The boy thought that he had been always in this still, liquid place." The casual racism of the time intrudes periodically but it is not unexpected in a 1930s novel. The river flowed interminably but as though without advance. "There came a time in mid-afternoon when all life seemed suspended. Rawlings excels at describing the activities of the people and the land they are attached to. But there are snatches of true tenderness and humor that makes the main characters very endearing. The characters are strong and stoic, as one would expect from a family eking out a living in the Florida scrub. Just as Steinbeck referred to Rosasharn (as pronounced by her family) by her rather elegant true name "Rose of Sharon," so Rawlings calls "Py-tee" by her true name, Piety. She seems to view her characters in much the same way that Steinbeck did, with a wry affection and respect. Rawlings is known for her books on the Florida backwoods. I have this book in my library and have read it many times. It's ironic that some of her most beautiful passages are those describing hunting (I'm not keen on hunting.), but it's clear to me that this was a necessary way of life at one time. Everything she writes has a lyrical, almost hymnlike quality of reverence for nature. Rawlings deeply loves the Florida landscape and the people who live in its rhythms. Having said all that, the book is more about a love for one's environment than anything else. Incidently, *only* what they need for food." "While I was there, I did all the illegal things too stalked deer with a light at night, out of season, kept the family in squirrels, paddled the boat while my friend dynamited mullet, shot limpkin on the river edge and had to wade waist-deep to get him.But with food scarce, these people kill, quite correctly, I think, what they need. She writes from real life - these are not inventions, they are events that she witnessed or was told of while living with the 'shiners. I was already an admirer of MKR both as a writer and human being, and this book cemented that feeling. They 'shine, because 'shining is the only business they know that can be carried on in the country they know, and would be unwilling to leave." The old clearings have been farmed out and will not "make" good crops anymore. And everything they do is necessary to sustain life in that place. They are living an entirely natural, and very hard life, disturbing no one.Yet everything they do is illegal. As she says in the introduction, "These people are "lawless" by an anomaly. SMU is a piecing together of Rawlings' experiences living with them. Never thought I'd ever be reading a book about moonshinin'! Somehow I always equate moonshine with hillbillies - not true, I discovered.
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