

This has been a wildy overrated novel since the day it was published some fifteen or so years ago. Powell was praised for his verbal inventiveness, but what he has here is verbal obfuscation. Exactly what is he trying to say? It is hard to tell once the reader's entangled in his verbal trap of dialect, half-baked description, and misguided rhetoric. And none of the characters, with the exception of the black cook, is memorably drawn. We really don't care what happens to any of them. Only one scene, the depiction of the boy's attending the Ali-Frazier fight, with the locals rooting on native son Joe Frazier, shows any genuine comic invention.

This is a funny and sophisticated coming-of-age story. The author has an impressive command of both dialogue and unusual and telling descriptions. Simons is a remarkable, unusual, and alive boy-man. The story sparkles with youthful enthusiasm in spite of its sophistication, and despite its irony never lapses into easy cynicism. Highly recommended.

than this darling jewel of a book! Having actually been on Edisto, and around Simon's age, in the early 70's, I can say PP has captured the place's essence and lyricism of the times. It is laugh-out-loud funny in places, and the characters interesting but the unique style of writing itself is so enjoyable: his economy is remarkable. For example, the only physical description of one of the main characters is this: "he was as shimmery as an islander's god, and solid as a butcher". And yet he paints so vivid a picture of the man, solely through action and dialogue. This is a warm, thoroughly entertaining, thoroughly unique story, with great writing. Full of wit and heart in equal measure. Pretty soon you'll be peppering your talk with unique words and phrases, and be up on the social cache inherent in being a "double Jenkins" in Charleston, but don't let it "hyper you out".

Want a book with an adventurous twist? Then Huckleberry Finn is the book for you. Not only is Huckleberry Finn an adventurous book, it is also can be comical and light, though the book has a grave meaning, showing the wrongs in society at the time in the late 19th century.
The book The Adventures of Tom Sawyer precedes Huckleberry Finn, where in the beginning of Huckleberry Finn, Huck lives with the widow Douglas, though doesn't like the high class living, and frequently leaves to see his father, who's always drunk, or just hangs out in the woods. While in the woods, Huck meets Jim, a slave who escaped and needs to cross the Mississippi River to the freedom on the other side, in Illinois. Although this book portrays a serious meaning, it can also be funny and witty.
I liked this book because it was witty and comical, though it had an important message at the same time. I really liked this book because of this, though the southern accent complicates the understanding of the book. Overall, I thought this book is definitely a classic and a must read for all age levels.

I wasn't too looking forward to the reading Huck Finn at first, particularly after glancing at the dialect of the first couple pages, but once I got started and more used to how the characters spoke, I loved the tale! Huck Finn is an extremely well-written novel that uses silly situations to explain how living was back then, and how slaves were treated. Jim is in the beginning of the book coming across as the stereotype of a slave, but as the novel continues, you really begin to see the real person, not just how Jim was "supposed" to be... Also, throughout the book, you see Huck mature and begin to get his own mind; among other things, Huck develops his own set of morals different from those of society... The Adventures of Huck Finn is a funny, exciting, and at times sweet book that everyone should have the chance to read... :):)

After reading many of the reviews below, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps this novel should not be taught at the high school level. Personally, when I read "Huckelberry Finn" my junior year, I thought that it was an enjoyable break from reading other early American classics, but judging from some of the reviews, others didn't agree. I don't understand exactly what was considered so "boring" about this novel. This book provides the reader with action, humor, and morals; what any 'classic' should do. For those who think of themselves as highly intellectual and felt that the novel didn't have a point, you may want to check your IQ, because I think your ego is in for a massive let-down. Although Twain clearly states at the beginning of the novel that he doesn't want his readers to try to find a point in his 'coming of age' story, the theme of the novel almost smacks the reader in the face. The 'point' is that friendship is more important than social standards and sometimes you have to put yourself at risk in order to save those that you care about. This classic will remain so as long as those who are forced to read it lighten up a little and actually open their minds to a great piece of literature.

I wanted to check out the library copy before buying. I found this book a little surreal. It's a little different and with a bit of a twist. The lonesome lady makes out a creative, outrageous grocery list. Letting her imagination run wild it takes on the mind of Walter Mitty. The man of her idol fantasies are those of Confederate General Nathan B. Forrest. And what is this thing for burning mules? But let a woman think what she wants to think. To escape the reality of utter boredom and loneliness. Sure got me though I'm the female gender myself.

The author seems to had fun writing this cute little daydreamer's delight. It had it's funny moments. A pretty artful provocative fantasy with a smothering of Civil War history thrown in. I think if I had a magical want list, Clark Gable and a flying RV with a smoking camel. But I think I could find a better alternative remedy. In other words, I'd find it more entertaining to read Walter Mitty or go to the grocery store to meet guys! It could be missing something, but then again use your imagination!

This is yet another self-indulgent confection from burned out, Florida-based creative writing teacher Padgett Powell. At times Powell amuses, and his willingness to hurl multi-syllabic dung in the faces of the politically correct crowd deserves praise, but this book like his other reent efforts is intended as a show piece for his students and friends. Check it of the library for an afternoon's diversion, but don't spend a dime on a book that was never written with any other audience than his friends and students in mind.

If Powell had more self-confidence and could get over his need to pander, he might amount to something.

Padgett Powell is an unacknowledged genius of American literature. His A WOMAN NAMED DROWN is undeservedly out of print; a masterpiece of the steadfast drop-out genre, mixing the contemporary Southern idiom into the voice of a man with serious American malaise. He transcends the Southern wing of American letters by showing a South which, believe it or not, really has integrated--and poses the question: "Where has it gotten us?" Not because the South didn't need desperately to change, but because the South needed to hang on to what was best and unique about it while losing the racist baggage. The New South of Powell's work is not yet rid of that baggage--and herein lies the rub: the author's stubborn desire to tell the truth about the New South (and the rest of the country) is what's allowed him to be left behind his peers.

Flannery O'Connor wrote hilariously as a Catholic "outsider" observing the Protestant local yokels; Faulkner worked from deeply within, like an earworm whispering into our consciences. Powell in all his work has deployed the playfulness and deadly serious listening skills of his former teacher and great master Donald Barthelme to get at the absurdity of life as a roofer or an old spinster in a small Southern town. His work is meant to be read aloud, slowly, as if on a hot summer's night on the porch when an uncle tells a tall tale. He's fun and gulp-out-loud compelling.

Like his excellent and daring book of stories ALIENS OF AFFECTION before it, MRS. HOLLINGSWORTH'S MEN stretches the idiom he's always worked with, this time combining occasional research with the sillinesses of our make-nice culture (which only covers up or drowns out the hard questions left for us to ask ourselves). It's an anti-Civil War novel--against the romance of Civil War novels, and against the very idea, the sheer impossibility, of truly being able to write one. It feints in one direction, while lunging for real in the least expected one--our own smug liberal Reconstructive natures. Like Mrs. Hollingsworth herself, we think we can achieve decency through language and behavioral modelling.

Oh, and did I mention it's a comedy?

This whole thing and its predecessors are mighty depressing. Sometime in the 1960's short story writing slipped out of the hands of adults who had actually gone out in the world and held jobs and had families and thus had something to write about, and into the hands of graduate students. These workshop set pieces are dreadful and depressing and have little or nothing to do with the South, The exceptions -- Ellen Douglas stands out -- are too few and far between to make these books worthwhile. Stock up on Lewis Grizzard or Jeff Foxworthy instead and buy John Cheever's Collected Stories if you really want to see how it's done.

I've read 3-4 previous editions of "New Stories From the South", and this was probably my least favorite. There were some good moments, and some good writing, but nevertheless, I got to the end of some stories and thought "Huh?". Then again, as another reviewer says, some of that could possibly be attributed to what's 'hip' in short stories these days. A former co-worker said he thought that some stories being published these days were 'the literary equivalent of modern art'.

As with all the books in this series, this collection shows how vibrant, diverse and rich the short story form remains in the United States, and how Southerners are pushing the form. Ravenel, who had a lot to do with the short story renaissance during the 1980s as editor of Best American Short Stories, has a truly fine eye. I highly recommend this one.