A timeless American classic rediscovered--an unforgettable saga of a heartland family
On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy's fate will be the family's greatest tragedy. Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive--and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Very Good. *This is a paperback*. No major defects-unabridged, clean, complete, not falling apart; some light wear. A perfectly good reading or reference copy. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Green hardback cloth cover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, New York
Date published: 1962
Description: G: in Good condition without dustwrapper. Cover marked. Spine faded. Pages browning. Slight lean to spine. Hinges weak. Ex-lib. 352pp: 220mm x 150mm (9" x 6") read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: The Bodley Head, London
Date published: 1963
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. 352 pages. Set in Missouri, this was an acclaimed debut novel from this American author. Lightly tanned and aged on edges as usual, otherwise Fine throughout in green cloth gold-embossed on spine, all in slightly chipped and worn dust-jacket. Dust-jacket designed by Lacey Everett. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061673238ISBN:0061673234
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Fine. 0061673234 NEW/UNREAD! ! ! Text is Clean and Unmarked! --Be Sure to Compare Seller Feedback and Ratings before Purchasing--Has a small black line on bottom/exterior edge of pages. May have light shelf wear to cover from storage, if any. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Date published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061673238ISBN:0061673234
Description: Very Good. Describes a book that doesn't look quite brand new. May show some small signs of wear or minor spine creasing. Note this book is considered a trade or oversize paperback book. Our ultimate goal is to provide you with a satisfying customer experience. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial, New York
Date published: 2009
Description: Near Fine. No Jacket as Issued. Advance Reading Copy (ARC) 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Signed BT5-An uncorrected proof trade paperback in near fine condition that is lightly curled. Signed by Jane Smiley on the title page. A timeless bestseller-now with a foreword by Jane Smiley-this beloved saga of the American heartland is "deeply felt...dramatic...constantly alive" (Harper's). 8"x5.25", 318 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. read more
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster, New York
Date published: 1962
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. 318pp Book club ed in pristine condition. Arthur's lst book. The Moonflower Vine is written with entire honesty; it portrays-without a trace of false sentimentality-the stuggle, common to every human being, of coming to terms with one's own nature. Jacket design by Paul Bacon. read more
Edition: First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon & Schuster, N.Y.
Date published: 1962
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Green boards, d.j. has edge wear and chipping on top edge. This is this author's first novel. It is set in Missouri, and is about the struggle of coming to terms with one's own nature. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Date published: 1962-01-01
Description: Very Good in vg jacket. Very Good, Hardcover in Very Good dust jacket, with worn top and bottom, 1st Edition (stated), 1st printing, Previous owner's name, Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061673238ISBN:0061673234
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and may have creases. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061673238ISBN:0061673234
Description: Good. Giving great service since 2004: Buy from the Best! 4, 000, 000 items shipped to delighted customers. We have 1, 000, 000 unique items ready to ship! Find your Great Buy today! Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 336 p. P.S. (Paperback). read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Date published: 2009
ISBN-13:9780061673238ISBN:0061673234
Description: New, Publisher overstock, may have small remainder mark. Excellent condition, never read, purchased from publisher as excess inventory. read more
"I approach this review from a biased perspective, having learned a good bit about the background of the author. Jetta Carleton grew up in Western Missouri, the location used in the novel. Her dream since graduation from the University of Missouri in th late 30s was to become a writer, and with this book she certainly achieved that goal. The story about a farm family's joys, pains and challenges is well constructed through careful studies of the people themselves and how they related to each other and how each impacted the others. It appears almost autobiographical, which I suspect it is to some degree. I have bought several copies to pass around to friends as I try to revive the memory of Jetta, some 70 years or so after she left Mizzou. There remains a mystery manuscript for another book, which I hope will see the light of day. As it is now, The Moonflower Vine is Jetta's only book. I highly recommend it."
"I really loved this book. I was thinking that I wished I had known about it before now, but I love the sense that there are wonderful stories waiting somewhere for us to find them...
The Moonflower Vine is about a family moving between two worlds - essentially the world of their father and the world of their mother. Although both parents inhabit either world competently, clearly the father is more comfortable in town with his school and the mother with the farm and her children. The story is about love, family, loss, and is told through the everyday activities of an every day family.
I love the circular way the story moves. It begins and ends in the same time period, but in between we get to have each family members own story. It feels right to have it end back where it began.
Perhaps shocking for its time, the story deals with sexuality very openly. Beginning with Jessica falling in love with the hired boy to Matthew's obsession with his female students, Mathy, then Leonie falling in love with Ed, and then Callie's shocker at the end, each family member (except Mary Jo)faced moral dilemmas regarding appropriate behavior. I was a little surprised by Callie's story. For some reason it didn't fit with the picture I had of her. Anyway, in spite of all this, the fact that each character considered morals a part of their decisions to some extent made them interesting and likable. I had the sense that everyone was doing the best they could, and I like that."
"I almost passed this one by because of the title, which brings to mind something sappy and "romantic" from, say, Nicholas Sparks.
Well.
This was a really good read, mostly narrative, about a MO family before WWII and up to modern times, splitting their time between city and country. Lots of contrasts and people calibrating various choices.
The writing is straightforward, definitely NOT flowery or sentimental. One of my favorite passages as Leonie contemplates going against type (her type) and "raising cain" in Kansas City:
"Her parents wouldn't approve, but they wouldn't know about it. And they needn't get worked up if they did. Times had changed. Nowadays, perfectly respectable people went to shows on Sunday, they went dancing and played cards; lots of girls even smoked - and it didn't mean they were going to hell. Hell had shifted its location; it was farther away than people used to think."
Didn't think much of the intro by Jane Smiley. People from the 1960s see absolutely everything through that prism and it gets old and stale. I enjoyed it in my own way and through my own lenses.
"I first read this novel in 1974 when I was 18, and I have read it every year since. Before it was rediscovered and reprinted, I bought every used copy I could find and gave them away, sometimes as many as six a year. Everyone who reads it is immediately drawn in, because it is a perfectly balanced, beautifully structured story about people you don't know, but wish you did. Each of the Soames family members is drawn so clearly, and with such a distinct voice, you can hear them talking.
The end of the opening chapter is so incredibly well realized that I often use it in creative writing classes to demonstrate the way to build tension and bring it to a full resolution.
If To Kill a Mockingbird is the iconic novel of the mid 20th century South, then The Moonflower Vine serves the same purpose for the Midwest. It deserves to be widely read."
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